The aim of the project is to raise awareness on the problem of homophobic bullying within school communities and existing emotional support services. The project will also encourage active youth participation and youth work (youth to youth support, fostering volunteering and youth to youth support) and access to rights (access to education free from discrimination).
The main objectives of this project: 1) To organize capacity building workshops for school professionals and parents and share the experience of emotional support platform volunteers on how to counter and react to instances of homophobic bullying; 2) To implement visibility measures in order to raise awareness on existing emotional support services; 3) To organize team-building session in order to empower youth volunteers to continue to provide emotional support for LGBT youngsters who experience homophobic bullying.
Firstly, the project team will organize 4 capacity building workshops for teachers (20 participants-school professionals per workshop) in 4 different schools in Kaunas and Vilnius. During these workshops the participants will be thoroughly informed about the problem of homophobic bullying and what they can do to counter it and provide support for students who experience it.
Secondly, the project team will organize 4 workshops for representatives of Parent Association (PA) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) (10 participants per workshop) in Vilnius and Kaunas. During these workshops the volunteers of emotional support platform will inform the participants about the extent of the problem of homophobic bullying in Lithuanian schools, share case examples and explain ways how parents could support their children who experience such form of bullying.
The project team will also organize an info day in Kaunas, aiming to make the target groups (LGBT students, parents and teachers) more informed about the existing emotional support platform. During an info day the participants will be informed about the problem of homophobic bullying and what they can do to support LGBT students. The participants will also receive leaflets and other relative material.
The project team will prepare and print 1000 leaflets and 100 posters (in Lithuanian). The posters will be sent to Lithuanian schools in order to raise awareness about the emotional support platform. 1 short video will also be produced and posted on social media, aiming to raise awareness about the platform.
Finally, the project team will have a team-building session in the countryside. During the session the chief psychologist will organize an intervision for volunteers in order to discuss most difficult cases and be able to move on with providing quality support.
Implemented activities:
The project is supported by the Council of Europe through the European Youth Foundation.