"Rethink, Reconnect the Med" Common Action activities

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16 March 2022

FF Francesca Ferrari

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Posted on Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality

On March 15^th , 2022 has begun the regional Common Action " Rethink, Reconnect the Med ", launched by the EU-Programme Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality, involving 29 young leaders working together in local, twinning or regional actions (see definitions below) to raise awareness on, develop and apply critical thinking tools.

It is recalled that this Common Action was designed by young leading activists, through a process of capacity building, debate and collaborative work on developing critical thinking tools, on the occasion of a Med Dialogue Leaders Bootcamp held from January 29^th to February 2^nd 2022 in Valencia.

Namely, “Rethink, Reconnect the Med” Common Action embodies the far-reaching power of youth, when they move as one “critical mass” to address common policy challenges across the Mediterranean region and Europe. Accordingly, it promotes the use and development of a critical thinking approach in their communities when addressing issues that they care about.

Types of common action activities

*Local action: it is a set of activities designed and implemented by a single participant.

*Twinning action: it is a set of identical activities designed and implemented by two or more participants. The goal is to reproduce the same common action, with the same logic and the same objectives in two or more different localities.

*Regional action: it is a set of different activities designed and implemented by two or more participants. The goal is to set up one single common action at the regional level, with a common objective and/or thread, but including different formats and activities taking places in different geographical places.

Communication notice

Common action descriptions in French

Common action descriptions in Arabic

Common action descriptions

Local actions

Title: Sustainability Leaders Bootcamp

Leader’s name: Abdelfettah HERIZI

Area: Cheraga

Organisation: Leancubator

Period of implementation: 19/03/2022 – 26/03/2022

The action is about building the capacity of young people by enhancing their awareness of current environmental, food security, and health issues. It aims to enable the emergence of new young leaders through developing a critical thinking mindset and creating an active student community. The action focuses mainly on equipping participants with critical thinking tools and reinforcing their capacities in problem-solving and project development in order to foster collaboration and create new environmental leaders.

Activities:

Conducting a seven-day training to build the knowledge and skills of 20 young students in the areas of sustainable development, co-creation of value, ideation, project development, pitching techniques, networking, and cooperation.
Hosting a reunion between the participants and a committee of experts in order to pitch their final ideas. In this reunion, three of the best participants will be selected, supported and coached to implement their actions.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/leancubatordz

www.leancubator.co

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: Be safe from bullying

Leader’s name: Arig ZARAD

Area: Port Said

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/ 2022

The action is about increasing people's awareness about bullying effects. It allows victims who have experienced bullying to express and share their feelings in a novel about bully-victims who experienced negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health issues.

Activities

Conducting three workshops for 15 young participants to discuss the bullying issue and ways to prevent it.
Gathering and writing stories about the previous experiences of victims of bullying.
Publishing and massively disseminating the novel.

Hashtags :

#Rethink_med

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Title: Inside the Critical Mind: Critical Thinking Tools for Arts and Culture.

Leader’s name: Passant Elbadrawy

Area: Cairo

Organisation: Tamasi Performing Arts Collective

Period of implementation:15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

This action is about building the capacity of 25 young independent Egyptian Artists (18 to 25) to address communication and critical thinking skills in order to prepare them for the job market. Furthermore, it will provide them with critical thinking tools enabling them to identify problems and better formulate comprehensible and well-structured project proposals.

Activities:

Conducting three sessions on communication.
Hosting two sessions on formal written communication and self-leadership.
Creating an online educational video on the usage of critical thinking tools for cultural and artistic projects.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/TamasiCollective

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

#pro_communication #communicationculture #communicationskills #insidethecriticalmind #criticalthinking #thecriticinyou

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Title: Not only critical thinking but also critical actions

Leader’s name: Noran ABU GANEM

Area: Beersheba, Lahav, Rahat, Am Baten

Organisation: AJEC / DESERT STARS /AL SALAM SCHOOL

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

This action is about raising awareness on critical thinking tools as a solution for the divisions in the Bedouin society between the people from villages and the people from the cities. It aims to create critical dialogues about "cultural conditions in the Bedouin society" and promote social cohesion. This action targets at least 260 students and volunteers from different backgrounds such as unrecognised Bedouin villages, recognised villages, and cities.

Activities:

Conducting lectures on Bedouin culture between the past and the present through critical thinking approaches for “Desert Stars” students and AJEC volunteers.
Celebrating Bedouin culture day in the “Al-Salam” primary school and based on what they learned.
Hosting Dialogue sessions for the students of “Desert Stars” and AJEC programmes volunteers about social and cultural challenges in the Bedouin Community.
Organising visits for students from “Desert Stars” to unrecognised and recognised villages and Bedouin cities to highlight the similarities and the differences between the three different types of Bedouin lifestyle.

