The camp was held for the 10th time and brought together 150 participants on its site: 120 participants from 44 constituent entities of the Russian Federation and 30 participants from 22 signatory states of the European Cultural Convention and Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
This event is a part of the Action Plan for 2019 for the implementation of the Framework Program for Cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation in the field of youth policy.
The main purpose of the event in 2019 was to raise awareness of participants about their role and the role of youth organizations and informal youth associations in building intercultural dialogue and promoting the development of individual and joint initiatives aimed at combating discrimination and strengthening peace in modern society.
Tasks:
- to develop competencies of participants in the field of intercultural dialogue,
- to form an understanding of intercultural dialogue and its value for strengthening peace and countering extremism, discrimination and exclusion in modern society,
- to create conditions for personal experience of living by participants in intercultural dialogue within the framework of the camp program,
- to identify and consider current problems and challenges on the way to building intercultural dialogue and peace in realities of participants and in society as a whole,
- to consolidate efforts and resources to promote intercultural dialogue among youth and promote the creation of network projects.
The camp program included various methods to better explore the topic of intercultural dialogue from different points of view. The program has been designed to enable participants to establish the link between intercultural dialogue and human dignity, to analyze the current situation in the context of realities of participants themselves and problems faced by young people, to explore different approaches of Council of Europe youth work on topics such as social cohesion, conflict transformation, cultural diversity and combating hate speech.
Participants
The camp participants were 150 people - representatives of youth and ethno-cultural organizations from different regions of the Russian Federation, signatory states of the European Cultural Convention and CIS Member States who were actively involved in the implementation of international and interethnic youth projects.
Key results
Experts from the Council of Europe Youth Advisory Board and the European Youth Forum introduced participants to good practices in youth work in the area of anti-discrimination and peacebuilding. Participants were asked to analyze the situation of young people's access to rights in the context of their realities using the criteria of the Council of Europe and the European Youth Forum and see how this situation affected the building of peaceful and inclusive societies.
The educational part of the program provided an opportunity to gain individual and group learning experiences, discuss observations, new experiences and draw conclusions during reflection and debriefing sessions. This year participants were also given free time and the opportunity to take part in various cultural and sports games. In evenings participants had the opportunity to network, for example, as a part of a movie night and a networking festival. Since it was the anniversary year of the camp some blocks of the program were devoted to artistic performances prepared by participants. There was also an evening of stories during which alumni and organizers of the camp shared results and achievements of this project over the past 10 years.
At the end of the camp a plenary session "The role and participation of youth and youth initiatives in the development of intercultural dialogue" was held with the participation of invited experts and guests. An art object dedicated to the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students was opened.
