Antiziganism is hindering interculturalism & diversity in our cities. By intercultural learning & civic education we aim to mobilize public & local authorities for a better understanding of interculturalism & social inclusion as inseparable from social wellbeing. This is through forum theater, intercultural hand crafts & mediation between local authorities & civil society. Our solution is financially sustainable building a community of intercultural hand crafts & more for better living

Ptuj & Karwina are rural areas, marginalized & affected by antiziganism

Antiziganism is excluding an important group with full potential to contribute in political, social & economic development. It increases social inequalities & creates a hostile environment of segregation rather than cooperation for prosperity. Our rural areas are the most affected by social exclusion. This leads to low democratic participation. Fewer employability, cultural & educational opportunities are caused by the lack of political participation. Our areas are affected by brain drain. The exclusion of Roma community contributes to the lack of human potential. Low turnout is a challenge resulting from poor civic education of all social groups regardless of ethnicity. Residents can overcome antiziganism & marginalization in our areas by civic & intercultural cooperation

Our direct groups are people with fewer opportunities such as youth in the NEET & Roma community who are residents yet not socially or politically engaged in our areas. They are diverse in their beliefs & needs yet they have common challenges in their search for more opportunities for social inclusion. We have networks of youth with fewer opportunities. Yet, we want to reach more people through peer to peer communication & through our members & previous work with Roma community. Our groups need to take ownership of their learning & self-development process. Our educational program is based on this. The intercultural handcraft program aims to fulfill the need for financial sustainability which is one of the main needs of our people. Indirect groups are wider society & local authorities

Povod is an expert on intercultural learning & forum theater. PETRKLIC HELP, is expert on working with & for Roma community. They have sufficient experience in non-formal education. We will hold international seminar for trainers to exchange good practices in forum theater, hand craft & human library. Followed by forum theater training of locals including Roma held in both cities. Forum theater performances in public areas. Workshops for intercultural handcraft for financial income. Training for civic education based on experiential learning. Public debates & mediation between local authorities & civil society on social policies & its inclusive measures. Exhibition of intercultural hand craft products. Online seminars to connect participants in the activities in both areas

We start by seeding cooperation through empathy between locals with fewer opportunities including the Roma community. We are expert on intercultural learning & sensitivity as tools for social cohesion. Forum theater gives ownership for our people over their own process of community building. This community will produce creative actions in public spaces, performances of forum theater & products of intercultural handcraft work for social change & financial income. We use theater to achieve civic education & intercultural learning to make a wider social & political change in a long term. Our success will be by building an intercultural community for handcraft production, social cohesion & civic education. A Sustainable community named & built by its people for the well being of our areas.

Forum theater will bring people with fewer opportunities together to find common challenges & diverse methods to overcome them. The performances reflect this cooperation between Roma community & other social groups to our wider community. It combats antiziganism, but not only. The patterns of hate speech are similar & our work can be reduplicated to combat all of its forms. We cover civic education through experiential learning & the pedagogy of the oppressed which forum theater is built on. The same participants will undertake training on intercultural handcrafts for economic income. We’ll mediate debates between local authorities & our direct & indirect participants as part of our civic education program to increase the political participation of the residents in our areas.

Our members are diverse yet cooperative. We managed to use interculturalism for the growth of our organizations. Reflecting on the wider society we believe that antiziganism & other hate speech patterns are linked to low civic education. Low civic education causes polarization & low democratic participation. Both challenges are resolving each other, this is by building a solid & sustainable community of marginalized groups to combat hate speech that turns them against each other & contribute in the marginalization of our areas. Around us we see talents & passion in handcraft production inspired by diverse cultures that makes this potential production unique. Our main motivation is the answer of this question why segregation when our cooperation can bring prosperity for all?

Travel & accommodation of trainers for the kick off seminar in Karwina: 7000
Fees of trainers in both cities: 5, 000
Promotion and visibility: 5, 000
Handcraft materials & trainings: 30,000
Per diems for participants, lodging & transport: 5,000
Premises, venue, equipment & office materials: 5,000

All kind of advice & feedback are welcome & appreciated