Links:

@desertstarsen

https://www.desertstars.org.il/menu-english

http://ar.ajeec-nisped.org.il/

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: Learning from the system: Paving the way for sustainable solid waste management in Jordan

Leader’s name: Hazem ABDALLAH

Area: Amman

Organisation: Dibeen For Environmental Development Association

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 29/03/2022

This action is about creating an effective recycling programme for Amman, Jordan to tackle the environmental issues in the city. It aims to provide suggestions and solutions to the problems faced by institutions working on waste management in Jordan. A practical guide will be presented to the Jordanian government, including simulations, based on the recycling model in Cairo (Zabbaleen City).

Activities:

Conducting one study on the largest recycling systems in Africa and the Middle East (Zabbaleen City) and drawing inspiration from the methods already developed.
Simulating the study results within a sample of 200 households in Amman.
Developing an open-source practical manual including proposals aiming at influencing the Waste department of the Greater Amman’s Municipality

Hashtags:

#ZeroWaste #SustainableSolidWasteManagment #Inspiration #Rethink_med

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Title: Skills for Youth in Politics

Leader’s name: Salma KHALAF

Area: Online, Lebanon

Organisation: YLP Lebanon, Amideast Lebanon, Injaz Lebanon, Girl Up Lebanon, and Girl Up Palestine

Period of implementation:

This action is about building the capacity of high school and college students through online simulations to reinforce their knowledge and skills to engage in the political life in their countries, as well as, assist them in gaining skills in the critical thinking and research field to fight misinformation and reduce conflict and violence. In the process of simulating a real political scenario, participants will have the chance to conduct research, practice negotiation, recognise their goals as stakeholders, brainstorm solutions for problems, and utilise interpersonal skills.

Activities

Arranging political simulations where participants are asked to represent certain stakeholders (like parliamentarians, presidents, prime ministers) of certain countries. The participants are asked to work on pressing problems - like drafting budgets and allocating money and dividing parliamentary seats among the different political parties.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

#youthinpolitics #youthforchange

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Title: The impact of Critical Thinking on the development of societies –Thinking with critical insight

Leader’s name: Claudine ZAAROUR

Area: Beirut or Byblos city

Organisation:

Period of implementation: 26/03/2022

This action is about building the capacity of university students and junior professionals from different regions in Lebanon in the hope to spread the critical thinking mindset. The objective is to highlight the importance of critical thinking in creating the collective and individual identity in the Lebanese society by showcasing the impact of this skill on the academic, professional and socio-economic sides, as well as, on the political decisions.

Activities

Holding a conference to discuss in depth citizenship conceptة as well as, learning techniques to making wise decisionsة verifying information and news, and respecting others.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med #thinking-with-critical-insight

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Title: Inference

Leader’s name: Noran ELARBI

Area: Benghazi/Sirt

Organisation: Libyan Debate Club

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 30/03/2022

This action is about empowering social media users in Libya by building their capacities to be able to recognise and deal with fake news as well as fight hate speeches. The aim is to assist participants to look at visual media with a critical mindset and use the strategies that journalists employ to fact-check and verify the information.

This activity is divided into two parts: a training programme and dialogue session.

Activities:

Conducting a four-day training addressed to 20 young participants on different topics such as disinformation, hate speech, critical thinking tools, available tools to validate information, fact-checking methods, and verification of information.
Hosting a dialogue session with four panelists to discuss and announce the results of the case studies with the trainees.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/LDC.benghazi

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: Conscious Youth for the Med Bootcamp: Developing social transformation using critical thinking tools.

Leader’s name: Algathafi GOOJA

Area: Sirte

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

This action is about enhancing social cohesion through critical thinking training sessions as well as encouraging community actions. The training aims to encourage 24 social workers, journalist and activists to challenge the existing patterns of thought by tackling issues like collective Identity, social cohesion, confirmation bias, misinformation, youth employment, policy-making, and Climate change.

Activities:

Organising a six-day workshop under the following topics: (1) Art, culture, and social transformation (2) Sustainability, and (3) Misinformation.
Developing a promotional video addressing the ideas and conclusions agreed upon during the workshops.
Conducting follow-up sessions to assist and support the participants who are willing to implement common actions.

