YMDRAB brought together young Muslims and Christians in project "Stronger together: youth collaboration for interreligious solidarity"

13 young people from Municipality of Botevgrad and 13 young people from Municipality of Ardino participated together in the YMDRAB's project “Stronger together: youth collaboration for interreligious solidarity”. The main project activity took place between 3rd and 10th July in Kranevo village and aimed at gathering an equal number of Christian and Muslim youth in a neutral place to motivate and prepare them to work for the prevention and peaceful transformation of interreligious conflicts in the Bulgarian rural areas.

Using various non-formal education techniques such as role plays, simulations, working groups, open discussions, presentation, the participants exchanged opinions and experience about the problems in their local communities and existing prejudices and stereotypes towards other religions. The youngsters shared about their religious beliefs and customs. The group visited an orthodox church, a mosque, a synagogue and Armenian Church which was very enriching for everyone. The work of institutions was also discussed focusing on the local, national and international level. The most debated topic was the flow of refugees in Bulgaria and the work of the National Agency for Refugees. Information about Council of Europe and the work of the Youth Department in the field of interreligious dialogue was also presented outlining the No Hate Speech Campaign.

As a result of the project, the participants created a common Position paper, which outlines their opinion in regard to the interreligious tolerance in Bulgaria. In this declaration they identified the most important in their opinion existing problems and proposed actions for overcoming the situation. The actions were concretely addressed towards local and national institutions as well as towards youth NGOs and the Bulgarian youth as a whole.

At the activity's end the participants shared that they have immensely increased their knowledge about the other religion as well as about their own. Everyone clearly stated that in future he/she will share the learning outcomes and will actively work for creating interreligious tolerance in Bulgaria. The preparation of many follow-up activities will kick off soon to ensure that our project creates impact on local community level as well.

Besides the busy agenda, the participants found time for entertainment – there were various thematic evenings and fun activities on the beach.

This project is implemented with the support of the Council of Europe by the European Youth Foundation.

 

 


 

Projects 2015:

Project “The magic to communicate” №2015-1-BG01-KA105-013472 has been funded with support from the “Erasmus+” Programme of the European Commission, administered in Bulgaria by “Human Resource Development Center”. This website reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission, “Erasmus+” Programme or the HRDC cannot be held responsible for any of the contain or its use.


Project “Stronger Together: Youth Collaboration for interreligious solidarity” № 6471.2.PA.2015 is implemented with the support of the European Youth Foundation, Council of Europe. This website reflects the views only of the authors, and the Council of Europe and the European Youth Foundation cannot be held responsible for any of the contain or its use.


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