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Welcome to our project!
Smart for Democracy and Diversity (SDD)

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About the project

“Smart for Democracy and Diversity” (SDD) is a project supported by seven partner organisations from six European countries with the aim of developing an anti-racist learning tool for adult education. Our project focuses on the development of an online game, learning materials, workshop concepts and policy recommendations. SDD addresses learners, adult educators and policy makers and intends to contribute to the strengthening of a democratic and diverse society with this broad approach.

Equal rights, participation and protection against discrimination and racism are central to the agenda of the European Union and important preconditions for living together on equal terms. In recent years, populist and racist positions have gained strength across Europe. Hate speech and conspiracy theories spread prejudice, promote anti-Semitic thought patterns and stir up sentiment against marginalised groups. These attacks are not only verbal, they also culminate in physical violence and terror.

The developments of the last few years are only an intensification of this. Exclusion of marginalised people and racist ideas are a long-term social problem. Racism, discrimination and hate speech affect people because of their appearance or identity and have a strong impact on the possibilities and opportunities of the people who are targeted. Discrimination limits individual opportunities and affects all aspects of life – from finding housing and a job to participating in society. Dealing with discrimination does not only require political and legal decisions. It is also important to deal with one’s own discriminatory positions and attitudes. Such self-reflection approaches have been used in anti-racist education work for many years.

The project works with an intersectional approach and includes the individual experiences of marginalised people. The aim is to make these positions visible and to promote a critical examination of discriminatory behaviour and structures. The intersectional approach focuses on individuals and their specific life situations, but keeps discriminatory categories in mind.

An important methodological aspect is an empathetic and low-threshold approach to the topic. This should promote understanding and reflection of one’s own behaviour. We believe that democratic and equal coexistence in a diverse society can best be promoted by understanding other perspectives.

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News

These are our latest news:
SDD Newsletter #02 (February 2023 EN)

The second newsletter of the Smart for Democracy and Diversity (SDD) Project has just been released.

In the spotlights: Bildungsstätte Anne Frank  

Nava Zarabian of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank in Frankfurt explains their participation in the SDD …

In the spotlights: SHINE 2Europe

In this video you will hear more from Carina Dantas and Luis Dias about their role, their plans and …

In the spotlight: AGE Platform Europe

Partner AGE Platform Europe joined the SDD project because protection against age discrimination, pr…

The Characters of the SDD game
The SDD Game Development

The SDD educational game will be online soon, find out more about it!

Hate speech online: new data from the European Commission

The results of the latest evaluation of the EU Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech onl…

International Conference: Learning and Implementing Social Innovation
International Conference: Learning and Implementing Social Innovation

SHINE, AFEdemy and the Nursing School of Coimbra are organising a conference on November 8th and 9th…

Meet Gianpaolo, co-founder of the Italian LGBTQ+ movement

Today we continue with Gianpaolo, who co-founded the Italian LGBTQ+ movement and will tell us more a…

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Partners

The project involves seven partner organisations in six European countries.
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Contact

How to contact us:

Project coordinator: schulze@isis-sozialforschung.de
Technical coordinator: javier@afedemy.eu


Country specific contact:
o  Germany: schulze@isis-sozialforschung.de
o  Italy: andreis@lunaria.org
o  Portugal: carinadantas@shine2.eu
o  The Czech Republic: bob.kurik@fhs.cuni.cz
o  The Netherlands: willeke@afedemy.eu

The European Commission support for the production of this Website does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.