Hashtags:

#CY4MED, #CY22

#Rethink_med

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Title: From the Other Side

Leader’s name: Reem FURJANI

Area: Tripoli (Libya)

Organisation: Scene for Culture & Heritage

Period of implementation: 26/03/2022

This event is a collective and inclusive conversation about the lost cultural resources in Libya. It involves 14 participants (managers of private cultural spaces, film-makers, public authorities responsible for managing cultural spaces). This conversation aims to stimulate critical thinking among actors of the cultural scene about why the existing 30 cinemas, theatres have been closed and the live music venues in Libya’s capital city (which existed between 1900 and 1970) have been stopped.

Activities:

Presenting the findings of the two inquiries (the Trace map and Cultural Resources map) through a Virtual Reality tour.
Conducting a Conversation in a café regarding the neglect of the first cinema in Libya, in order to encourage critical thinking about the state of the cultural sector, the relationship between the State’s policies and the communal experience, as well as, the factors affecting cultural sustainability.
Inviting people to express their opinion and publish their ideas on the website in order to promote the ongoing discussion in this regard.

Links:

www.scene.org.ly

https://www.facebook.com/SceneHeritage

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

#من_الشيرة_لخرى

#FromTheOtherSide #أثر #Trace

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Title: Preventing and fighting against radicalisation

Leader’s name: Mohamed Hadi Dia

Area: Nouakchott

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 - 31/03/2022

This action is a capacity development project for young people in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Nouakchott. It aims to create leaders who are committed to promoting the spirit of peace within communities and take part in actions that promote social cohesion and citizenship. It also aims to prevent radicalisation, as well as, to raise awareness on the mindset of peace and citizenship.

Activities:

Conducting a training of trainers session on youth leadership and civic engagement
Advocating for the creation of more socio-economic opportunities and capacity building for young people in the neighbourhoods of Nouakchott.
Hosting "Open Mic Poetry and Music" sessions to allow young people to express themselves on tolerance in order to strengthen social cohesion, deconstruct hate speech, and prevent the radicalisation of young people.

Links:

https://web.facebook.com/togetherletsbuildpeace

Hashtags: #Rethink_med

#touspourlapaix

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Title: Art for the environment / الفن في خدمة البيئة

Leader’s name: Zakaria ABOU NAJAT

Area: Tangier

Organisation: Mouvement des Jeunes verts

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

The action is an artistic creation in an open-air theatre aiming at raising awareness among the citizens of Tangier about the problem of forest devastation, which endangers the environmental balance. It also aims to raise awareness of young people about the value of the environment to engage them in fighting for this cause.

Activities:

Conducting a co-creation workshop to write the script of the play.
Hosting castings for the potential actors.
Holding several repetition and training sessions to coach actors.
Presenting the play in the theatre and promoting it through traditional and social media.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/Mouvement.des.jeunes.verts/

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med #art_for_environnement

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Title: Gaza Thinks

Leader’s name: Mennatallah Hijazi,

Area: Gaza

Organisation: Palthink for Strategic Studies

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 - 30/04/2022

This action is about producing a policy paper as a result of the reunion of 15 young civil society actors from different organisations. This paper aims to shed light on issues related to misinformation and establish a roadmap for decision-makers to develop alternatives and recommendations, alleviate the pressing problems, and support a prosperous society. The objective of this action is to engage young people in the decision-making process, influence local, regional, and international communities towards the raised issue, and explore opportunities for collaboration and the possibilities of interventions.

Activities:

Conducting workshops on misinformation and related topics using critical thinking tools.
Creating an online advocacy campaign on misinformation and bias.
Organising study-visits to local organisations and projects working on misinformation and critical thinking.
Producing a policy paper on misinformation and promoting it through social media.

Links:

http://palthink.org/en/category/programs/

(link is external)

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med #Gaza_Thinks #careful_fake_news

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Title: A Community free of violence

Leader’s name: Tamer Akel

Area: Jerusalem

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 - 31/03/2022

This action is about engaging students from Jerusalem (especially children at risk) in participatory group activities. This action aims to minimise violence and enhance the social cohesion between students and helps increasing children's dignity, development, and protection by engaging them in after-school activities like fun lectures, and teamwork activities.

Activities:

Playing games and performing challenging group exercises to develop the life skills of the target group of young children.
Organising training sessions on safe behaviours through basic self-defence techniques, Karate and Judo classes.
Engaging children in volunteer recycling work in the community and in sports

Links:

Hashtags:

#notoviolence #violencefree #nonviolentcommunity #SOCIALCOHESION #lifeskills

#Rethink_med

----------------------

Title: A refugee than a host

Leader’s name: Ibrahim ALFAWAL

Area: Online/ Syria and Lebanon

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

The action is about the creation of a short documentary about the displacement stories of Syrian and Lebanese during the past 20 years. The objectives are to bridge the gap between the Syrian and Lebanese people, enrich their collective history and offer them way and means to reconciliate.

