Good practice: Together Within (Pratto apo koinou)

This Greek initiative of Cyclisis (Education, Culture, environment) aims to promote literacy, Personal and interpersonal, digital and civic capabilities among low-skilled adults of low socioeconomic background since 2014. It is available in Greek and partly in English.

The Greeks mentioned the program Together within, which covers a range of different needs related to the participants’ social and job integration. It aims for the social and personal empowerment of participants coming from low socio-economical backgrounds. It consists of various workshops on language and communication, peer learning and peer counselling, ICT and communication and social entrepreneurship in order to advance the self-awareness and self-estimation of these participants.

Despite the initial planning on paper, the Prato apo koinou is flexible in time and modes of delivering, based on identifying the needs of the participants/learners. Participants are learners and tutors. Through artistic and cultural workshops, with no pressure on results, the participants manage to meet in a common place without prejudice (for example, Theatrical Mask creation where refugees, volunteers and unemployed citizens learn about the face expressions – anger, laughter, pain, etc.) and are given time for conscious understanding and for changing attitudes.

This project appealed to people in a way that is not that common among prior practices. The various workshops comprise people that know each other so people do not easily feel like joining them. But this project offers language lessons, cultural activities and counselling for free to everyone living in the city regardless their nationality or the place they are coming from. The project team focused on establishing the connection to the target groups and did not expect them to find this connection by themselves. This notion served as prevention method regarding the immediate exclusion of people that are less informed and less included in activities at the local level.