Activities / Results
INTRODUCTION
ACTIVITIES
Within the framework of the project, a number of different activities will be materialized, in order to make sure that DIALECT’s action plan meets its objectives and expected results and thus that the targeted population and wider society benefit through this process.
Key activities:
• Investigation of the intersection between politics and football in all participating countries, with a focus on adolescents’ involvement and the role of extremist / populist political parties spreading racism (focus groups & interviews).
• Acquisition of primary data to measure the existing levels of social cohesion and tolerance at community level in the 4 participating countries, analyzing the root causes, impact and manifestations of societal polarization phenomena. Revision of Football3 methodology toolkits and identification of key components to be used as part of the project.
• Selection of trainers from CSOs, municipal/public authorities and Sports Associations to act as coaches and mediators. Identification of pioneer football players and networking with migrant communities and organizations at community level.
• Development of a grounded and holistic community building action plan based on existing realities, taking a micro-approach and targeting adolescents, their parents and key local stakeholders. The aim will be to prevent and combat intolerance, with a focus on xenophobia, and create a network of agents of change, who will promote such actions through football.
• Creation of adolescents’ teams in Greece, Hungary, Italy and Serbia, and organization of exhibition matches for parents and Football3 tournaments at local and EU level. Playing community-building football and creating poles of understanding, spreading he message “Football for All: making extreme discourses irrelevant”.
• Impact assessment exercise and creation of an EU memorandum of understanding between local authorities, CSOs and sports associations and development of a manual.
Expected results:
• Empower adolescents and youth with informed decision-making and conflict resolution skills, which are critical in combatting irrational arguments and stereotypical thinking that can lead to xenophobia. Develop a sense of community ownership, while destabilizing intolerant views through football.
• Develop capacities of key local stakeholders (CSO and civil servants) to prevent and combat intolerance, while being networked to monitor and address social cohesion.
• Create powerful Agents of Change within CSO (incl. youth associations), Sports Associations and Local authorities, equipped with differentiated capacities and skills in order to prevent and combat the spread of intolerance, with a focus on xenophobia, through football.
• Promote a shared understanding on preventing intolerance at community level, among all involved stakeholders while building local tolerance networks.
• Promote interethnic interactions, in order to build relationships of trust between migrant and non-migrant adolescents, their parents and thus communities.
• Combat ethnic polarization as a root cause of racism and xenophobia, promoting interethnic community building.