BEST PRACTICES MANUAL (NOVEMBER 2020) WP2_D2.3
#HITproject
Partners:
www.hitproject.eu 1
The #HITproject (REC-RRAC-RACI-AG-2017-807861) has been co-financed with support from the European Commission’s DG Justice and Consumers. Its contents and materials are the sole responsibility of its authors. The Commission cannot be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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Best Practices Manual
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4 PART I – RESOURCES FOR YOUNG ACTIVISTS .................................................................................... 5 a) Human rights and advocacy ............................................................................................................... 5 b) Call to action - HIT teams experiences and tools from our project.................................................... 5
PART II – RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS AND KEY STAKEHOLDERS ............................................... 6 a) Best practices collection and HIT experiences in each country ......................................................... 6 b) Key human rights concepts and how to transmit them ................................................................... 14 c) HIT evaluation material……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
PART III: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………………………………….. 42 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….45
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INTRODUCTION
Hate Interrupter Teams: Youth counteracting hate speech towards migrants and minorities through participatory and creative campaigning (HIT) is a 24-month project (HIT: 807861) co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme of the European Commission. The project focuses on developing a new model of European youth empowerment in order to tackle racism, xenophobia and discrimination aimed at migrants. The HIT task groups of young people, aged 14-19 years old, have the help of experienced mentors and professionals who guide them in the process to reach the goal. HIT addresses the development of new networks and spaces for dialogue and exchange, awareness raising activities and campaigns, exchange of good practices, offering a new capacity building model that is highly transferable across Europe, and at national level for both authorities and practitioners alike to replicate and adapt. This manual presents the practices used to empower young people on counteracting hate speech in the context of the HIT project. More specifically, the manual offers an overview based on the research and on the analysis and assessment of the activities implemented by HITs and stakeholders in all partner countries. It is aimed at young people who fight in counteracting hate speech as well as educators and relevant stakeholders. This is presented in the three main parts of the document: I. II. III.
Part I – Resources for Young Activists Part II – Resources for Educators and Key Stakeholders Part III – Policy Recommendations
To adopt a practice as ‘good’ means that it has been proven to be the most effective way in achieving specific objectives. In other words, it has a positive impact on both the individuals and their communities. It can also be argued that ‘good practices’ should and could be adapted to fit into various situations. Therefore, a ‘good practice’ can be defined as: “A practice that is good and has proven to work well and produce good results, so it is recommended as a model. It is a successful experience, which has been tested and validated, in a broad sense, which has been repeated and deserves to be shared so that a greater number of people can adopt it”.1 The ‘good practices’ presented in this manual by the HIT project partners that are related to counteracting hate speech can be used as a base in the implementation of the HIT activities while working towards its elimination. For choosing activities as “good practices” there are criteria which are mainly based on: the relevance to the project, positive impact to the young people and stakeholders, accessible after the end of the project and collaboration between the parties involved.
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“Good Practices template”, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2015, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
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PART I – RESOURCES FOR YOUNG ACTIVISTS
a) Human rights and advocacy Fundamental human rights include, amongst others, the right of the freedom of opinion and expression. However, there is a difference between expressing your thoughts and expressing your hatred opposite someone through words. The HIT project aims at the proper education provided to young individuals in an attempt to enhance their understanding of the fact that hate is not an acceptable behaviour and that every child is entitled to the exact same rights. The safeguarding, as well as the protection of the rights that each young individual holds, have a significance that is an important topic for education. Successful implementation of this approach can lead to the proper advocacy of these rights together with the elimination hate speech incidents that have been growing the last few years. Article 19 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontier2
b) Call to action - HIT teams experiences and tools from our project Since the escalation of the situation regarding hate speech in education environments and between young people in general, the partner countries developed and adopted new projects, in order to take action and to enhance their understanding while focusing on the protection and promotion of human rights3. During the HIT project, the partner countries implemented activities inviting young people to participate and become Human rights Champions for counteracting hate speech. The main activities of the HIT journey that are considered as best practices had, as a principal objective, to learn and develop young HITs’ knowledge on the topic, whereas the variety of tools and games used focused on developing trust. The training on Human rights and Hate speech occurred in the form of 'summer schools' that took place in June and July 2019, and 'collaborative workshops' that were held from December 2019 to March 2020. HIT teams were trained with relevant tools, such us handbooks and other creative activities including storyboards and storytelling, as well as preparing short clips for either TV or radio. The table below sets out the relevant resources from the above events:
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"Universal Declaration of Human rights". 1948. Un.Org. https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html.
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Activity Training on human rights & Hate speech
HIT resource Each day involved training to give a comprehensive introduction to the children in human rights, discrimination, inclusion, hate speech, creative campaigning and social marketing. Finally, the production of audio-visual made the training more fun and creative
Collaborative Workshops
The HIT application that was developed offers important information regarding hate speech, a great “pocket guide” young people can refer to. They also played card games and read the storyboards they created in their allocated teams.
PART II – RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS AND KEY STAKEHOLDERS (a) Best practices collection and HIT experiences in each country Based on the data provided by each partner country and in the framework of the HIT project, the partners have developed and implemented activities that can be considered as HIT “good practices”. Nonetheless, for such the selection, a number of criteria have been taken into consideration: ➢ Active involvement of young participants and impact of the activity to society ➢ Positive evaluation results of gaining knowledge on the topic of the project ➢ Sustainability: the activity to be available after the end of the project with the support of the material produced during the lifetime of HIT: HIT “good practices” manual, recommendations suggested by the partner countries, partner reports of the pilot actions, project website. ➢ Efforts for dissemination of the outcomes of the activity The activities chosen by each partner have been implemented successfully together with the young individuals who were chosen to participate. Each partner country performed the chosen activities that were appropriate for their own context and the “good practices” were also chosen after careful examination of specific criteria. In this regard, the HIT activities that have been developed and implemented (training, summer schools and collaborative workshops) were very successful and are the result of grounded, well-evaluated and analysed activities. Therefore, they can be used in the future as “good practices” for raising awareness and providing young people with different ways of tackling hate speech and racism.
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Cyprus During the HIT project, “Hope For Children� CRC Policy Center implemented activities that demanded the participation of young people in becoming human rights champions for counteracting hate speech, the HIT summer schools (24-28 June 2019 and 1-5 July 2019) and the collaborative workshops (2-6 December 2019 and 14th February 2020). The main aim of the summer schools was for the young HITs to understand and learn how to identify hate speech and how to counteract it. In Cyprus, the HIT training took place in two different cities - Nicosia and Larnaka as well as in the Troodos Mountains and lasted for one week, providing the opportunity to 80 young people to participate and be part of the HIT movement. Each day was focused on a different theme of the curriculum and was designed to give a comprehensive introduction to human rights, discrimination, inclusion, hate speech, creative campaigning, social marketing and storyboard production. During the training, the facilitators used activities from the HIT evaluation framework to understand and measure the expectations and the knowledge of the participants. The collaborative workshops, on the other hand, had as an objective to inform the young HITs about the role and significance of Media on transferring messages and how these means can be used for preventing and counteracting hate speech. The participants learned about the power of TV, radio, social media and press as well as the positive messages they can transfer. The workshops gathered together the young HITs, stakeholders from different professional areas such as: educators, social workers, trainers, marketing specialists, press designers and media producers (Radio, TV, Press) to further raise awareness on human rights and counteracting hate speech through media. The young HITs learned about and enhanced their understanding by professionals of the role of print advertisement, TV, Radio and Social media. Consequently, by understanding how the media work, they created their own messages.
United Kingdom Collage Arts’ approach in the HIT project was to be young-person led in applying the curriculum in order to explore and identify existing knowledge in our participants and build on this in a way that was relevant to them and that they could understand, led by their own experiences. The two elements that reflect our best practice was in the training on human rights and hate speech (24th-28 June and 1st-5th July 2019) where participants also developed skills and knowledge in film making and social media, and the collaborative workshops (6th January, 13th February, 29th February, 7th March and 14th March 2020) where 7
we were able to extend the reach of the project into other areas of London through workshops to youth workers in Camden as well as work with young participants directly through an out of hours provision and workshops in secondary schools. Unfortunately, COVID-19 meant that we were unable to follow up those workshops further, however the project has informed future practice at Collage Arts. During these two week-long workshops the aim was to introduce the concepts of human rights and hate speech, ascertain the HIT participants’ level of awareness and understanding of these, and then to build on this knowledge. Each training week involved two separate sets of participants and was based on the same plan. Week one involved 18 participants who were 14 years old and 35 hours of training and engagement. Week two involved 21 participants who were 15 years old and 35 hours of training and engagement. Different themes were included from the curriculum where participants learnt about human rights, hate crime, negative stereotypes, terms and behaviours and how these are perpetuated as well as ways in which these can be counteracted. The young HITs were encouraged to explore their own experiences, whether direct or indirect, or hate speech and human rights in a safe and open environment. Social and digital media and creative campaigning was also introduced and discussed. At the same time they were trained in film making while building up skills on how to storyboard, write, direct, film and edit a short video around the theme of hate speech. Each day we built on the skills of the day resulting in two very powerful and immediate pieces of work that could be shared, and that all of the participants were immensely proud of.
