Purpose:
- Strengthen relationships between the different Anti-rumours Strategies and opportunities for positive interaction.
- Encourage the sharing of knowledge and good practices and resources.
- Improve young people's knowledge of the Anti-rumours Strategy; promote its implementation;
- Facilitate the building of the anti-rumours community / sense of belonging to the ‘global’ Strategy.
Stimulus/Rationale: The need to promote co-operation networks between young people from different cities has been identified, as there is a certain sense of isolation and loneliness in anti-rumours work that has a direct impact on the engaging of young people as well as on their creative capacity. In addition, it has been identified that the participation of young people in spaces of interaction with other young people on a supra-municipal level boosts their motivation and helps them to deepen their own commitment to key issues, as well as for the Anti-rumours Strategy as a whole.
Process: This activity enables young Anti-rumours agents to visit another region, participate in local initiatives, and collaborate on joint projects. Over a weekend, they engage with local youth, reflect on their role as agents of change, and foster new initiatives. In the case of the Manlleu-Barakaldo exchange, the meeting focused on four key elements:
- Training: to improve their skills as Anti-rumours agents.
- Interaction: Providing ample time for peer engagement and informal activities.
- Creativity: Encouraging the development of new initiatives to implement in local communities.
- Cooperation: Strengthening collaboration among Anti-rumours initiatives before, during, and after the activity.
With the facilitation of Diversit/Antirumours Global, two cities were identified with the willingness to send young participants and to host a group (Manlleu and Barakaldo) and for approximately 6 weeks before the event, work was carried out in collaboration between those responsible for both anti-rumours strategies and the youth groups in order to design an agenda that adequately balance work and time to interact, the logistical issues to facilitate the visit of the visiting group and to cover the needs during the event (meals, visits, etc.), the selection of a team of young participants from each city, and the selection of the expert trainers that could facilitate the contents.
Each city was responsible for the selection of its participants, and it was decided to invite anti-rumours youngsters from the nearby cities, Getxo and Bilbao.
The agenda of the event was as follows:
Friday 25 October:
17:00h. Arrival in Barakaldo (Gazte Bulegoa). Welcome, introduction of attendees.
17:30h: Presentation of Barakaldo Youth Services and Gazte Bulegoa youth groups.
18:00h Presentation of social resources and Barakaldo's Anti-rumours Strategy (Visit to a local project).
19:00h Transfer to the hostel
Saturday 26th October:
10:30h. Start of the day in Barakaldo (Gazte Bulegoa). Institutional welcome.
10:45h. Dynamics of cohesion and contextualisation.
11:25h. Training on anti-rumours strategy (ARS): Intersectionality, Hate Pyramid, rumours, disinformation.
12:30h. Break
13:00h. Dynamic presentation of group actions in each of the cities.
14:00h. Lunch at Gazte Bulegoa and transfer to CIS-Topaleku (break).
16:00h. Presentation of “Possibilities for Young People to Participate in the ARS”.
16:30h. Design of impact actions and possible implementation in the street
18:00h. Evaluation
18:30h. Free time and dinner in Barakaldo
Transfer to the hostel
Sunday 27th October
Visit Bilbao and return trip for the visiting group.
The number of young participants was:
- Barakaldo 6
- Manlleu 14
- Getxo 3
- Bilbao 2
Impact: The satisfaction survey completed after the event by the participants highlights the topics worked on during the meeting and the lessons learned. In addition, some of the participants' comments indicate that it was a highly motivating experience, which allowed them to get to know other realities and to strengthen joint work. In conclusion, the young participants indicated that they have a higher level of motivation than they had at the beginning of the activity and that they have plans to promote it in the future in their own cities.
In addition, during the meeting three proposals for anti-rumour action were designed (Anti-rumours streetlamps / Anti-rumours mini-comics / ‘Where are you from’ panel, which the young participants committed themselves to develop during the months following the exchange. The participating cities have undertaken to share these proposals with the rest of the anti-rumour territories with youth participation so that more cities can join the actions they designed.
Likewise, this meeting served as a key motivation for the young participants to join next year's Anti-rumours Youth Summit, and for other cities (Getxo and Bilbao in particular) to start exploring the possibility of promoting an Anti-rumours exchange in the coming months.
Key reference documents:
