The youth club members of LDA Georgia: Magda Purtskhvanidze, Rezi Arsenidze, Nino Koridze, Lado Meskhi and Salome Grigalashvili participated in Erasmus+ funded project named - “Hate Speech Less”, held in city Bosko, Bulgaria. The project hosted participants from Spain, Croatia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Jordan and Turkey.

The aim of the project was to increase the awareness in young people about the hate speech, racism, discrimination, equality, media propaganda and the possibility of avoiding fake information.

Salome: Participation in the project was a great challenge and an excellent opportunity to discover the news in myself. During the project, I realised that hate speech and discrimination are not the problems only in our country, but also for others. I have spent interesting days in a multicultural environment.

During the 8 days, representatives of Georgia, Ukraine, Jordan, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain and Croatia have received theoretical and practical knowledge about the causes of hate speech and effective ways to overcome it; Based on the examples of the countries participating in the project, youth leaders discussed the current situation about different vulnerable groups; They have also discussed the necessity of dialogue between cultures against common problems in order to ensure diversity in the peace building process.

Nino: It is the first time I have taken part into this kind of project and I come back with the unforgettable impressions. I've got to know new people and learned about their culture, traditions, language, and cuisine. During the project, I raised awareness on identifying the hate speech and got to know more how to fight against it. In the future I will definitely take a part in the similar projects.

The project was implemented on the basis of informal education. Participants involved in simulation activities, interactive presentations and practical seminars.

Rezi: The project gave me a chance to assess the view of Georgian and foreign cultures on the specific issues. It showed me how we are the members of the European / healthy social world and how can we fight against the hate speech in our society.

Participants had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge on the most important and crucial issues and also to evaluate discussed topics from different perspective.

Lado: This project gave me the opportunity to see more clearly the difficulties of hate speech and strategies how to deal with it. It was especially interesting to hear about the problems of different nationalities that exist in their countries.

The project is organized by the Association "Znanie", which works on the issues of youth .