Italy In Italy, the HIT project developed its activities engaging young people and stakeholders in becoming the Hate Interrupter Team, a group of champions of human rights and tolerance. In dialogue and thanks to the involvement of various structures and organizations of the MuLab network (from local authorities to public schools, from youth centres to both local and national organizations), young people have had the opportunity to address and learn about challenging topics and arguments in a different way. They have also used their creativity to express positive thoughts and generating contents to prevent, interrupt and counteract forms of abuse and hate speech, enhancing the smart and kind power of human rights. The Hate Interrupter Team, through participatory and art-based practices and facilitated by mentors and practitioners, shared their vision in schools, amongst their communities and peers and through social media. In general, Mulab's team has supported this activity by creating levels of trust and encouraging the empowerment of young people in their ability to affect reality and be the main actors in their growth and education. In this scenario, those considered to be the best practices are the Pilot Training activities which took place from 18th of April to 22nd of June 2019 and the HIT Seminar on the 30th of November 2019. 8
The main objective of the Pilot in Italy was to build in young people the knowledge of human rights, raising awareness on how phenomena like hatred, discrimination and intolerance can deny these rights. But also, how through creativity, teamwork, and a communication strategy - creative campaign - it is possible to prevent, interrupt and counteract hate speech. During the three months of activity of the Pilot, in total, 42 youngsters aged between 16 and 19 (65% girls and 35% boys with some school dropout) directly benefited from the activities of the HIT project. From two-hour meetings to seven-hour intensive events, from familiar places such as schools to less formal and non-conventional ones like the Contemporary Art Museum, the students faced the four macro-areas of the HIT Curriculum (Human rights, Storyboard, Social Marketing and Creative Campaign) through engaging activities, creating products, using new skills and reflecting on the surrounding reality. For the HIT team, in particular, the relationships that were developed have been ongoing since they began in April 2019. They were developed not only in the pilot activity but also in further collaborations up to the moment when they structured the activities of the creative campaigns. The facilitators monitored the whole process of the Pilot through the HIT Evaluation framework and internal tools of the organization. Similarly, the HIT seminar objective was targeted at Stakeholders, Opinion formers and the HIT team. This was aimed at engaging the participants in the learning activity and conversations on real-world topics and issues on Hate Speech and HSBM from different perspectives and at raising awareness of how the HIT project is working on counteracting this phenomenon. The Seminar Speakers group was composed of creative people, stakeholders and members of the HIT team. At the end of the seminar, the participants were able to recognise the positive value of creativity in campaigns against Hate Speech and Behaviour towards migrants and learn and practice essential competencies (Critical thinking, Communication, Citizenship, Cultural awareness etc.). The seminar also addressed the recruitment of young and creative people for the campaign.
Spain In the framework of the HIT project, CEPS Projectes Socials (Barcelona) engaged young people and stakeholders to become Human rights Champions for counteracting hate speech. The two actions of the HIT journey in Spain that can be considered HIT best practices, are the Human rights & Hate Speech pilot training that took place in June-July 2019 (26/06/19 - 17/07/19), and the collaborative workshops that were held between November 2019 and April 2020. The sessions were organized by CEPS, but the activities were designed to be led by the young people who were encouraged to form local Hate Interrupter Teams and create original visual material to prevent, counteract and stop hate. The specific 9
human rights and hate speech subjects that were to be tackled were chosen by the young people, depending on the issues most relevant to them and their local context. It was the responsibility of CEPS, within the framework of the HIT project, to provide guidance to the young people, whilst giving them freedom to explore their own ideas. The pilot training and workshop activities had as main objective to stimulate the creation of young HITs, to further their knowledge on the topic of human rights issues, and to give them technical support to express their concerns and actively combat hate speech and racism. The ultimate goal was to encourage them to see the connection that rights come with responsibilities, to uphold them, and be active citizens and defenders of our rights. The HIT pilot training sessions in Spain were designed to gradually build up the knowledge of the young people about human rights, discrimination and inclusion, and help them to design strategies to create a local HIT teams that can combat hate and racism. 38 young people (age 15 to 19 years; 20 girls, 18 boys) signed up to 7 sessions of pilot training (35 hours). The training was implemented with two groups in two different youth clubs in Barcelona. The areas (Navas and Nou Barris) are both of great cultural diversity, but also with social problems, due to high levels of unemployment. Hate speech and racism are recurring problems the young people in these areas face daily. In order to make the sessions fun for young people, the training was structured around audio-visual production. The training began with the presentation of the project, the screening of some relevant videos, and discussions about experiences the participants had. In the second session storyboards were created, which were then translated into photo-stories and videos. Throughout the training facilitators used fun activities from the HIT project evaluation framework, to gage what participants knew, how they felt about it and what to emphasize or pick up in the next sessions. The main aim of the HIT workshops was to activate young people to form HIT teams and design original material for the EU wide HIT campaign, to counteract hate speech and racism. In addition, the workshops were ‘collaborative’ because an important element was to connect young people with stakeholders, such as teachers, social media influencers, journalists, cultural managers etc. On the one hand, the stakeholders were invited as a source of inspiration for the young people, and on the other hand, they provided access to public platforms, where the young people could make their voices heard. 21 teenagers from the Quatre Cantons secondary school in Barcelona (3rd year course, 13-14 years old, 11 girls, 10 boys) spent six weeks working on the HIT journey. CEPS invited the youngsters to develop elements for the 'HIT Awareness Raising Campaign on Racism and Hate speech against Migrants', including campaign videos, posters, postcards, slogans etc. Four support sessions were organized by CEPS with a total of 8 stakeholders: Teacher and director of the school Quatre Cantons, a social media Influencer (Instagrammer: @gigialexandrav), Two journalists from the magazine “Junior Report”, an Audio-visual expert, an AV and Storytelling Expert, and Cultural Manager at “Trànsit Projectes”.
Greece During the implementation of HIT project, ‘The Smile of the Child’ implemented activities addressed to young people aged 14-19 years old with the scope of understanding and learning how to identify hate speech and how to counteract it. Some of the activities of HIT journey in Greece which could be considered as ‘Best practices’ are on the one hand the training seminars on human rights and hate speech that were held on April (15th-19th) and July of 2019 (1st-5th) with 52 participants in total (25 in Nice, Piraeus and 10
27 at the Education & Training centre of TSoC); and on the other hand the collaborative workshops which were held with the participation of young HITs and stakeholders, opinion formers in February 2020 (15/2 & 16/2 , 22/2 , 23/2 and 29/2). In Greece, HIT journey includes activities which engaged a high number of young people aged 14-19 years old who were recruited Hate Interrupter Teams and were trained on counteracting Hate Speech and Behaviour towards migrants amongst their peers, through creative practices based on human rights education, digital media literacy, and awareness-raising strategies, and to facilitate their interaction with stakeholders and opinion formers. In addition, a wide range of professionals working with young people and individuals were engaged who were capable of influencing the population at large scale, who were interested in human rights’ education and in cultivating their capacity to educate and to raise awareness on the negative impact of hate speech and hate behaviour, in a creative, youth appealing way. The main goals of the training were to explore the deeper meaning of the violation of human rights, to identify the role of the society in order to stop hate speech and to enhance team working and problemsolving. In Greece, HIT training took place with 52 participants in total, divided in 2 groups. The first training took place from 15th to 19th April 2019 at the 3rd High School of Nice in Piraeus. 25 children, 8 girls and 17 boys, aged 13-14 years participated. The area of Nikaia was chosen due to there is a high number of immigrants therefore 6 children of Albanian origin, 2 children of Pakistani origin and 1 child of Iraqi origin participated in the training. The duration of the training programme of the 1st group was 32 hours. The second training took place from 1st to 5th July 2019 at the Education & Training Center of the organization «The Smile of the Child» and was attended by 27 teenage children (20 girls and 7 boys). The children spontaneously took part, responding to invitation sent by «The Smile of the Child» via mail as well as most of them are youth volunteers from the YouSmile European Student Volunteer Network and among them there was a girl of Albanian origin and a boy of Greek origin residing permanently in Switzerland (vacationing in Greece). The duration of the training programme of the 2nd group was 35 hours. The sessions were designed to: • • •
gradually build up and deepen the knowledge of young people about human rights and the consequences of their violation, differentiate the Right to Say My Opinion from expressing hate speech and behaviour, Be able to design and disseminate awareness raising campaigns on the subject.
During the training, they analysed the perceptions of Hate Speech and Behaviour (HSB) in Greece, the main forms of manifestation of the phenomenon, the main factors of HSB, the targeted groups, the perceptions of young people’s attitudes in relation to HSB and it was placed an emphasis on active 11
citizenship and social inclusion, promoting self-initiative, the development of communication skills, and the digital competences that support creativity, increasing opportunities for cultural awareness and of expression. Collaborative workshops’ aim was the production of 5 digital media based products aiming at their dissemination in different media channels such as television, press, billboards, radio and social media pages and their use for the launch of a Creative Raising Awareness Campaign counteracting on hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities. In Greece, ‘The Smile of the Child’ organised 5 (five) Collaborative workshops, 5 hours each, during February 2020, which were held at Marousi in the spaces of ‘YOUSMILE’ with the participation of 13 young people of Hate Interrupter Teams (HITS) and of 6 representatives of stakeholders and opinion formers, in the framework of the implementation of the #HITproject. The team of young HITs was consisted of school students, aged 14-17, who are volunteers in ‘YOUSMILE’, students’ volunteering network of TSoC. Stakeholders’ members were from various professional areas: one radio producer - journalist, an actress, two teachers, one psychologist, one policy & communications assistant. Participants have already attended other project’s activities such as HIT Training and Seminar on human rights and hate speech which took place during 2019.Members of the scientific personnel of “The Smile of the Child” participated as moderators / trainers during the implementation of the workshops. In Greece, ‘The Smile of the Child’ organised 5 (five) Collaborative workshops, 5 hours each, during February 2020, which were held at Marousi in the spaces of ‘YOUSMILE’ with the participation of 13 young people of Hate Interrupter Teams (HITS) and of 6 representatives of stakeholders and opinion formers, in the framework of the implementation of the #HITproject. The team of young HITs was consisted of school students, aged 14-17, who are volunteers in ‘YOUSMILE’, students’ volunteering network of TSoC. Stakeholders’ members were from various professional areas: one radio producer - journalist, an actress, two teachers, one psychologist, one policy & communications assistant. Participants have already attended other project’s activities such as HIT Training and Seminar on human rights and hate speech which took place during 2019.Members of the scientific personnel of “The Smile of the Child” participated as moderators / trainers during the implementation of the workshops. Deliverables of workshops were consisted of 5 digital media based products: 1 billboard, 1 radio spot, 1 TV spot, 1 web video & 1 press advertisement with common goal to spread the message on counteracting hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities.
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Germany In Germany, the activities in the HIT project were developed together with the Archive of Youth Cultures, the students, and further stakeholders. The Archive works on research projects, organizes conferences and educational events (such as youth culture workshops on group-focused inhumanity) and works closely with speakers from youth, pop and subculture. Thus, a very broad field of actors and activists from different environments were involved and the networks of MetropolisNet as well as the Archive could be included in the work. This way, young people from a community school in Berlin could be engaged for participation. The students there come from very different cultures and are from socially disadvantaged and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. Through this diversity of the participating students, many dimensions of diversity became relevant and were able to be addressed in terms of hate speech and human rights. The goal of the human rights and hate speech pilot training (07/08/2019 – 29/01/2020) was to introduce young people to the basics of Hate Speech and how to fight against it or to stand up for Human rights. In addition, the young people were to be equipped and strengthened to develop their own strategies to fight against Hate Speech and to stand up for Human Rights and actively experience these issues in their digital and creative environment. The activities took place within the framework of a working group in a school. The students participated in the training regularly for 2 hours per week over the period of half a year. On each date a different emphasis was placed on the HIT curriculum and macro areas. The young people and the trainers faced the four macro-areas of the HIT Curriculum (Human rights, Storyboard, Social Marketing and Creative Campaign). In addition, additional activities were built in to build relationships between the participants and the trainers and to create an atmosphere of trust. The trainers guided the entire process of the pilot using the HIT evaluation framework and internal tools of the organization. In order to motivate the students over the whole period of time, they were often asked to become active themselves and to develop ideas where the topics occur in their everyday life and how they could directly address them. This included that the students got in contact with their peers and adults in their school and the surrounding area and their neighbourhood, who they approached by chance, to interview them on the topics of Hate Speech and Human rights and to exchange views. Through the collaborative workshops (02/03/2020 to 06/03/2020), the young people were to be activated to form HIT teams with stakeholders on the one hand, and to design material for the Awareness raising HIT campaign on the other hand, ultimately to counteract hate speech. As stakeholders, a wide range of committed and interested people should be engaged, who would work together with the students on the topic, bring in their expertise and support them in developing materials. In addition, the stakeholders were to contribute through their networks to the campaign and make the young people's voices heard. The collaborative workshops took place during an intensive week, on five consecutive days. The different activities took place in different places, in the school and in the premises of the partner Archive of Youth Cultures as well as outdoors. During these workshops the trainers were supported by other stakeholders, 13
including a rapper, graffiti artist, video maker, journalist and other people such as influencers and authors to support and contribute to the awareness campaign on hate speech.
Bulgaria In Bulgaria we decided to stage our meeting with the young people at the HIT project in Kuklen city. This is a place near our main city – Plovdiv. Our group with 30 young people is a collaboration of people from several cities from Plovdiv region – Asenovgrad, Karlovo, Puvomay and Kuklen. It is a positive practice because young people make new friendships, which provides additional motivation. Another fact is that in Asenovgrad and Kuklen the local society is more ethnically diverse than in Plovdiv. On May 17, 2019, the first HIT project workshop was organized. Young people from the Bulgarian Red Cross from Plovdiv, Kuklen, Asenovgrad and Parvomay developed creative campaigns to show the world that there is no place for hate speech and behaviour in our daily lives. The meetings were held in the hall of the Centre for Social Rehabilitation and Integration "Indy Roma" - Kuklen and with the support of a team of the centre and the "National Association for Social Cooperation and Partnership" - Kuklen. This partnership gave an additional and colourful flavour to the project activities. We conducted two events (November 2019 to March 2020) related with the HIT project - Seminar on human rights and hate speech and behaviour against migrants and Workshop on the HIT project - Hate Prevention Teams. During the seminar, the objectives of the project and the interactive activities were presented, which were based on the methods of non-formal education and were conducted in the last few months. They were thematically divided - the first training was on "Human rights and Hate Speech", the second "Idea Campaigns and Preservation of Oral History", the third "Social Marketing". The fourth, final training, entitled "Creating a Narrative and Campaign," was the culmination of the meetings. During the meeting with youth in March, the young people and their project mentors reviewed and analysed the goals and results achieved in the 2019 meetings. The emphasis was placed on the materials that each of the young people will have to prepare before and during the upcoming workshop on 13.03.2020. An important part of the meeting was the application developed for creating a storyboard, with which young people build scenarios presenting hate speech in action, but with a positive and negative outcome.
(b) Key human rights concepts and how to transmit them As already mentioned in the previous section, the partner countries implemented summer schools, followed by collaborative workshops a few months later. During these gatherings, the diverse activities allowed the participants, both young individuals and educators as well as relevant stakeholders, to understand the matter of hate speech through the use of different tools and resources. In a nutshell, the trainers mainly focused on the HIT curriculum which included storyboards and card games, coupled with the HIT evaluation framework activities. However, most countries used the agreed tools whereas others 14
chose to use additional tools and activities, such as icebreakers and handbooks. You can find the full list per-country below: Country
Activity
HIT resources • • •
Summer Schools
•
• Cyprus • •
Collaborative workshops
1) HIT curriculum 2) Storyboard 3) HIT application, Card game • •
Summer Schools • •
United Kingdom
Collaborative workshops
HIT curriculum, including HIT storyboard card game HIT evaluation framework activities All different, All equal: Education pack (Council of Europe) Bookmarks: A manual for combating hate speech online through human rights education (Council of Europe) Bricks Against Hate speech: Media Education and Hate speech workbook (Zaffiria Centre, COSPE) Companion (Council of Europe) Compass: Manual for Human rights Education with Young People (Council of Europe)
HIT curriculum (journey poster, card game, CreativityHIT) Role play (simulating job experiences in the creative industry) Circle time Icebreakers
1. HIT curriculum 2. Human rights and the rights of a child 3. Drama icebreakers, freeze frame and tableau work 4. Physical statistics exercises 5. Positive exercise on the opposite of hate •
HIT Curriculum 15
Summer Schools
• • • •
Italy
HIT Storyboard, Card Game and Creative App Bricks Manual (Cospe) Silence Hate Manual (Cospe) WeCan Manual (COE)
The HIT team with the support of MuLab facilitators identified in the Seminar content map of the HIT Seminar Syllabus the central resource and particularly: Collaborative workshops
- Impact of HSBM on daily life - Information on the HIT Journey - Boundaries between Hate speech and Free Speech - How creativity can counteract HSBM
Summer Schools
• • •
The HIT curriculum The HIT storyboard card game The HIT Evaluation Framework
Spain
Collaborative workshops
1) HIT Curriculum 2) Audio-visual material including the storyboard card game and the HIT app 3) Videos from HIT website, including videos from the pilot training as well as videos from other EU countries Activities:
Summer Schools
Greece
• • • • • • • •
Activity «Follow the right(s)» Activity «Tell me a Statue» Activity «Create an Alter Ego» Activity «Framing the Effect» Activity «Create your own Super Hero» Activity «Thermometer» Activity «CreativitHIT» Activity «Get the Point»
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Handbook: HIT Curriculum on Human rights and counteraction of hate speech & behaviour against migrants.