Activities:

Producing and presenting a storytelling video about the history of displacement between Lebanon and Syria
Organising a discussion circle between civil society activists to reflect on the core values of reconciliation.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

----------------------

Title: The hardworking women

Leader’s name: Sofien Asta

Area: Aïn Draham, Jendouba

Organisation: Association Tunisienne d’accompagnement et d’autonomisation des femmes

Period of implementation: 22/03/2022 - 27/03/2022

This action is about empowering 10 women/girls in disadvantaged areas in Tunisia. Handicraft production is a major form of employment, by building their capacity capacities in the creation of handicraft jewellery, this action will help them in marketing their products and becoming economically independent.

Activities:

Conducting a four days training on creation handmade pieces of jewellery.
Hosting a one-day training on sales and marketing to build the capacity of the beneficiaries in selling and marketing their handmade products.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: The school as a catalyst for critical thinking

Leader’s name: Rim Ben khlifa

Area: Tunis

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 - 31/03/2022

This action is about building the capacity of primary school teachers on using the critical thinking tools increasing their participation in the process of educational development in Tunisia. This action aims to promote and include the critical thinking mindset in pedagogical practices, as well as, to develop in-depth rational thinking and structure the concepts necessary for the development of independent thinking.

Activities:

Conducting training on critical thinking for the primary school teachers while taking into consideration the themes: of Human Rights, equality, and the environment].
Holding workshops on communication tools, child psychology, and educational methods.
Creating a teacher guide book to widen the number of beneficiaries.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: How can refugees participate in politics?

Leader’s name: Homam DAOUD

Area: Brussels

Organisation:

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 – 31/03/2022

This event is a circle of 30 activists and human defenders addressing the lack of active participation of refugees in national and European politics. This action intends to raise awareness about active participation importance and gives the refugees the means to integrate into the political system of the host country.

Activities:

Conducting a workshop on the possibilities and opportunities for refugees to participate in politics, integration, and inclusion, and the advocacy on active participation and representation (Bottom-up approach).
Hosting a debate between representatives from Belgian/European politics, human rights institutions, and civil society activists on the presented topic. The debate is open for the participants of the workshop, as well as to other persons interested in the topic.

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Title: Young Leadership Programme “Reaching regenerative systems through critical thinking”

Leader’s name: Hannah ECKERT

Area: Rome

Period of implementation: 25/03/2022- 27/03/2022

The action is about building the capacity of young leaders within the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) by organising a leadership programme in order to rethink their development approach of (food security) projects and connect for a long-lasting relationship. The main purpose is to bring critical and regenerative thinking further into these organisations and projects and build a growing group of critical change-makers.

Activities:

Hosting an intensive 3-day Workshop to train individuals within the UN and establish meaningful long-lasting connections to create a systemic change from within.
Conducting interviews with local farmers and citizens regarding the participation of civil society and regional politicians in advancing inclusive and effective policies, transparency, and accountability.
Creating a Social Media campaign to raise awareness on the importance of regional sustainable development, regeneration, and democratic participation and showing how leaders are rethinking their learned approach of « development ».

Hashtags :

#Rethink_med

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Title: Swingm (“Think” in the Amazigh language)

Leader’s name: Khadija AMAHAL

Area:Tiznit

Period of implementation: 01-04-2022 - 10-04-2022

The action is about building the critical thinking capacity of potential young leaders in Morroco. It aims to empower youth with the necessary tools to find creative solutions to the community challenges and to raise awareness of social media users on false information and media literacy.

Activities:

Conducting two workshops addressed to 20 beneficiaries: one is focused on critical thinking and design thinking and the other on video making and public speaking.
Hosting a video creation competition that tests the participants’ acquired knowledge of video editing, the community challenge that they want to tackle, and their proposed solution.
Creating a community of experts who will be responsible for choosing the winners in a closing ceremony
Organising a digital campaign through four live sessions on Facebook and four podcast episodes

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med #youththink #swingm

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Twinning actions

Title: Intercultural Coffee Time

Leader’s name: Rubia Naz Ali KOUSAR & Katherine ANDRINO

Area: Barcelona

Organisation: Irenia, Jocs de Pau

Period of implementation: 01-04-2022 - 10-04-2022

This event is a twining action between two leaders from Barcelona. It is a discussion circle that reunites a group of elderly with a group of youth who have been racialised. This action aims to promote communication between locals and minorities, in order to combat hate speech, spatial segregation, and prejudices that different groups have of each other.

