ComICS: Creating InterCultural Stories

Aims & objectives

Migration is a contradictory and sensitive topic nowadays, rising fears, intolerance and prejudices all around Europe. Every youth worker, youth leader and trainer working internationally is a value-builder. Sooner or later they face the migration topic, so supportive tools on how to speak about the migration, how to raise awareness and empathy among young people towards migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, and how to foster intercultural dialogue are very needed.

The objectives of the training course are:
*) to raise awareness and empathy about the current migration situation in Europe;
*) to gain practical skills of making comics and using comics as facilitation and learning tool in intercultural education;
*) to create comics that could be used as learning material on intercultural dialogue and to raise awareness of immigration issues in Europe.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Participants: 22 youth workers and leaders from Portugal, Poland, Germany and Latvia.
Team: 2 Latvian trainers–coordinators, 1 Polish trainer and 1 Chilian-Portuguese guest artist–trainer.

Training methods used & main activities

Getting to know each other and different intercultural stories, immigration fact quiz, creative drawing exercises, simulation game of global migration, group work and discussions, storytelling, planning, organizing and evaluating practice workshops, organizing local exhibitions.

Outcomes of the activity

Youth workers and youth leaders increased their understanding about the migration situation in world and Europe, learned to share their personal intercultural
stories and analyze them from different perspectives and for educational purposes. They developed their inner artist and ability to draw comics. They also learned how to lead comics’ workshops and to use comics as story-telling
tool working in intercultural education with
youth. At the end, they organized comics’ exhibition in
their local communities.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was one of the international trainers' team – planning the training and delivering it. I was also project developer and one of the coordinators.

I worked on this training for 9 days as a full time trainer.