Collaborative workshops
1) HIT Curriculum on Human rights and counteraction of hate speech & behaviour against migrants. 2) Storyboard 3) HIT Mobile application. • •
Summer Schools
• • • • •
Germany •
Collaborative workshops
1) HIT curriculum 2) HIT evaluation framework activities 3) HIT application, card game • •
Summer Schools
Bulgaria
• • •
Collaborative workshops
HIT curriculum HIT storyboard, card game and creative app HIT evaluation framework Warm up games (Mood-circle; organize yourself; Quiz Human rights) Variation of Barometer (sociometric statement) Hate speech Crosswords “GMF”-Chart (“Group Centred Enmity”) Technical work for memes, gifs and videos
HIT curriculum HIT Storyboard, card game and creative app HIT evaluation framework Youth as agents of behavioural change toolkit (Red Cross) Promotion of humanitarian value (Red Cross)
1) HIT curriculum 2) HIT Storyboard, card game and Creative app 17
(c) HIT evaluation material
CYPRUS TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH - SUMMER SCHOOLS Through the evaluation methods used, it was noted that the young participants had a significant evolvement not only of understanding hate speech, but also to becoming more creative on finding ways to tackle the phenomenon.
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
The young participants were evaluated for their knowledge twice, once at the beginning and then at the end of the summer schools; a fact that helped them to understand the knowledge gained during the training while assessing their progress. The evaluations included topics related to the logistics, the organisation, the skills developed as well as the methods used. Self-evaluation “quantitative” tool: used at the beginning and at the end of the training to trace the journey of the HIT participants. Method: The facilitator taped a line with 10 marks on the floor. After reading out statements from the HIT evaluation framework, participants stood on the mark according to how much they agreed (1 least – 10 most). Between one question and another, the facilitator asked the group to walk freely in the room. The group had a brief discussion after this evaluation. The facilitator took notes of the grades expressed by participants to make an average evaluation. A “qualitative” feedback: The tool was presented at the beginning of the training to evaluate the expectations of the participants. Method: The facilitator provided ‘Post-its’ and markers. During the meeting, the participants jotted down on a Post-it a word that represented their impressions, feelings, ideas, and experiences through different moments of the day. At the end of the training, the facilitator collected the Post-its, and managed a group discussion/reflection. The poster was like a travel diary where the participants told about their experience. Quantitative and qualitative feedback through a structured questionnaire: Allows a more comprehensive view of the participants’ impressions and learning from the training and gives an enhanced visual presentation of the results through graphs. The questionnaire was composed by 23 open-ended and closedended questions concerning various aspects of the training: from what they have learned to the logistical aspects, including their feelings related to the training. 18
Positive aspects: The participants expressed very positive feedback about the activities, claiming they were creative, enjoyable and fun. Furthermore, the majority claimed that Human rights was their favourite subject and that they have gained a lot of knowledge about Hate Speech. Moreover, they said they gained useful knowledge on a variety of areas such as storyboard production and human rights. The activities they liked the most were related to Creative Campaigning. OUTCOME
To improve: A number of participants claimed that the difference of ages among the participants created a gap in learning, since some activities/games/topics were more adapted to older participants while others expressed the need to have more days of HIT training.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
Overall: The results of the questionnaire showed a high level of satisfaction in relation to the HIT Summer School. The participants claimed that their knowledge related to human rights and hate speech has increased and they feel empowered. Also, they liked the activities and the creativity required in the creation of the storyboards. However, they suggested that more attention is needed at the learning process due to the fact that the different ages of participants, demand a diverse approach to learning. Finally, the participants recommended that the HIT Summer School could be extended. The training had a significant impact on young HITs. They have been introduced to the role and importance of human rights and got familiarized with the methods, means and activities used for counteracting hate speech. This activity can be considered itself as a best practice on child participation, empowerment and capacity building as the young participants were able at the end of the training to identify and recognise the forms of violence and hate speech. Moreover, the introduction on counteracting hate speech, the activities and the HIT card game showed that new, creative ways are useful when addressing the matter. As a result of the training, the young HITs not only learnt about human rights and hate speech but they also increased their media literacy and creative use of new media by producing videos and posters related to the topic. COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS The evaluation for the knowledge gained by the young HITs during their experience at the collaborative workshops was based on the completion of the HIT journey portfolio and particularly on what they have learned during the activities i.e. competences and what skills they have developed:
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EVALUATION & METHODS USED
-What I have learned (describe) -ERF Key competences3 At the end of the collaborative workshops, the young participants mentioned that they have learned a lot about media and their impact in society, and also in transforming and influencing the public opinion. Additionally, they found the workshops creative, interesting, and fun. The outcome of the evaluation of the collaborative workshops was very positive and the young HITs claimed that they found the workshops very interesting, they learned the role of media and the whole experience helped them to develop key competences related on communication and active participation.
OUTCOME
-What I have learned (describe) “This journey has taught me how a radio commercial is produced and in general the way the audio-visual companies work” “I have learned how information is being transferred” “I have learned that the TV advertisement and social media are a really good way to pass messages” “I have learned the importance of media on facing hate speech” -ERF Key competences (selecting: Communication competences, Digital competence, Learning to Learn, Citizenship competence, entrepreneurship competence, cultural awareness and expression, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology and literacy competence) Main competences earned and developed: -Communication competences -Digital competences -Learning to Learn -Cultural awareness and expression Additionally, the young HITs have been asked to talk about their experience at the collaborative workshops on camera: “…it was a very nice experience and we have learned many good things…” “… it was a nice experience and hope to come back” “Today it was a wonderful day!”
https://www.youthpass.eu/en/help/faqs/keycompetences/
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Overall: The young HITs found the collaborative workshops an interesting and productive experience where they had the opportunity to get involved, learn and to further develop their knowledge on counteracting hate speech. As a result of the collaborative workshops, the young HITs created the following media products based on the HIT project and their experience gained throughout the workshops in combination on what they have learned during the summer schools:
RESULTS AND IMPACT
Print advertisement: The HITs created a poster and a print advert, where they artistically expressed their messages for facing hate speech and being respectful to all. TV: The young HITs, with the help of the expertise of the media specialists, wrote a script and presented an interview between them on the objectives of the HIT Project. Moreover, they talked about the experience gained at the summer schools on counteracting hate speech. Radio: After the introduction of the role of the radio, the young participants wrote a script and recorded their very own radio spot. In addition, they became familiar with the whole process of creating a radio advertisement as well as what is needed for having the final result. Social Media: The participants were informed about the important impact of social media in our lives. At the end of the presentation the HITs created their own social media video on facing hate speech. The Collaborative Workshops had a positive impact on the young participants, who had the opportunity to develop their artistic skills and get actively involved in the creation of their own media products, through their interaction with media professionals. Moreover, the HITs worked on the HIT Application, a fact that contributed to the development of new ideas for the audio-visual scripts and the storyboards.
UNITED KINGDOM TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH
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It was noted how young people became more reflective as well as creative in their understanding and use of human rights and anti-hate speech concepts, a fact that reflects in the completed evaluation. As a country, we look forward to seeing further work around this area.
