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Dare to Care Baltics

Project addresses Council of Baltic Sea States priority area “safe & secure region” by focusing on violence prevention among and towards young people in Baltics. Project activities aim to strengthen young peoples resilience and raise awareness regarding healthy relationships and issues of bullying, gender-based violence and human trafficking.

Participating organizations: MARTA Centre, Latvia (Lead Partner); NGO Paikuse Open Youth Center, Estonia (Co-Partner); Women’s Issues Information Center, Lithuania (Co-Partner)

Duration of the project: October 1, 2020 – October 1, 2021

Brief summary of the project:

Project’s direct target group are specialists: youth workers, social workers, educators – who work with youngsters, and the main beneficiaries are youth aged 12-18.

Project aims to build capacities in the field of working with youth by equipping specialists in partner countries with needed knowledge, skills, and attitudes to prevent violence among and towards children and youth. This will be done through a Youth Group methodology developed by MARTA Center.

During the project period of 12 months a group of specialists will receive training and implement Youth Group methodology as a tool for violence prevention among youth in Baltic states: Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. 4 specialists per country (12 in total) will go through training program, become youth group leaders and implement methodology in local communities of partner countries, and will take active part in competence building seminars and co-visions.

It is estimated that each partner country will organize and lead at least 3 youth groups, in this long-term (5-7 months) group cycle directly involving at least 30 young people per country (90 in total).

Youth Group methodology will be piloted and adapted according to feedback received from participants to make sure that it meets the needs of national and local contexts. To ensure long-term impact, each youth group will organize 1 local activity (9 in total) directly involving at least 15 people locally (135 people in total) with the aim to raise awareness on topics important for youth regarding healthy relationships and violence prevention.

In the project’s final phase an international Youth Forum will be organised in Vilnius, where youth group delegations from each partner country will meet together with local and international stakeholders, youth workers and other professionals to share Youth Group methodology approach, results and acknowledgements with a wider audience.

Youth Group methodology is cycle of guided workshops where young people can come together, discuss and engage in non-formal education activities that cover range of topics starting from friendship, respectful communication, sexual-reproductive health to bystander effect, unhealthy relationships, risks, causes and consequences of human tracking, pornography, and interpersonal violence.

Info pack for participants, for more information reach out to: mic@lygus.lt

 

Project Dare to Care Baltics, CBSS PROJECT SUPPORT FACILITY. Grant No. PSF 2020/1

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