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Empathy and multiculturalism- let’s learn together | Civic Europe
Social inclusion, Community development, We want to learn tolerance, understanding for diff

Empathy and multiculturalism- let’s learn together

Workshops for children and teachers about empathy and multiculturalism.

Creators

Who is behind this?

Maria Wojtacha

Internationaler Bund Polska

https://ib-polska.pl

Poland

Idea

Idea pitch

The main idea is to organize workshops for youth and teachers about empathy and multiculturalism. We want to build open-minded society that will support the integration of migrants and minorities in Poland. We want to teach children self-determination and education in the field of empathy and multiculturalism but also how to respond to manifestations and signs of intolerance. We want to learn educators so that they can use new knowledge to subsequent groups of young people.

Where will your project idea take place?

The project will take place in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in towns with up to 25,000 residents.

What is the specific societal challenge faced by this region?

The workshops are a response to contemporary problems and a large public interest related to the issue of empathy and multiculturalism, respond to the challenge of the transformation of ethnically, culturally homogeneous country into a multicultural community and are designed to give students and educators tools that will allow them to understand this process and develop skills that will help in building a community with people migrating to Poland. As statistics(office for foreigners, Regional Development Observatory of Małopolska Region) show the number of foreigners moving to Poland increases every year. The project also aims to give youth tools to react to bad or unfair behavior towards people who stand out due to their origin, skin color or religion, teach tolerance and understanding.

Who are you doing it for?

The target groups are:
-Pupils in last grades of primary and/or in high schools- the workshops are dedicated to youth and children over 12 years old, who live/study in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in cities up to 25,000 residents. It is planned to reach about 200 students (10 groups, one group may consist of a maximum of 20 people). Criterion for recruiting schools: order of applications and location in the town up to 25,000 residents in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
-Educators - teachers, psychologists, people working with youth and children. It is planned to conduct 5 workshops for a total of 40 people (5 groups of a maximum of 8 people). Recruitment criterion: order of applications, residence or work in the city up to 25,000 residents in the Lesser Poland Voivodesh

How do you plan to get there?

The innovation of the workshops is in the use of non-formal education methods that allow to work with emotions, that are the basic factor determining the attitude of Poles, including young people, towards migrants and multiculturalism (Bilewicz 2018).
Preparation and conducting of workshops at schools:
1. Preparation of workshops
2. Conducting workshops
3. Evaluation of the workshop
4. Preparation of the report
Preparation and conducting of workshops for educators:
1. Preparation of workshops
2. Conducting workshops
3. Evaluation of the workshop
4. Preparation of the report and standards
The team project will be: coordinator, accounting specialist, specialist of settlement. Workshops will be run by professional and experienced

What are the expected results?

As a result of project, both material and social effects will arise. Among the material ones: reports with recommendations and standards for teaching empathy and multiculturalism. The expected social change will be developing social sensitivity, drawing attention to people from various heterogeneous groups, encouraging participants to undertake initiatives aimed at preventing discrimination. Participants of the workshops will gain skills in understanding multiculturalism and multicultural societies, the ability to respond appropriately to media manipulations and recognize false information. Participants will understand the concept of empathy, and therefore the perspective of others, gain knowledge of the functioning of multicultural societies and migration processes in Poland and Europe.

How does your idea strengthen active citizenship at a local and community level?

The workshop will help both children and teachers learn to talk about differences, share their culture and dialogue with respect. We want to contribute to the integration of minorities in Poland, especially children. It is important to ensure their proper development and integration with a peer group. We want to teach students tolerance. It will help them to live in an ethnically, culturally or religiously heterogeneous community without discrimination and to encourage them to take initiatives for minorities. The important part of the project are workshops for educators/teachers to teach them how to work with children from a minority, to take care of their needs and respect from other students. We want to teach children how to react and behave when they see or know about discrimination.

Why is this idea important to you?

Education in the field of empathy and multiculturalism is one of the most important areas of Foundation's activity. We are an organization that has been conducting international projects for many years (e.g. EVS / ESC volunteering project, student exchange projects), we want to build bridges between countries and contribute to integration. All this is in our status. We have been associated with Lesser Poland for years and we care about the development of this region. However, we run nationwide activities. We also conducted a pilot project of workshops in Krakow schools, which showed us the importance of education and understanding of the concept of empathy among people, especially children and youth, who will decide the shape of the state in the future.

€ 33704,-

Total budget

€ 33704,-

Funding requested from Civic Europe

Major expenses

[Converted into euros according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland of 25.05.2020: 4.563]
Stationery: 1972,17 EUR
Projectors (2): 1753,23 EUR
Laptops (2): 1095,65 EUR
Summary reports of the projects: 525,91 EUR
Personnel cost: 7888,68 EUR
Organization of a meeting with a guest who will be invited to the workshop: 2191,30 EUR
Workshops at schools: 8546,72 EUR
Workshops for educators: 8502,25 EUR
Office: 788,87 EUR
Accounting: 438,26 EUR

What do you need from the Civic Europe community?

Ways how we can contact schools and encourage them to take part in our project., good practices in multicultural education in their countries, and training of teachers and educators in other countries.

Team

IB POLSKA

Idea created on May 27, 2020
Last edit on May 27, 2020

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