Civil Society Completed

In defence of open society - targeting youth within online and school environment

Open Society Foundation ·Slovakia

€150k

Grant awarded

Fund for Non-Governmental Organisations

Programme

14 June 2018

Signed

About this project

The project responds to the need existing in the Slovak school environment, which does little to to equip students and teachers with tools for critical thinking and  open dialogue.  This pre-defined project therefore aims to enrich an offer of the civic sector in the countering this situation and disturbing trends.   Project is implemented through the following components: <ul> <li>Building a joint platform for countering hate speech, fake news and anti-democratic propaganda Establishment of the platform includes of a resource centre - physical network of experts and online tools; advocacy activities (high level meetings with governmental stakeholders); organising platform events (at least two).</li> <li>Support for the development of a democratic and participatory school environment that promotes critical thinking and reflection through the development of tools and mechanisms in order to assist in teaching controversial topics such as extremism, hate speech, bullying and the Holocaust (output 3.1) through an Open School Programme. The Open School Programme was first be established by funding provided by the Ministry of Interior of Slovakia, from 2018-2020. The second phase of implementation shall be funded by PDP 1 and ensure continuity of the project. The Open Schools programme shall include: two nationwide forums; publishing quarterly newsletter; a project website. Through the project 10 youth lecturers will trained for peer-to-peer teaching, class teaching will be delivered by peer trainers, active learning methods for teachers will be provided and training for representatives of School parliament will be organised. 5-10 schools will be involved in the project.</li> </ul> Key target groups of the first activity include young people, looking for information on the internet and social networks, for the second activity it is elementary school children and as well as teachers. Target groups will benefit by learning new skills and tools for media literacy and democratic debate.

Bilateral cooperation results

Norwegian partners were involved the Open Schools Programme. The mail role of the Norwegian partner was their active participation in 6 workshops which took place online between October 2020 and June 2021. The aim of these meetings was to develop cultural exchange between young people from both countries involved, as well as to develop their knowledge in the field of human rights and their ability to communicate in English. Each of the meetings started with a joint plenary session where the topic, time-frame and way of working were introduced; next part of the meeting was group work; the meetings ended with a plenary session during which the main points that the students came up with in the groups were summarised. The most interesting points were discussed and the most significant findings related to the topic were highlighted. The specific topics of the sessions included e.g.: - Comparison of school systems of both countries, - Surviving coronavirus, how the situation affects our everyday lives, - What does being a member state of the EU mean for my country? - Responsible consumerism and ecological footprint of our behaviour - International solidarity In average 20-30 students took part in each of the workshops.

Project partners

European Wergeland Centre Donor project partner· Norway
University College of Southeast Norway Donor project partner· Norway

Slovakia country profile Other projects in this programme Project website