Why and what is the Up4Diversity project?
Tackling homophobic and transphobic violence is a priority across Europe. Youth, and professionals working with youth, play an essential role in this social transformation. To combat all forms of violence against LGBTIQ youth, educational and youth organizations must be committed to its prevention and overcoming. Empowering youth and their educators to intervene in violence situations and implementing evidence-based actions is crucial for building a diverse and egalitarian society.
The Up4Diversity project aims to make progress in the training of secondary education teachers and staff working in youth organisations in different fields (leisure-time, political participation and civic engagement, sports, students' organisations, etc.) to improve their knowledge and skills to better address the prevention of violence towards LGBTIQ people, with an emphasis on the prevention of situations of violence and discrimination faced by intersex or transgender young people.
The project's approach will be twofold:
a) On the one hand, the project will rely on the power of 'upstander' intervention, which seek to involve peers as agents of change in the prevention and resolution of situations of violence and discrimination.
b) On the other hand, the project will pay close attention to the role of social media and digital technologies as key tools to engage young people.
The project foresees the creation of a transnational network of professionals, and the design of training materials addressed to teachers and staff in youth organisations, which will allow them to give a more effective response to situations of violence towards LGBTIQ people in their schools and organizations.
Ultimately, the project is aimed to empower staff and young people to become active upstanders committed to helping create more positive and inclusive environments for the youth, free of any form of discrimination, prejudice, hate and violence against LGBTIQ+ people.
The project kicked off in September 2020 and will have a 2-year duration. At the moment, we have already made some important progress:
- We have prepared 2 scientific literature reviews available here at our website, regarding violence against LGBTIQ+ youth and upstander intervention/Social media or tools for its prevention.
- We have prepared a brief on existing european training materials or initiatives designed by universities, institutions, governments, companies, etc. to prevent violence against LGBTIQ+ youth from a digital perspective and an upstander perspective, with special attention set on those initiatives that are evidence-based and that have demonstrated some improvements in violence reduction and prevention.
- The Up4Diversity European Network has already had a kick-off meeting, gathering people from social entities, companies, universities, LGBTIQ+ associations... to learn around the project's approaches, foster dialogue and match making! Interested in joining? Know more here!
