ERASMUS + bring young people together

28.11-6.12.2019 Representatives of 7 countries (Morocco, Iceland, Italy, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine) gathered in Marrakech (Morocco) to participate in the international youth exchange project (Erasmus +) with very interesting title “Counternarrativalicious” . From SNAU the project participant was Assistant Professor of the Department of Agriculture, Soil Science and Agrochemistry Elena Zakharchenko. The goal of the project was to: improve and select hate speech, use counterarguments and alternative texts (memes, stories) on online networks that can help protect human rights in the online space; learned to plan and prepare material for distribution on social networks. Each country prepared a report on the results of online testing, which took place before the arrival on social networks, which aimed to determine the impact of hate speech on society. In Ukraine, according to the test, there are more negative comments (on the non-descending) for the LGBT community, for political preferences, gender inequality, less for economic difficulties, religion, migrants, and even less for some discussion topics (for example, electing discipline or new protection rules), dissertations, etc.). The topics were serious enough, global, but the participants analyzed them in a game, team form, there was time and to get acquainted with the Moroccan culture. At the intercultural evening, participants from each country presented their national dishes (mostly sweets), taught folklore, played contests. Every day was rich, well planned and very interesting. Young people of different faiths and views were united in one African swirl of positivity, creativity and love! One day was allocated to rest and most of the participants went by bus to the town of Essaouira, 170 km west of Marrakech – a colorful city, in which the film series “Game of Thrones” was filmed. Well, at the end of the project, the task was to make a poster, video, photo collage on a chosen topic, discussed during the first three days. The last day ended even with tears, as this week of the project brought knowledge, new skills, new friends. The social networking world is large and we will use it to build respect and love across cultures! If you are fluent in English then take part in Erasmus + youth exchange projects, an experience that will stay with you forever.