The EUTOPIA project is funded by the Erasmus Plus Program, involving five partners from Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, and Hungary. The project has an ambitious goal: to awaken in young people the desire to imagine, hope and design a better world and to be more advocates for change. The partners wondered at length about the current value of Utopias and Dystopias in the contemporary world, specifically asking how they can contribute to the education of young people.
Several interviews with youth workers revealed a low propensity of young people to “dream big”. Overwhelmed by the speed of our days in all aspects of our lives, they seem to be “carried away by the facts,” “passive spectators with little motivation to act,” “critical of the society in which they live but sceptical of possible changes.” As a result, there is no time to reflect on themselves, their dreams, desires, and ideas, not even to ask questions about what works and what does not work in their society, what should be changed and why, and what they could and would like to do. They think of the present as the main space to plan their time and are very concrete in setting goals, rather individualistic.
The project aims to awaken hope that a better world can exist and offer youth workers training, tools and information to teach them how to practice this hope and help them realise it. Quoting the writer and philosopher E. Bloch about dreams and utopia, “The important thing is to get to know them better and better and then to keep them in the right direction, without them deceiving us but in such a way that, on the contrary, they help us. […]”.
Young people should know the concepts of utopia and dystopia, not only as philosophical concepts related to thinkers of the past. They should begin to understand that utopias are current concepts, especially when related to active citizenship and the pursuit of a more inclusive, sustainable and democratic society. But the desire to change things should not be generated by the dystopia caused by the anxiety of what can lead tomorrow to a catastrophic future, but rather by realising the hope that human beings can save the Earth to make it better for everyone.
Following these goals, the project partners have planned to structure specific results, each with well-defined objectives. All materials will be available on the project website, and the first outcome will soon be online.
The project also includes the creation of a training concept for the design of utopias by young people, where young people are invited to put their ideas into practice, sharing them and building synergies. It is an immersive learning experience motivated by a desire to bet on young people’s abilities to dream of a better world for their future.
As part of the project, the format will be tested with 15-20 “utopian” young people who will be involved in a residential experience. It will be possible to apply, so spread the word as of now!