Sport Unites, Racism Divides | Youth Exchange

Dates: 4 – 14 September 2017

Venue: Taevaskoja, Estonia

Organizer NGO: Noorte Ettevõtlikkuse Arendamise Ühing

Project Description

The refugee crisis in Europe has increased the discussions about racism, because refugees who are running from war zones to Europe are found difficult to integrate into the European society due to the intolerance of the local population. Our young people are heavily influenced by their parents’ opinions, and so there will be a so-called vicious circle of intolerance, which will continue endlessly. We want to understand what racism is and how we can combat it. In everyday life, we can see and/or hear about how people who don’t belong to the same nation as us, have to suffer under intolerant behaviour from locals. This is a problem for us, because if this hate is planted into our youngsters who are the future of our society, it means that racist behaviour towards foreigners continues and our society will be divided in the future.

Project “Sport Unites, Racism Divide” expected:

– To increase awareness of what is racism and what are the consequences of racist activities.

– To find activities which resulted in growing tolerance.

– To find solutions on how to behave in a situation where we see racist conduct.

– To analyze how the sport has helped people connect and find good examples of possible solutions, which we can use in our everyday lives and in our communities.

– To improve a positive attitude towards others and in participants towards themselves. The project involves young people with fewer opportunities, so we expect to increase the participants’ horizons and willingness to communicate with different people, whatever their background is, because in reality we are all equal and deserve equal treatment.

– The promotion of mutual cooperation and thereby teamwork skills. The project will operate mostly young international teams and develop teamwork skills, simultaneously with tolerance and self-expression skills.

In this youth exchange project, there were 38 participants from seven countries (Estonia, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria).

Project “Sport Unites, Racism Divides” is funded by Erasmus+ Estonian National Agency.

Project is organized by Noorte Ettevõtlikkuse Arendamise Ühing (Youth Entrepreneurship Development Association) which is a non-profit organization established in early 2014, aimed at the youth entrepreneurship development and support of the after school and work activities (including international youth projects).