TWOST - Volunteers Centre Skopje

Training without Stereotypes

Volunteers Centre Skopje is part of the project TWOST.

Training without stereotypes, financed by the Italian National agency through the Erasmus+ programme-KA2. It’s a project that started in September 2019.TWOST is aimed at preventing gender-based discrimination towards youth. The project addresses, in particular, cross-sectoral cooperation, allowing for greater synergies across all fields of actions concerning young people, with a special focus on access to rights, autonomy, participation –including e-participation– and the active citizenship of young people, avoiding gender self-segregation phenomena and promoting common values of mutual respect between genders and without prejudice to their sexuality.

The social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities is the main connecting point of this project with the realities of young people with fewer opportunities around Europe. One of the main obstacles to social inclusion is stereotypes. In the field of academia, stereotyping is an important concept in contemporary sociology and social psychology.

The target groups of this project are youth workers, young people victims of stereotypes based and gender-based violence, young people with fewer opportunities, young women, young people with a migrant background, asylum-seekers, refugees, LGBTIQ persons, ethnic minorities (including Roma people), women with disabilities, women living and/or working on the street. The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the prevention and support the fight against stereotypes and gender violence among young people in Europe through piloting digital innovative resources and inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.

The specific objectives of the project are:

1 – To promote Stereotypes and Gender Equality Awareness, and to reduce unconscious bias in particular through research on existing studies, tools and methods

2 – To develop and disseminate non-formal education practical tools for youth workers in the field of identification and prevention of stereotypes and gender-based violence.

3 – To strengthen the role of youth workers in the fight against stereotypes and gender discrimination

4 – To promote social inclusion and active citizenship of the socially excluded young people on a European level

The project will be based on a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach that will initiate cooperation and capacity building for the youth organization and youth workers that are working and are, in direct contact with these groups to ensure timely and effective protection and support.