Activities:

Conducting a discussion to analyse the main problems in the local community through allowing the youngers and elders to share stories, experiences and maintain an intercultural dialogue.
Hosting a workshop that aims to create a common vision, mission and goals for the community.

Links:

https://www.irenia.net/

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med

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Regional actions

Regional action 1

Title: Rethink, Reconnect Climate Action and Social Justice - it´s time to listen!

Leader’s name: Julia ECKERT & Matteo ZAMPATTI

Area: Online, Sweden and Germany

Organisation: Educational organisation for social and environmental regeneration ReLearn, Forum ViA- Visions in Action, Thyme, and Ghost

Period of implementation: 15/03/2022 - 30/04/2022

This action is about increasing the presence of the indigenous people’s perspective in the climate discussions in Sweden by giving them a platform and spreading their messages and raising awareness of their current situation and historical status and its connection to the climate crisis. This will be done through the co-creation of teaching materials with the indigenous Sámi people of Sweden, and prototyping a critical-thinking workshop for the more than 100 facilitators and teachers within the field of climate education.

Activities:

Conducting several interviews during the days of the action to provide various perspectives on the topic. The interviews target researchers, artists, and activists’ groups of Sami background.
Implementing a social media campaign in line with the topic of the action and advertising the content that was created.
Connecting all the materials from the interview and other data collection methods and designing a workshop format that can be used as a template/framework in different environments.
Testing the workshop in different environments such as the activist scene of Malmo, the Uppsala University in Gotland, and the online space of the Forum ViA.

Links:

Instagram: @viagloballearning @heyits_thyme @suderbynsuderbyn

Facebook: @Suderbyn

Hashtags:

#Rethink_med #forrightsandequality #Reconnect #connectclimateactionandsocialjustice #Climatejustice #criticalthinking #commonhistory #decolonization #ownershipofthenarrative #itstimetolisten #justfuture4everyone #areyouready

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Regional action 2

Title: Think Equal

Leader’s name: Amel HADJADJ, Samar ZUGHOOL and Sandra Imran ALOUSE

Area: Algeria, Slovenia, Finland

Organisation: “Le Journal Féministe Algérien”, POVOD Institute for culture and development of international relations in culture. Mirsal ry, Moniheli ry and Tieto on valtaa ry

Period of implementation: 15/03/ 2022- 03/04/ 2022

This project is a regional action with a general objective to fight gender discrimination. Thus, three leaders involved in the gender equality thematic are holding similar activities in their respective region (Algeria, Slovenia and Finland) with different sub-objectives and target groups (below are the descriptions and sub-objectives of each activity by region). This project ends by hosting a common online exhibition open to the public to share the joint outcome of the following activities:

1)Leader’s name: Samar ZUGHOOL (Slovenia,)

Organisation: POVOD Institute for culture and development of international relations in culture

This action focuses on teaching critical thinking through Art for 12 migrants, refugees, and Slovenian women to equip them with the necessary skills in order to create at least ten statements accompanied with creative products such as crochet, handicrafts, paintings, poetry, short films, or photography. The aim is to create an inclusive platform for Med refugee women that allows them to use critical thinking tools to re-discuss and re-address their rights and mobilise the public to stand for women’s rights beyond gender and borders in the Mediterranean region.

Activities:

Conducting a workshop on critical thinking through arts to discuss women’s rights and movements for equality beyond genders and borders.
Hosting a gathering to create the ten statements and art products.
Implementing ten days of intensive online campaign for women’s rights in the Mediterranean region.

2)Leader’s name: Sandra Imran ALOUSE (Finland)

Organisation: Mirsal ry, Moniheli ry and Tieto on valtaa ry

This action is about building the capacity of 15 Arabic speaking kids in Finland between the age of 7 and 14 to enable them to recognise the different types of gender discrimination, and the appropriate method that can be used to deal with each situation.

Activities:

Conducting two workshops to emphasize gender stereotypes and discrimination.
Collecting personal stories on gender discrimination from anonymous people in Arabic and English.

3)Leader’s name: Amel HADJADJ (Algeria)

Organisation: “Le Journal Féministe Algérien”

This action focuses on the issue of gender and violence and targets youth from diverse backgrounds and genders. The aim is to build the capacity of a group of activists using critical thinking tools carry out and participate in a regional campaign for gender equality in rights.

Activities: