Project description
Inventing the future is an international project that involve youth from seven different countries in Europe, East Europe and Middle East: Italy, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Moldova, Palestine and Israel.
The main aim of the project is to work locally with youth on non-violent conflict transformation through the reciprocal maieutic approach (RMA).
The conflicts chosen by the partners are context related but the programme of activities is common to all partners. So, during two years, from December 2006 until November 2008, all partners will be working simultaneously to achieve common aims and objectives.
The programme of activities was thought of and designed in the framework of reciprocal RMA, non-formal education and international mobility. The activities will be developed in a way that will permit the creation and building of the youth group in the first phase, then the development of local activities with the group and the contact with the community, the encounter between all the youth groups and the development of dissemination activities in the community with other youth and adults. During these diverse moments we expect the groups to grow and to acquire/develop new competencies and sensibilities, to understand and interiorise human values and make nonviolence a way of life.

Objectives of the project
The specific objectives are: to reflect on the root causes and effects of multicultural, multiethnic and multi-faith conflicts; to learn how to analyse conflicts and to develop strategies (mainly RMA but also other practices) to deal with them; to help young people to develop the skills and competences to deal in non-violent ways with conflict situations in their multicultural, multiethnic and multi-faith contexts and in general; to explore and activate the knowledge and resources present in youth participants; to reflect on human rights and fight for their realisation and respect; to stimulate mutual exchange of experience and good practice in nonviolent conflict transformation and the promotion of a culture of respect and diversity between partners; to develop new projects with the Youth in Action Programme.

Activities: local and international
The activities present in the project during the two years are divided into local and international levels. The first international activity was the meeting between all partners, from the 11th until the 19th February 2007. During this encounter the partners had the opportunity to meet personally, to create a relationship, to discuss the project and to participate in maieutic workshops. This last activity permitted youth workers to discover RMA so they could organise similar workshops with the youth group as part of the local activities.
After this each partner had to begin the recruitment process in order to form the youth group to participate in the project and develop the first local activities that will take place from March till September. These activities consist of local meetings with the youth group (each half coming from different parts of the conflict) aiming to help them develop an awareness of the conflict, to analyse the causes and consequences of the conflict on youth and on the community in general, to breakdown stereotypes and prejudices that are maintaining the conflict, to build channels of communication inside the community, to involve the community in the youth activities, to develop in youth active citizenship. The specific methods used to reach these objectives are up to each partner, with the condition that all activities enter in the framework of non-formal education. As well, each group should also use the RMA as a tool for conflict transformation.
The local activities will continue until the end of the project but will have other specific objectives, complementary to the referred one. For example, from November until March all the youth groups from all countries will work together in the creation of a “bozza di manifesto”. This will be a document where the opinions of several youth about an issue related with the project (still to be decided) will be written and then concluded in some main important phrases. This document will be a dissemination and awareness tool in all partner countries.
In February 2008 a youth exchange will happen where all the youth participants will meet. This will be held in Spain at the beginning of the month. This exchange aims: to exchange ideas about the RMA; to share the conclusions of the maieutic workshops held in the different countries; to organise multicultural and intercultural maieutic workshops; to do a general evaluation of the impact of the maieutic workshops for the conflict transformation; to discuss about nonviolent methods (RMA and others) capable of promoting social change; to discuss about the role of youth in the process of change in societies; to discuss about the “bozza di manifesto” inside the whole group.
After the exchange and after the “bozza di manifesto” are completed the local youth groups will participate in a training course that will give them the opportunity to acquire the skills of peer educators, to learn some theoretical knowledge about conflict transformation and human rights and also to continue practicing maieutic. A closure event of the local training activities will be held in Moldova, in June 2007, an international seminar about human rights and conflict transformation that will give the possibility to the participants to learn with international experts and to broaden their acquired knowledge.
The course and the international seminar will be the way to prepare youth to continue the dissemination activities in the community and achieve a greater impact. So, after the course the group will develop peer education activities with other youth, in schools, in social centres, in the local communities, about the themes they have discussed in the first moments of the project (the first local activities). These activities will last for three months, from July till October 2008. This activity is very important in the course of the overall project, as it ensures the creation of a multiplier effect and, moreover, permits the youth participants to develop practical skills for their future lives and contributes to the development of self-esteem. The RMA will continue to be the primary working method and the tool to transform the conflict.
Since August 2007 it will be possible for one youth from each group to be a volunteer in another partner country. The voluntary project will last for 4 months and aims the following: to permit the youth to develop intercultural skills; to promote an intercultural exchange between sending and hosting countries; to give the youth the opportunity to live and understand other youth conflicts; to permit the youth to participate in the hosting country group activities. In total the voluntary service will give the opportunity to seven youths to participate in a mobility activity and to all the others the possibility to participate directly in the project through contact with the volunteer.The last months, September and October 2008, will be dedicated to the evaluation and closure of the project. Each youth group will develop evaluation activities in order to analyse the impact of the project and of their own work in the community. Also the coordinators will have to evaluate the project and its impact in youth. A local closure event will be organised in each partner country involving also other local partners and entities. A final evaluation and closing meeting at international level will be held in Bulgaria.

What we expect
Through all these activities we expect to have an impact in the youth group, in the local communities and at international level. As well, as part of the follow-up activities, we will keep the youth participants active in the fields of mobility and non-formal education, and motivate them to write their own projects and ideas using the European Commission Programmes and give them the needed support.

“Inventing the future” is a two year project co-financed by the European Commission Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). It is a Youth Action 5, Support Measures, Innovative Co-operation, Training and Information Projects, Call for proposals DG EAC 62/05.

The applicant and general coordinator of the project is the Italian organisation Centro Studi ed Iniziative Europeo Onlus (CE.S.I.E) located in Palermo, Sicily. This international project has seven partners from six different countries: Centro Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci”, Italy; Federación COLEGAS, Spain; Pistes Solidaires, France; Recreation and Development Union (RDU), Bulgaria; Regional Development Center “STABILITY”, Moldova; Wi’am center for conflict resolution, Palestine; Youth Forum Ashdod (YOFI), Israel.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.