Title: “#unfiltered”

Project number: 2019-2-EE01-KA105-051765

Countries and partners:

-Estonia (Youth Centre Vihasoo/Youth Club Active NGO)

-Turkey (FuturEurope Youth Association)

-Finland (Hyvinkää youth department)

-Germany (East West East)

-Poland (Fundacja Rozwoju Spoleczenstwa Przedsiebiorczego)

 

APV: 06.09-07-09 (+2 days of travel)

Project Dates: 01.10 – 06.10. 2019 (+2 travel days 30.09 – arrival, 07.10 – departure)

Participants: 15-19 years old, leader 18+

Group per country:

4 participants + 1 leader

Venue:

Tammispea village, Suburban camp Vihasoo, APV will be organised in Tallinn, in NGO Youth Club Active youth centre (Võru 11, Tallinn)

 

 

Description of the project:

We aimed to encourage the teenage girls to challenge the beauty standards and media ideals, at the same time giving them tools to learn how to feel comfortable in their own bodies, with their appearance, as well as with their own emotions and feelings. Having a safe space to share and discuss their thoughts and feelings can have an important and empowering effect on the girls, raise their self-esteem, help them to accept the unstable puberty period as a part of growth, and to seek possible solutions to common problems at this age.

Throughout the project, the young girls were engaged in a number of activities – physical, creative, mental – aimed at creating a safe space and teaching them how to assess media products with more care, at the same time focusing on their own feelings.

 

Our aim was:

To empower young girls (15-19 y.o.) through giving them an opportunity of focusing deeply on themselves, on their feelings and emotions, as well as to become more aware of their bodies, to raise their confidence and self-esteem.

The objectives were:

–  to debunk the idea of ‘beauty standards’, developing ideas about dealing with pressure to ‘fit in’, which girls suffer from;

–  to teach girls how to assess media products critically as well as to understand that realistic image of a woman may differ significantly;

–  to create a safe space for to girls to explore themselves and connect with own emotions, to share their feelings, wishes, problems, and seek for possible solutions together

–  to share experience and knowledge on feminist scene and available support in each country

–  to discuss the concept of ‘healthy body’ and to promote giving more importance on feelings in and with body, as opposed to looks

–  to provide the girls with tools of self-empowerment for facing such troubles in the future, for improving attitude towards themselves and their bodies in emotionally turbulent times;

–  to discover new cultures through traditional activities and cuisine

–  to experience non-formal learning through methods of hiking, discussions, teamwork, artwork, meditations and physical activities.

 

The project involved 24 young people from 5 countries, and at the end of it the girls were indeed more empowered and self-aware. They found the topic very important for their daily life and future, also they have learned different methods on how to focus on themselves, their emotions and bodies to become more s

elf-conscious and confident. We successfully encouraged our girls to spend some time on just focussing on themselves to get a more clear mind and different attitude towards their bodies and environment. Additionally, we have expanded their horizons by providing information about Erasmus+ programme (as many of the participants were first-timers in youth exchanges) and motivating to take part in international projects in the future.

 

Photos – Click HERE