How to foster social inclusion of marginalized young people with art therapy

How improve social inclusion and boost learning of marginalized young people in Europe and Africa?

Nowadays, several traditional tools for youth workers exists, largely for whom works with young people with disadvantaged backgrounds. Anyway, research on the topic highlights the strength and the benefits of new tools as art therapy, underlining the great adaptability and creativity that is able to impress.

Starting from this assumption, to support youth workers from African and European countries, new approaches and methods are required in order to help them to improve their works with marginalized young people and to easily acquire a personal and professional developed based on the exchange of best practices between different realities and the opportunity to learn from new cultural environment.

Fostering the development of new best practices among these two countries, it will be possible to have a positive impact and benefits in the local community from Europe and Africa, improving the social inclusion of marginalized young people.

ARTCOM aims to develop new educational approaches for youth workers, promoting the social inclusion of marginalized young people from Europe and Africa through art therapy. There will be created innovative tools to boost learning, to stimulate the communication and interaction, to reduce the social isolation of young people, helping them to be better integrated in the society.

The project’s objectives are:

• to promote exchange of best practices and cooperation between Europe and Africa developing innovative educational approaches;
• to support high quality of youth workers’ job with non-formal methodologies based on art therapy for the social inclusion of marginalized people;
• to enhance the key competences of youth workers and young people with training courses and mobilities tailored to their needs.

The planned project’s activities planned will be:

• An International Training Course on Art Therapy that will host 36 youth workers from Europe and Africa in Sicily this summer,
• 5-months European Voluntary Service in Italy, Malawi, Zambia, France, Kenya, Greece in the beginning of 2019.
• One-day Public Local Event on Art Therapy organized in each partner country by EVS volunteers and the partner’s associations in their local community.

Moreover, the project consortium will develop an OER – Open Educational Resource in order to collect all methodologies, activities and project results implemented.

On 22^nd and 23^rd February 2018, the Kick off meeting of ARTCOM project took place in Palermo at CESIE’s office. Partners had the opportunity to get to know each other, build a strong partnership’s synergy, exchange opinions and good practices, and talk about the next project’s steps.

ARTCOM – ART supporting COMmunities through innovative tools for youth work/ART for COM – UNITYis financed by the European programme Erasmus+ Key Action 2 – Capacity building in the field of youth.

The project will be developed during two years of works in collaboration with 6 organizations from Africa and Europe such as:

• CESIE (Italy, coordinator);
• Pistes Solidaires (France);
• Inter Alia (Greece);
• New Hope Waves Limited (Zambia);
• Centre for Girls and Interaction (Malawi);
• Neema Community Based Organization (Kenya).

For further information, please contact Silvia Fazio – silvia.fazio@cesie.org.