“Highlights from a week of exchanging and gathering experiences and ideas”
From 20th to 29th of February, we organized the YPIDA INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK, with the theme of “In Solidarity with Refugees towards Social Inclusion”, as a space for activists, experts, civil society organizations and other institutions as the stakeholders to exchange and define the path for innovative ideas in order to develop comprehensive and inclusive policies for societies that are going to host refugees and probably turning point into a long term goal of new social change in human society.
With this ambitious aim, the full week program included different events with more than 70 experts, educators, activists, volunteers, artists and many other professionals and was organized in Istanbul where is the very strategic location in terms of refugees current life’s and their future hopes.
We started the week with creating different experimental spaces in order to understand culture, cultural differences, background of conflicts and the real mapping of refugees and youth with migrant background in participating countries. The biggest barrier in minds stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination towards new cultures were tackled and several ways to overcome these conflict situations were experienced by the participants in various cases with deeper understanding.
The week continued with the meeting of experts and long discussions on the Alternative Dispute Resolution and new innovative approaches in European Policy Development, Social Entrepreneurship and Activity and Campaign Planning feeding the civil society organizations and their relevant members to be the main actors in specifies as the #Changemakers. In addition to several meetings workshops on Creativity, Social Media and Project Management offered space for personal development of a new team, exploring the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and additional skills and competences to show their reaction to societies where the immediate reaction is inevitable.
For last two days we offered workshops to our new social actors, presenting innovative ideas and in their way of realization the possible policy solutions using cross-sectorial cooperation, advantages of new digital society and effective tools, as well as strategy planning of inspirational ideas in social entrepreneurship. We also presented tips in building and management of network of practice together with innovative educational tools. Social projects as the micro generators of showing a brand new approach from the #Changemakers network as the very beginning of posthuman are one of the valuable and important outcomes of this unique week of which will be realized within the three upcoming months. Moreover, the “Gala” show where also visual and musical as well as other art reaction of sensitive minds and hearts of our network has shown the importance of having the basic human understanding and sensitivity towards the new coming cultures to Europe and a new group of people members of posthuman society 2.0 has made their first steps by defining the Echo of Hopes.
Several interactive workshops and innovative methodologies were part of this event, and in summing up our outcomes and impressions we can say that:
“YPIDA INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK” IN NUMBERS:
– Change in time with full commitment a week of 10 days and a day of 28 hours
– Exchanged over 348 unique ideas
– Organized 3 visits towards the Governmental Institutions, Social and Historical Centers
– Provided 26 expert workshops and networking events
– Engaged with more than 70 participants
– Developed 12 social projects in the topic of Education, Inclusion of Refugees, Online Web and Mobile Solutions, No Hate-Violence and Social Entrepreneurship
– Spent in total 98 working hours discussing innovative approaches to European policy development
Together with you and your unique ideas we have the full motivation and courage to keep on walking towards reaching to a new era in mankind history. Evolution continues and we as human society can not stay in the same capacities that we are given. #Changemakers network; with 70 each of you, are the starting generation towards this new community, new understanding and new social system.
A Post-Human Future?
Stay tuned…
Thank you all for taking part of it.
Ufuk Bal
APIDA e.V. | Berlin 