Running from November 2021 to April 2022 the project “Youth Spaces Free of Rumours” will promote experimental pathways to youth engagement aimed to foster young people’s civic role and their intellectual and social potential to fight discrimination within youth spaces by freeing them from prejudice.

In particular, the project will pilot actions aimed at giving youth a more prominent role in the fight against discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ethnic background, disability, etc., by applying the innovative “anti-rumours” methodology developed by the Council of Europe.

In fact, tor the re-appropriation of spaces by youth (especially after the Covid-19 sanitary emergency), it is important to empower young people through the development of knowledge, skills and tools they can use to become more active citizens. The Anti-Rumours methodology will be therefore tested within youth centres, mobilising young people towards the achievement of “free of prejudice” centres.

The project will pursue two specific objectives:

1) In the short term, it will promote innovative and experimental pathways of non-formal education to dismantle prejudice and rumours in youth centres.

2) In the long term, through collaboration with local administrations and non-profit bodies, the project will enhance the skills and tools applied by youth workers and municipal staffs, setting the conditions to strengthen networking and to adopt effective practices in favour of young beneficiaries.

It is expected that “Youth Spaces Free of Rumours” will also establish a wide network of stakeholders, including:

• Youth centres and socialisation spaces
• Associations and third sector bodies active locally
• Municipalities

The action will rely on 3 complementary and mutually related methodological elements:

a) Youth participation, both in co-designing and implementing the project’s activities by a peer-to-peer approach.

b) Focus on youth spaces (youth centres and socialization contexts), with activities aimed to get young people (re)appropriate socializing places, at the same time by making these places “safe”, free from discrimination.

c) “Anti-Rumours” methodology, enabling to identify and deconstruct the major prejudices circulating within youth spaces.

The initiative will be implemented in 8 Italian municipalities members of the Italian network of Intercultural Cities, under the coordination of ICEI.