Europe is more than crises, problems and rising right-wing politics, though sometimes it seems that is all we hear about.
But in a post-Brexit Europe, perhaps the best way we, European citizens, can respond is not by focusing within borders, but by creating and strengthening connections across them. Advocate Europe's annual “idea challenge” has worked to make this possible.
Earlier this year, over 650 teams from 40 different European countries submitted their ideas for uniting Europe. This alone is a testimony to the power and creativity of modern European civil society in charting a common European future.
The following 8 projects have been selected as the winners of Advocate Europe 2016. Their innovative solutions foster cohesion and connection in Europe and we are very happy to present the winning project ideas to you today!
ADVOCATE EUROPE 2016 – THE WINNING IDEAS
- Hate-free Cities envisions a public discourse free of hate speech. Putting young people at its core, the project will serve as a prototype for dealing with the crucial issue of public discourse in Europe today.
- Migration Matters will be Europe's first free and open access Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on migration. Short, creative videos will offer a nuanced and solution-oriented treatment of one of Europe’s hottest topics.
- Exploring the potentials of photography to promote understanding and dialogue, DeFence sets out to develop a methodology through which community builders, social scientists and photographers can design social interventions in divided communities.
- Transcending borders and connecting people through culture is the mission of the GaciliaKult Forum, which will bring together cultural activists, artists and citizens from Ukraine and other European countries through 90 local cultural events.
- In Beyond '91, young journalists from seven countries will explore the hopes, dreams and fears of young people who grew up behind the Iron Curtain, thus building a multi-layered portrait of the “perestroika-generation.”
- While Europe struggles with the so-called refugee crisis, ROC21 tells a different story. A toolkit co-produced by refugees, refugee organisations and innovators will gather together experiences, knowledge and tools and, in doing so, showcase the vast potential of migrants.
- Built around a series of objects lost by refugees and found by filmmakers, the documentary film LOST AND FOUND presents a collective portrait of refugees journeying to Europe.
- The initiative RISE amplifies the voice of refugee and migrant organisations in national and EU-level policy discussions and highlights their potential as knowledgeable and experienced partners in our societies.
Find out more about the winners on www.advocate-europe.eu.
Originally published July 6, 2016
