Within the participant countries of this project, Serbia, North Macedonia and BaH there are many interethnic and religious differences. Despite these large population groups there are also LGBT people who are very often being highly discriminated, especially in certain parts of the countries, whereas the level of respect for LGBT human rights differs in all of the above mentioned countries.
Young generations from these countries need to get to know diversities, cherish them and respect others.
Through this project we want to enhance the influence of youth workers as leaders in fighting for LGBT rights and to empower them to take part in decision- making processes through active participation in democratic life.
The project outcomes are:
- Increasing professional competences and skills of youth workers in the area of writing project proposals, strategic planning, advocacy, media appearance and facilitating workshops.
- Increasing the active participation of youth workers in public life, through advocacy processes for changes of discriminatory policies at local and national level.
- Increasing the social inclusion of young people in the process of solidarity and reducing social exclusion of LGBT persons.
The direct target group in the activities for increasing professional competences and skills for LGBT leaders are youth workers, a total of 20 participants from Serbia, North Macedonia and Croatia.
The participants of this project will be selected from the members of Association RAINBOW and its partner organizations i.e. those persons who already showed interest in activism. Priority will be given to people with fewer opportunities: people who live with HIV/AIDS, people from multiple vulnerable populations such as LGBT Roma people, people who live in small and rural areas and people from unprivileged economic background etc. who still show in their motivation letters their interest to participate in this program.
The second direct target group for the activities in regards to realization of the workshops on LGBT topics are young persons from 15 to 30 years, 200 in total, who are activists in youth organizations and youth offices with which our organizations cooperate.
The project has a total of 4 activities:
First activity is a training for LGBT leaders (first part). The method of work is interactive workshops with practical parts of plan development, writing project proposals and curricula of workshops. The training will be led by three trainers working 8 hours a day with 20 participants.
Training for LGBT leaders (second part) will also be the second project activity, and the method of work is the same as for the first part.
Workshops for youth workers of youth offices and youth organizations make up the third project activity. The method of work include interactive workshops in accordance with the curriculum which the participants will develop during the second activity. The workshops will be led by two trainers, and each will last 180 minutes, the number of participants per workshop will be from 10 to 15 persons.
The fourth activity of the project is advocacy. The method of work will be experiential learning or practical work, because each participant of the training will conduct their own action plan for advocacy.
- The expected impact on the participants of the training is increasing their knowledge and skills in the field of leadership, connecting with youth workers from other countries and motivation to participate in social and political life of the community and influence the policies which concern human rights of LGBT persons.
- The expected impact on the participating organizations will be reflected in the increased capacities of their staff, new activists, and therefore new ideas, increased amount of activities and quality improvement of activities which the organizations implement.
- The expected influence on the target group of young people who will participate at workshops will be reflected in increasing of their solidarity with LGBT persons and understanding of their problems and needs, as well as in support for youth workers who work on LGBT issues.
- The expected influence on the target group of decision-makers, is their understanding of the problems, needs and position of LGBT persons and the importance of solving them.
- The expected influence on the target group of LGBT persons, is reflected in the decrease of their social exclusion, increase of their activist engagement and cooperation with youth workers on a local, national, regional and international level.