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
OUTCOME
The evaluation methods used during these workshops were through circle/ discussion time, recapping on the day before, interviews where job situations in particular were simulated, and participants also filled in journey posters. Through these methods we were able to assess the success of the workshops and respond. Additionally, participants were also able to self-assess. During our workshops young people were at the centre of planning and the activities and we responded to their interests. We used a variety of tools and games to develop trust. Participants commented on how much more confident they were in talking about the issues covered in the workshops. They also fed back on how the workshops piqued their interest and increased their understanding not only of human rights and hate speech but also the subtlety in how hate crime seeps into society. Most importantly they learnt how to recognise and identify this and how to counter and interrupt hate speech in their own communities and how to use social media as a tool to do this. On a practical level they learnt creative skills in making films. Digital Film As mentioned above, two digital films were produced through these workshops (see below). These two films were made by the HIT participants for young people. What Do You Want To Stop talks about all of the different ways in which people can be discriminated against whereas Discrimination Told By Body Language involves all of the participants talking about their own personal experiences though filmed only from the neck down creating a sense that these experiences could be those of people anywhere and around the viewer. These films have been shared on social media.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
1. What Do You Want To Stop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=Zx6lIa_RIjA&feature=emb_logo
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2. Discrimination Told By Body Language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=Yg4_nyoSDn4&feature=emb_logo
Social Media and HIT Posters Participants learnt about creative campaigning and how to build a strategy around a creative campaign. They learnt about social media and how this could be effectively used as well as created posters that could be used in a public campaign. COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS Evaluation of the workshops from the Assistant Director, who observed delivery in the school setting was very good, with outstanding features, and a small note on more time for discussion in future sessions. The Assistant head teacher remarked how much the students enjoyed and were interested in the sessions and had booked in the follow up podcast development sessions, which unfortunately had to be cancelled due to school closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. Students also made spontaneous comments. EVALUATION & Evaluation of the collaborative workshop to youth workers was done via a feedback sheet. METHODS USED Here are some of the quotes: ‘’The workshop opened up my horizon on hate crime’. Youth worker. ‘The broadening of what hate speech is and can be…made me come to terms with my own mind-set and how I can personally be a victim to hateful comments, and now I feel I can deal with situations more appropriately.’ Youth worker. ‘Thank you that was a really interesting workshop.’ Harris Tottenham secondary student. ‘The opposite of hate: everything that love is.’ Harris Tottenham secondary student.
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Feedback gained from all the environments was very positive, the creative facilitators were key to the process, as were sharing young people’s experiences of hate speech and behaviour. OUTCOME
Stakeholders including educators, youth workers, creative facilitators, within the schools, alternative education and after school environments, used the process to inform their own future delivery, and the session was regarded as continuous professional development. The young students gained more confidence and understanding in the subject areas, and felt positive about their input into a larger European-wide project and their role in interrupting hate speech and behaviour through creative responses and campaigns. The collaborative workshops resulted in a range of rich content and working materials that could be used within future HIT campaigns, as well as 5 storyboards and 10 portfolios, based around the learning objectives in the HIT curriculum.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
We used immersive approaches, drama and games and adapted the methods of training to suit each location and limitations. We used engaging, creative activities and formats that impacted positively on young people, informed by youth workers and creative professionals, and other HITs. The young people contributed well and explored their ideas around each objective - it was fascinating to learn that over 60% of them in school had experienced bullying. All participants, youth workers and students were able to self-reflect in order to inform their creative output. They learnt about human rights in a way they had never encountered before and were keen to explore further.
ITALY TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH Young people have had the opportunity to learn topics and arguments, not easy and usual, in a different way; while using their creativity to express positive thoughts and generating contents to prevent, interrupt and counteract forms of abuse and hate speech enhancing the smart and kind power of human rights. The Hate Interrupter Team, through participatory and art-based practices and facilitated by mentors and practitioners, shared their vision in schools, amongst their communities and peers and through social media. In general, Mulab's team has supported this flow by creating levels of trust and encouraging the empowerment of young people in their ability to affect reality and be the main actors in their growth and education. The results are presented below.
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EVALUATION & METHODS USED
OUTCOME
During the Pilot's activities, the tools provided by the HIT Evaluation Framework were used. The Barometer, for quantitative feedback at the beginning and the end of each of the four macro-area activities. And, to assess the shifting of the participant's capacities from the initial to the final level of awareness and knowledge relating to a specific topic/argument. The Journey Poster and Footprints, qualitative feedback tools from participants to evaluate the expectations and sense of the progress for the young people and the effectiveness of the training. Used also to take over the emotional aspects and liking of the activities. For the last training session, the Barometer transforms itself in a target to indicate the end of an essential part of our journey, reaching the goal. "Hit the goal" final evaluation tool: everyone sticks a post-it on a target to self-assess their skills before and after the activity.
In every initial and final evaluation for each of the four thematic macro-areas of the HIT Curriculum, emerged a greater awareness about human rights and social and cultural disparities from young people. Moreover, HIT Team members have developed and applied new skills within the ERF Key competences framework. Related to the creation of digital visual content (communication and digital competences), and by working in teams (personal, social and learning to learn competencies) and taking concrete steps to generate positive change (citizenship competences). The journey poster shows the appreciation to youth activities, the listening and following of the young people's interests that guided the design of the training and the experiential proposal. In general, participants have shown a great interest in dealing with the proposed themes through games and creative activities. The team have also identified social media and storytelling as a powerful vehicle for spreading complimentary messages and not exclusively as a self-referential tool.
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RESULTS AND IMPACT
The HIT Team showed themselves to be very active during all the proposed events and activities. From the digital performance in which they were influenced by several visual and sound inputs as if they were under a bombing attack, to an event on the migration theme where they gathered people's opinions on gender, social and cultural disparities through interviews. Last but not least, the HIT team received an invitation from UNICEF for a national event in Rome and a member of the group, in a public talk, presented the HIT project and the strategies on how to counteract Hate speech among young people.
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS The evaluation of the knowledge acquired by the young people was based on self-reflective practices, facilitated session (after the Seminar), informal EVALUATION & METHODS conversation with facilitators and on the portfolios. Particular reference was USED given to what they learned during the activities of the Seminar: How creativity (which has been declined in many of its forms from rap music to poetry, from illustration to photography) can contribute in affirming the Human rights against various forms of abuse and hatred. The outcome of the seminar was very positive and with broad participation of young people, with more than 50 participants. The choice of the central theme (How creativity can counteract the HSBM) of the stakeholders and the format also reflects the intent to have an exchange and a real sharing of experiences and OUTCOME reflections. And this helped to strengthen the critical and creative thinking skills developing personal perspectives on complex issues through research and 27
investigation. Together, the HIT Team members had the responsibility to build a seminar that made their voices, their reflections but also the potential solutions protagonists.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
To build their own perspective, the members of the HIT team have developed through research a series of skills from identifying and contextualising a problem to the use of technologies to access information and adopt a critical reading of it. But also interpreting different perspectives and engagingly communicating a topic. During the seminar, three talks, a photographic exhibition, two musical performances and illustrations were presented. Each seminar intervention had a specific focus. The results of the seminar then poured into the subsequent activities of the HIT team and the construction of collaborative workshops for the realisation of the creative campaigns.
SPAIN TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH The ultimate goal of the two workshops was to encourage young people to see the connection between rights and responsibilities; to uphold them, and become active citizens and defenders of our rights. Throughout the HIT pilot training the HIT Evaluation Framework was applied, consensually developed and agreed with the project consortium. The main objective as defined by the partners was to incorporate the evaluation in the training, in the form of fun activities. These activities were a way for the young people to self-assess, and at the same time, help the facilitators to gauge how the sessions were going, or what to adjust. 28
The three most relevant activities were: The Barometer
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
The facilitators taped a line with 10 marks on the floor. After reading out statements from the HIT evaluation framework, participants stood on the mark according to how much they agreed (1 least – 10 most). Between one question and another, the facilitator asked the group to walk freely in the room. The group had a brief discussion after this evaluation. The facilitator took notes of the grades expressed by participants to make an average evaluation. Group 1 did the evaluations throughout the training but only once for each question, whilst Group 2 answered the questions twice, once at the beginning and once towards the end of the activities, to measure the impact of the training. The evaluations showed positive progress in both cases. Group 1 became more confident as the training progressed, giving better evaluations, and Group 2 clearly indicated that they felt more confident at the end of the training, in comparison to the beginning. HIT journey footprint The aim of this activity is to learn about HSBM, about strategies to counteract it, move from passivity to participation and active positive change. Understanding the participant’s journey to create Hate Interrupter Teams from their viewpoint. At the beginning of the sessions, participants were given a paper cut symbolising the starting line of their HIT Journey and asked to write a sentence about what they thought HSBM is and how they can counteract it. At the end of the sessions, participants were given a paper cut symbolising the end line of their HIT Journey and asked to write a sentence about what they thought they would achieve through the Hate Interrupter Teams. Each participant wrote on the footprint what they had discovered during the sessions, and they positioned their footprint in relation to how close they thought they were to being able to counteract HSBM. Participants put their footprints up on the wall and discussed their progress at the end of the pilot training. In both groups a clear progress was visible, and the young people expressed that they felt more confident to detect and react to hate speech and racism.
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The HIT journey poster The aim of this activity is to have qualitative feedback from participants whenever needed. The tool can be presented at the beginning of the training to evaluate the expectations of the participants. The facilitator provides ‘Post-its’ and markers. During the meeting, the participants can jot down on a post-it a word that represents their impressions, feelings, ideas, and experiences through different moments of the day. Ideally facilitators will encourage participants to post moods, ideas, and responses to different moments of the training, and the post-its will be triggers for group discussions. The poster was like a travel diary for the HIT training participants, tracing their HIT journey. In both groups it showed a fun and inspiring journey. During the pilot training in Spain the young people developed the following ERF Key competence: Communication competences, Digital competence, Learning to Learn, Citizenship competence, cultural awareness and expression, basic competences in technology and literacy competence.
OUTCOME
In line with the training goals and HIT good practices criteria, the pilot training in Spain had the following outcomes: - young people took an active involvement in the activities and impacted their community by sharing their experience with peers - young people evaluated positively the gaining of knowledge on the topics of the project - Sustainability: the training material, as well as the audio-visual material produced by the young people during the sessions are available online The training and its outcomes were widely disseminated before, during and after the sessions. The pilot training had the following results: - creation of 2 HIT teams in two areas of Barcelona - 3 storyboards - 2 photo stories - 4 videos for the HIT human library and campaign (these items can be found here: http://hitproject.eu//Main/ResourcesByCategory/1)
RESULTS AND IMPACT
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The direct impact the HIT pilot training has had is : - groups of young people learned how to form “Hate Interrupter Teams” - the material produced was shared as awareness raising material online on the project website and YouTube, as well as on CEPS social media (FB, twitter, Instagram), and reached over 4000 young people and educators (dissemination is ongoing at this point, September 2020) The material produced was shared during other HIT activities as examples of how the young people had been empowered and what their concerns were. COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS The young people worked on the campaign materials outside the formal HIT sessions, whilst in the sessions they presented their unfinished or finished material, discussed progress, and clarified doubts. Especially at the beginning and end of each session, the facilitators checked in with discussions of the young people’s satisfaction and comprehension of the content, whilst introducing new concepts at each session. This ongoing evaluation was always very positive, with the young people showing a high level of engagement, coming to the sessions with a lot of material, ideas and questions, as well as a high level of comprehension of the issues at stake, and satisfaction with the progress and project aims. EVALUATION & METHODS USED
A formal evaluation was only done of the HIT online app, which was used to design some of the campaign elements. The young people evaluated it and from 21 questionnaires handed out, 21 were completed. The forms included 26 questions, with an evaluation chart from 1 to 7. Half of the questions were posed from positive to negative (1 point being the best, and 7 being the worst), and the other half from negative to positive (1 being the worst, and 7 the best). The questions were mixed, and the ‘value’ indicated at the beginning and the end of the point chart. 62% of the young people evaluated the different aspects of the app as good (with 10% thereof as excellent), 22% as medium, and 17% as not so good (with only a 2% thereof as bad). This quantitative evaluation, together with the verbal feedback during the workshop from the young people, and the observation of the facilitators, give a very good overall evaluation of the app. The young people enjoyed creating campaign material with the digital app very much, and used the different options with and without the additional login (including their own photos or not). However, due to safety restrictions on the school tablet devices, the young people could not share the material to their social media accounts. The school does not allow them to have their social media accounts connected to their school tablet. Young people have been encouraged 31
to participate in the #HITproject social media campaign, but because the minors have private accounts, this can only be seen by their friends. For these reasons the HIT app has been evaluated by the school teacher and CEPS team as a very good educational tool, but with limited impact on social media. During the collaborative workshops in Spain the young people developed the following ERF Key competence: Communication competences, Digital competence, Learning to Learn, Citizenship competence, cultural awareness and expression, basic competences in technology and literacy competence.
OUTCOME
In line with the HIT good practices criteria, the collaborative workshops in Spain had the following outcomes: - young people took an active involvement in the activities and impacted their community by sharing the material they produced - young people evaluated positively the gaining of knowledge on the topics of Human rights, Hate speech and Racism - Sustainability: the audio-visual and campaign material produced by the young people during the sessions are available online The EU anti-HS campaign material produced during the workshops were and are widely disseminated during and after the sessions. The collaborative workshops had the following results: -
RESULTS AND IMPACT
4 videos for the HIT EU anti-HS campaign (they can be found here: http://hitproject.eu//Main/ResourcesByCategory/1) - creation of one HIT team in the school - 9 Portfolios by students documenting their HIT journey - 13 storyboards (some examples here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/makingprojects/sets/72157713274057166/ ) - 1 online newspaper article https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/juniorreport/20200311/474089852613/cortometrajes-frenar-odio-aulas.html The direct impact the HIT collective workshops have had in Spain is: - a group of young people learned how to form a “Hate Interrupter Teams� - a group of stakeholders shared their experience with the HIT, and at the same time learned about their concerns The material produced was shared as awareness raising material online on the project website and YouTube, as well as on CEPS social media (FB, twitter, Instagram), and reached over 4000 young people and educators (dissemination is ongoing at this point, September 2020). 32
GREECE TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH Through the evaluation methods used, it was observed that all participants, young HITs, stakeholders and opinion formers became more familiar with the phenomenon of Hate speech and they declared that during implementation of HIT activities they gained the knowledge and tools to tackle hate speech against immigrants and minorities in order to better understand the impact of hate speech on migrants and other groups, including children and young people, and to raise awareness on this issue and promote its prevention to the wider public. During the training, the evaluation method used was the “Barometer” activity . Pre & post evaluation questionnaires were distributed to young participants in regards with the implementation of training in order to allow trainers to capture distance travelled, expectations, confidence with the subjects and effectiveness of the programme but also overall satisfaction and happiness with the event implemented. EVALUATION & METHODS USED
OUTCOME
The content of the evaluation questionnaire was structured in 4 macro areas of HIT Curriculum: 1) Human rights and Hate speech; 2) Creative Campaigning and Digital Storytelling; 3) Social Marketing; 4) Storyboard; The main conclusions are that at the end of the training, young participants: - increased their knowledge and were more informed in regards with human rights and prejudices, - were able to recognise incidents of hate speech and behaviour, - improved their skills and gained knowledge on creating textual content for a creative campaign, - felt more capable to create visual content and stories with drawings, including social messages addressed to a wider public. The young HITs enjoyed the training programme and all the activities very much. Most of the young participants expressed their views that the most interesting parts of the training programme were: - the distinction of definitions of hate speech from the right to freedom of expression, - the activity “Follow the Right” which made it easier for them to understand the distance from theory to practice, since all the children have the same rights but the difference is that not everyone enjoys them. - that attendees/children managed to link the knowledge with their daily lives and their own rights and obligations. Currently in Greece, children coexist with a large number of refugee children, so the training has a significant value in their daily lives. 33
RESULTS AND IMPACT
HIT’s training aimed at enlightening other aspects of HSB. The participants, in an experiential way, perceived the difference between giving an opinion and developing hate speech & behaviour and they associated HSB with the violation of rights. They also deepened understanding of HSB towards refugees and split into groups in order to create their own campaigns against HSB and suggested creative ways to combat the phenomenon. At the end, all participants managed to create tools and develop strategies to counteract hate speech and behaviour towards migrants (HSBM) in their communities, at school and amongst their peers through participatory, inclusive arts-based practices. They improved their communication competences, digital competence, cultural awareness and expression, and developed their personal skills such as development of self-confidence, learned to express their ideas with the use of creative tools and even how to collaborate in teams. COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
OUTCOME
Young HITs were invited to share their feedback and personal experiences gained during the implementation of Collaborative workshops through the creation of their HIT portfolio, writing particularly lessons learned and what ERF key competences have gained. HITs shared their journey during the implementation of project’s activities and expressed their experiences through the completion of their portfolios in which they described what key competences they have gained such as communication competences, digital competence, cultural awareness and expression, which of their personal skills they developed, and in general, the lessons learned through the collaborative work. Additionally, stakeholders’ members and opinion formers expressed their willingness to continue supporting HIT project through their social media pages and share the HIT activities with their social networks. Indicatively , in reference with “What I have learned?” section , some of young HITs declared the following : ‘I learned what means hate speech and that it differs from the definition of racism and many other information such as for example when was signed the European Convention on Human rights.’ ‘I learned how to promote issues with social impact through the use of social media such as TV and Radio in collaboration with experts in these fields.’ ‘I learned to separate definitions of bullying and hate speech (which are often confused) and how to exercise the right of free expression.’ 34
‘I learned the importance of the use of media in order to make people alarmed on social issues.’ ‘All participants learned to express their own ideas and share the solidarity message through the creation of posters and stories.’ Indicatively , in reference with “ERF Key competences gained…” section , some of young HITs declared the following : ‘I learned how to create digital campaigns with the scope to excite and attract people’s interest.’ ‘I gained digital competences and learned useful tips related to the creation of public advertisements, TV & Radio, which were shared with us by specialists in these sectors.’ ‘I improved my personal skills such as development of self-confidence, learned to express my ideas with the use of creative tools, how to collaborate in teams.’ ‘The creative animation of a difficult concept could be presented through images and then could be understood by everyone, even by young children.’
