A group of young people from Portugal, Germany, Italy, Estonia and Turkey gathered in Diyarbarkir, from 2nd to 10th October 2018, to participate in a Youth Exchange project on “Power of Youth Media”. Through workshops, discussions and creative sessions they learned about the importance of media for preventing the radicalisation of young people and promoted media literacy and critical thinking among young people.
The participants discussed different aspects that should be considered while consuming or creating news media or social media. Given that media can be a powerful tool in guiding people’s attitudes and mindsets, the awareness of manipulation by the media was pointed out. Other subtopics, such as prejudices and stereotypes accompanied by identity and culture were also discussed.
In the project, different topics related to media were approached using methods of non-formal education and peer-to-peer learning. This being a youth exchange, the inclusion of the participants was promoted in the sessions by giving them space to propose and facilitate the morning energisers and many of the activities carried out. In fact, the participants were able to learn more about media not only by listening to the expositive presentations of their peers, but also by intervening in their group reflection rounds and were also able to learn by doing. Each of the participants contributed to the creation of the outcome contents of this Youth Exchange by recording and editing videos, writing articles, preparing and managing the contents to be disseminated in the social media of the organisations involved.
The multicultural environment of this project, as well as its content, gave participants the opportunity to learn more about different media realities of their countries and how these can affect their daily lives. The participants were also able to set tools and strategies to help them tackle media manipulation and cope with the consequences of the emergence of fake news. However the outcome was also a deeper understanding of the societies of the participating nations as the whole exchange was spiced up by intercultural evenings and excursions to the city and surroundings.
Considering that this project was supported by the European Commission through the ERASMUS+ programme, Youth and Change Association (Gençlik ve Değişim Derneği) was able to gather all the conditions to deliver a project in which the European values were promoted. Financed by the German ERASMUS+ National Agency (Jugend für Europa), “Power of Youth Media” had a very positive impact in all parts involved, such as, the participants, local community and both the host and partner organisations.
Finally, Power of Youth Media has reached its goals: the participants became more aware of the importance and power of media in our society; the organisations involved strengthened their bonds and even widened their network and the local community was embraced in the activities during this project. In fact, the group went even further than the expected outcomes: several future projects have been planned both in the local setting as in the international one. We can`t wait to see what happens next!
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