The youth exchange “Migration Perspectives” took place from 13 to 20 May 2019 in Skala, Laconia, Greece. The reason for its organization was the need for young people to develop their intercultural competence and to combat stereotypes and prejudices, derived from the ever-increasing flows of immigrants / refugees and the existing intercultural societies.

 In this context, the project has the ultimate aim of contributing to the immigrants / refugees’ social integration and addressing the prejudices and stereotypes that young people have about this social group.

So, it aimed and achieved the following main goals:

-Enhanced young people’s knowledge of the immigrant / refugee Issue and their understanding of its various aspects.

-Mitigated young people’s stereotypes, helping them to identify and challenge them, and contributed to understanding among young people from different cultural backgrounds.

Helped them to adopt positive attitudes and behaviors towards difference and to establish positive and constructive relationships with their peers from different cultural backgrounds.

-Enhanced youngsters’ ability to intervene and act against discrimination and prejudice towards individuals and groups.

-Brought young people from 10 countries together, facilitated the exchange of knowledge and opinions between young people from different countries, developed their multicultural sensitivity and increased mutual understanding and cooperation.

The project involved 40 young people aged 16-30 and 10 youth leaders over 18 from Greece, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Cyprus, Estonia and Turkey.

The exchange was supported by 3 youth workers from Greece. All the participants showed a keen interest in the project’s topics as well as a strong willingness to convey related messages to their peers. These are young people with strong concerns about increasing incidents of violence and discrimination against immigrants / refugees,increased social sensitivity and the need to develop their skills and knowledge in the specific field.

The participants organized a series of activities around the issue of migration, stereotypes and prejudices and young people’s active participation in confronting them.

The project’s methodology was based on partners’ equal cooperation and young people’s engagement in all its phases. The activities were based on non-formal learning methods with particular emphasis on experiential and peer learning.

The main project’s results are the awareness that was created on the topic for both the participants, the local community and young people who came into indirect contact with the project. In addition, a deeper understanding of immigrants / refugees’ situation, the development of young people’s intercultural competence, the mitigation of stereotypes and prejudices and their activation to respond to these phenomena were achieved. Finally, the young people’s personal, social and professional development is another important result.