RESULTS AND IMPACT
Young HITs have been asked to share a slogan on camera for the launch of the Creative Raising Awareness Campaign counteracting on hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities in Greece which is: “STOP THE HATE, EMBRACE YOUR MATE”. As a result of the Collaborative workshops’ activities is the production of the 5 digital media based products : 1 billboard, 1 radio spot, 1 TV spot, 1 web video & 1 press advertisement with common goal to spread the message on counteracting hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities. All of the 5 deliverables were designed, drafted and developed during the workshops and are going to be finalised by the IT and Press department of The Smile of the Child. After completion, these digital media based products will be used for the launch of the Creative Raising Awareness Campaign counteracting on hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities across Greece. During the implementation of workshops, participants managed to become more familiar with definitions such as refugee, migrant, the refugee crisis in Greece and Europe, the phenomenon of hate speech and HS behaviour – reporting of incidents and at the same time to gain knowledge on how creativity 35
can deal with hate speech and HS behaviours towards migrants. Also, how important the use of new technologies is in the creation of material for the raising awareness campaign, how meaning and intent of speech and image in advertising in social media such as television, radio, etc, can have an impact. The importance of social marketing – strategies and tools that affect and change social behaviours, and the important role of TV, of radio and of social media pages aimed at the promotion of messages with social content and impact. At the end, participants gained competences such as communication and digital competences, developed the sense of cultural awareness and expression and of freedom of speech and learned how to work collaboratively and in groups, as well as they were able to recognise the positive value of use of digital media for the launch of a Creative Raising Awareness Campaign on counteracting hate speech and behaviours towards migrants and minorities.
GERMANY TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH All participants have grown closely together during the diverse activities and the production of various materials and were able to build up a great trust among each other. The HIT training extended over the period of half a year. The collaborative workshops were based on the results of the training and were able to produce many materials for the awareness raising campaign within an intensive working week.
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
During the activities of the pilot project the tools provided by the HIT evaluation framework were used. The HIT card game is an excellent template to simply explain the principle of a storyboard. The young people enjoyed working and creating photos, memes and other social media contributions in the app. As they are experienced in using various social media tools and apps for taking photos and editing pictures, they also thought about how the app could be further developed and integrated into other portals in the future. In general, the young people found the warm-up very entertaining. These serve to loosen up the group and should strengthen the social fabric within the group. This was important because during HIT, a total of 4 different courses came together and the students did not know each other. The barometer activated the young people and made the results unmistakably clear. In addition to the HIT methods, we used methods that are widely used in 36
political education and that the Archive of Youth Cultures has been practicing for many years in the context of political education work with young people. Quizzes such as the hate speech crossword puzzle proved to be a wonderful way of finding out the level of knowledge of the children at the beginning of the project. In the end, the game helped to find out what knowledge was stored. Gaps in knowledge could be closed. Positive aspects: The materials were very rich and varied and encouraged the young people to get out of their habitual patterns of thinking and behaviour. They themselves were surprised how little they knew about human rights before and how much they could learn through the project. In addition, many of them have learned to question themselves and their own behaviour and reflect on how they affect others. It was a good thing that the young people were all of the same age, since they all had the same background to which they could relate. To improve: OUTCOME
Young people from other districts, other school types and other backgrounds could have participated in order to gain even more perspectives. This could lead to problems of getting used to new ideas and an understanding for other young people who live in different backgrounds. Overall: As a whole, the HIT training offered the young people an opportunity and a new range of experience that they would not have experienced anywhere else in their environment. The topics dealt with, would otherwise have been completely unexposed for them and the connection with the various actions and creative methods of expressing themselves and standing up for human rights and against Hate speech has motivated them to become active. Through the involvement of digital tools like the APP and the joint action in social media, they were able to tell friends about the project and spread the word beyond the participants. The students created interview questions for external people, conducted interviews, documented them with video and then edited them. They created memes that took hate speech ad absurdum (to the point of absurdity) and then distributed and shared them in social media.
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RESULTS AND IMPACT
They did research to find out for themselves what the history of human rights is and processed this in a PowerPoint presentation. They created storyboards using the respective templates. They not only drew them, but also staged them with additional students from the drama club and photographed them. Since they are already very sensitive to privacy issues and the need to show themselves in public social media channels, they also edited the photos to hide their faces, but still make the facial expressions clear. They also conducted an online research for known people who provide public statements against Hate speech. They contacted these people (editor, influencer, politician) and convinced them to give statements and then the students turned their statements into postings. For the Online Human Library, they created videos showing who have already experienced personal Hate speech. Together, the students worked on the awareness raising campaign and developed a strategy, defining the goal and the target group as well as considering how the campaign could be implemented. COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS The evaluation mainly insisted on self-reflection and the discussions and feedback from stakeholders. The students were asked to observe and assess which skills and knowledge they had acquired or developed during these days.
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
At the beginning of the collaborative workshops, the students had to describe to the stakeholders what they had already learned in the HIT training and what they learned for themselves and what this has changed for them. At the end of the collaborative workshop a rap song was composed. For the lyrics of the rap song they had to summarize and share all their experiences and learnings. In the end, the young people and also the stakeholders were very happy and proud of everything they had produced during these days. They were all very committed and said that they had a lot of fun. Positive aspects: The students positively evaluated the gaining of key competences: communication competences, digital competence, citizenship competence, cultural awareness and expression, basic competences in technology.
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To improve:
OUTCOME
Combining the topics of hate speech and human rights with direct activities and the production of materials was fun and led to a steep learning curve for the students. They have also taught themselves different techniques among themselves or independently. But there could have been more support or indepth inputs and training on the use of programmes to edit texts and graphics, since the students would need missing skills that go beyond the use of userfriendly apps. Overall: The results of the evaluation of the cooperative workshops were very positive, and the students stated that they found the collaborative workshops very interesting and motivating. They particularly appreciated being able to work with the stakeholders and ultimately broadening their skills in terms of communication and active participation. Above all, they appreciated the opportunity to get involved directly, to learn and to be able to apply their knowledge about combating hate speech from the training in the collaborative workshops. On the topic "How creativity can counteract the HSBM", five different areas were set for implementation: 1. graffiti 2. Hip hop / rap: cancelled due to lack of demand 3. Press/fake news 4. Social media 5. Poster / stencil A main focus was put on the design of a graffiti. First, the history and development of graffiti culture was traced using illustrative material such as books, photos, videos and magazines. In the workshop the students could experiment with the individual disciplines of graffiti writing (tags, alphabets, throw-ups, pieces). Work was done with pencil, paint, can, airbrush, paper, wall. The teams sprayed a complete wall with the HIT logo; hashtags and encouraging slogans.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
The students made a journey to discover free writing and wrote down their own ideas, without specifications and almost without rules, thinking about life and hate speech. Based on this, they wrote a journalistic text on the topic of hate speech. The participants turned their attention to the topic of "fake news" and developed a short manual for dealing with fake news. In addition, various posters were produced on the topic of hate speech and discrimination. The posters were produced partly digitally and partly by means of collages. In addition, stencils with slogans against hate speech were produced. These can be used for the creative campaign by spraying the messages on public sidewalks with water-soluble paint and chalk. 39
For the social media campaign, useful hashtags were identified, and slogans were developed. Accompanying all actions, a rap song was composed and recorded and edited by a professional rapper. The teams were also filmed during the collaborative workshop. These individual sequences were cut together by a professional video maker and underlaid with the rap song. All these developed materials are used for the awareness raising creative campaign.
BULGARIA TRAINING ON HUMAN RIGHTS & HATE SPEECH The evaluation showed that the participants took away a more specific understanding of the topics of human rights and hate speech.
EVALUATION & METHODS USED
OUTCOME
Every time at the end of the meeting with the young people, we used different methods for evaluation - “Footprint”, “Barometer”, “I am..”. At the end of the first meeting we used the activity “Footprint” for feedback. We are satisfied that the group was honest and put their steps on different places from the beginning to the end line. We finished the second session with the feedback activity “Barometer”. We continued with feedback activity – “I am..” where every participant said three sentences starting with “I am..” and the last of them had to be related with the HIT training. At the end of the meeting we gave the group their “footprint” for a second time. Then they showed where they thought they were now on the road of the “HIT journey”. During all meetings we have used “The Hit journey poster” where participant could write their feelings about the training at any moment they want. The group members became closer and we found that people from different cities exchanged contacts. Additionally, we were happy to see that every time it became easier for the volunteers to get into different roles during the games. We recognised that volunteers share good things about the training. They shared that our meetings give them additional personal competences. We believe that the HIT project gave a chance to those young people to see many questions from different sides and perspectives. We saw the whole process of changing their attitude from the beginning of the training to the end. They became a team and started believing in new values. That is why I think that the objectives of the project were met. All the children shared that the method of learning with games 40
RESULTS AND IMPACT
and practice is the best way to understand and feel the topic. That is why they like the activities in the HIT project. Our young people went on to create a concept for the campaign promoting the ideas of the HIT Project with the slogan “I am unique. That’s why I win” Their main ideas are: 1. Showing different people from different nationalities, ethnic groups, etc. (with make-up and clothes) at a fair or festival with typical food and traditions, in a public space of a city (or more than one city). 2. Concert with typical music for different cultures, the main idea is to show that the beauty is in the difference. 3. T-shirts, bags for the organisation team. 4. Leaflets and posters promoting the events. 5. Short presentation for the project among local people. Last meeting of the HIT training was outdoors at the closest part of Rhodope Mountains. It was a great option for the youths to exchange and play different activities.
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS EVALUATION & METHODS USED
Young people evaluated the application with the evaluation form specially created for the project.
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OUTCOME
The HIT seminar was focused on learning and aimed to engage participants in intercultural conversations who explore real-world topics and issues from different perspectives. During the workshop, young people commented on their ideas for holding an event, which will be part of the awareness raising campaign.
RESULTS AND IMPACT
An important part of the two meetings was the positive atmosphere, which further facilitated the work and contributed to the many smiles on the faces of the participants. We have to acknowledge that the seminars were supported by many partnership organisations and institutions. They gave excellent evaluation of the project.
PART III: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Hate speech has become more and more normalised over the last few years, mostly due to improper media coverage and representation, specific politics adopted by governments across the world as well as abuses of social media. The rise in numbers of young individuals who become victims is concerning for professionals, leading them to adopt, in cooperation with the competent authorities of their countries, a set of practices as well as recommendations, in an endeavour to counteract the crime of hate speech4. According to the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), in 2019 the European Commission 4
“Good practices for youth empowerment strategies report Strategies”, HIT partnership, 2018, HIT – Hate Interrupter Teams: Youth counteracting hate speech towards migrants and minorities through participatory and creative campaigning, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Work Programme of the European Commission
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against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) identified gaps in several Member States’ legislation against public expression of and incitement to hatred. The published reports in relation to Ireland, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania raised concerns that no legislative provisions penalise the public expression of insults or defamation on grounds of race, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic background. However, a number of Member States, including Greece, amended their criminal codes in 2019 to prohibit hate crimes. Greece, introduced a new provision with which it punishes incitement to commit crimes or violence against groups or individuals based on their race, colour, ethnic origin and religion, among other grounds. Accordingly, Estonia, Hungary and Spain published instructions and guidelines for criminal justice personnel for identifying, recording, investigating and prosecuting hate crimes5. However, it is of vital importance where governments choose chose to shift their focus; the young generation is in need of proper engagement in the educational process that ought to be followed in order to help raise awareness in relation to the ongoing debate between freedom of expression, and hate speech6. In line with the information gathered in each partner country7, regarding the escalation of hate speech amongst young individuals, professionals in the fields of education as well as other competent authorities should urgently address the matter. Although there have been many endeavours in teaching young people the difference between hate speech and expressing personal opinion, the issue continues to grow daily. Therefore, it is of immediate need for the partner countries to shift their focus on adopting practices that will aid in the elimination of hate speech. As a result of the “good practices”, each partner country concluded with the following recommendations:
Recommendations*: Recommendation 1: Implement projects that raise awareness for young individuals to understand and enhance their knowledge surrounding the topic of hate speech.
Cyprus
Greece
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Recommendation 2: Promote and develop campaigns and actions that allow young individuals to explore ways to eliminate the further escalation of the problem. Recommendation 1: Implement and adopt similar project’s activities in other European countries, in order to improve knowledge on human rights and prevent at earlier stage hate speech behaviours towards minorities.
Fundamental Rights Report. 2020. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
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“Good practices for youth empowerment strategies report Strategies”, HIT partnership, 2018, HIT – Hate Interrupter Teams: Youth counteracting hate speech towards migrants and minorities through participatory and creative campaigning, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Work Programme of the European Commission 7 “Good practices for youth empowerment strategies report Strategies”, HIT partnership, 2018, HIT – Hate Interrupter Teams: Youth counteracting hate speech towards migrants and minorities through participatory and creative campaigning, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Work Programme of the European Commission
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Recommendation 2: Empower youth/child participation in similar project’s activities / topics in order to be part of an active society, tackling the phenomenon of racism, of xenophobia, of discrimination and hate speech and behaviour towards minorities.
Italy
Recommendation 1: Implement projects to increase awareness and knowledge on Human rights and Hate speech starting from everyday life and through active and peer learning. Make them feel heard. Recommendation 2: Provide tools and support to empower young people to express their points of view and solutions, in the forms and ways that are most friendly to them. Make them feel valued. Recommendation 1: Implement projects with young people and educators that emphasize that rights come with responsibilities, and that actively combat hate speech and racism.
Spain
Germany
Recommendation 2: Co-create self-empowering activities with young people that speak to their peers, and that express their current concerns about hate and tolerance in a manner relevant to them (e.g. music, video, photo, digital etc.). Recommendation 1: Implement projects that empower and equip young people to independently write qualitative content for their personal digital communication. Recommendation 2: More spaces have to be created in which young people can reflect on whether or when specific posts are hate speech or fake news, they have to practice counter speech and teach these strategies to other young people in a peer approach.
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
Recommendation 1: Encourage participants to explore their own experiences as well as of those in their immediate communities to develop understanding and awareness, as well as self-reflection. Recommendation 2: Develop training in and understanding of how to create a digital and creative strategy for their own age group (eg language/ platform/ visuals), and facilitate the creation of aspects of this. Recommendation 1: It will be great to take more efforts to spread the ideas of the projects among social network and popular channels among the young people.
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Consequently, what derives from the above is that the most important step begins from the engagement of the young individuals with educational programmes. Those can either be projects that are organised within the school environment, or by relevant NGOs like our own who cooperate with schools or other educational institutions. Socialising and networking can also bring the desired results, which is why the creation of campaigns is significant. The implementation of these programmes most of the times outside the school context, allows young individuals the opportunity to feel that what they do is not in the scope of education, due to the fact that it mostly involves interactive activities. Such fact contributes to their creativity and the increase in participation since the young individuals are more willing to take action and present new ideas. The participants gain more information than they think because of the form that the education has taken through the HIT project. Thus, by supporting the implementation of educational programmes together with creative campaigns that include the active participation of young individuals in an environment that offers them freedom of expression; we will be making a huge step towards the goal we have set for the future of hate speech crime.
CONCLUSION In conclusion, the above mentioned HIT activities and the successful impact and results, show that they can be considered and used as “good practices� by individuals and organisations - in the field of youth work - who wish to raise awareness and take action on counteracting hate speech and behaviour against both migrants and minorities. Along with the recommendations stated by the partner countries this manual gives guidelines on how to protect, eliminate or address any incident within educational as well as social environments. It is worth mentioning that key human rights concepts are present throughout all the planned and implemented activities. Nonetheless, since the world faces a new challenge everyday it is of great significance for partners to continue the vision that HIT has established among young individuals. The proposed policy recommendations that each partner has suggested can only come to life with the involvement of all parts and the organisation of proper campaigns. This can be considered as the starting point in this long journey that aims to the effective counteracting of hate speech.
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