Inclusion is Fusion!

#Inclusion #homeless #mentalhealth #social #innovations Many people want to help but they are afraid to approach to the people in big need. For example, a homeless person, because his or her condition can be so bad, that you’d rather just look away. That’s understandable and there are as many reactions and sensibilities as there are people (and animals, even plants) on earth. First step is to acknowledge how you would feel when approaching to a homeless person, given they might not want help. Or they don’t want help from you, but would accept it from someone else. That doesn’t mean they can sense if somebody is a bad person : ) It’s just like that for some reason, you may resemble their much hated uncle etc. So try applying a “small pieces consist a big picture”, start with small steps. And there’s planning and team-work Small “yeses” leads to a bigger yes. Even if something disgusts you, like very poor hygienic condition of a homele...

Rodrigo, member of Inclusion is Fusion, is a pedagogue and freelancer in the field of theatre and has been active since 2014 at schools, kindergartens, colleges, theaters and many other institutions. He teaches drama and theater methods as well as interdisciplinary scenic working forms that promote communication and interaction in the cultural and social environment. For him, it is very important to connect his educational work always with sustainability and environmentally friendly approaches. In his work with refugees and others, he combines theatre with natural material and accessories. Together with young newcomers, he composed a performance in nature with bamboo sticks and natural ropes. It was part of the project "Viel,halt!" in August 2017 that was bringing together newcomers and youth with and without disability from the three countries point close to Strasbourg. Inclusion and green education can happen in so many different ways! It is about connecting ...

 "Every Saturday we stand and fight!" Anita Kramarczyk is a s ociologist, educator, traveler, mom, promoter of creative recycling and living in harmony with the laws of Nature, close to Pachamama. She has worked and lived with our partner organization "Fundacja Laja" and is actively involved in the Earth Week and Tea Festival in Cieszyn.  She shares the story of the Bioferia in Mendoca, Argentina:    There are many forms of fighting for your own rights, demonstrating your position, showing your values and visions of a better world, just as there are many ways to have a more balanced life. One of them is living in respect with the laws of Nature, in harmony with its natural cycles, cultivating the earth and ensuring a healthy nourishment. Argentina is a country of contrasts. On one hand, as many as 3.2 million hectares of land are covered by organic farms. On the other hand, transgenic soybean plantations are getting bigger year by year. Initially cov...

The world is full of explorers, and full of things to be explored. The "Map of Tomorrow"´(German: Karte von morgen) helps us to discover places from an inspiring point of view: you can find forward-thinking projects, companies and soon  also events in your area. Everyone can be part of it and contribute. The map is an open resource that is based on the open street map. It is easy to make entries. Try it out: https://www.kartevonmorgen.org/# The map has been initiated by Ideen³   together with slowtec . It is successfully implemented in Germany and is now aiming at internationalizing the map more and more. Your benefits: It is made by people for people and based on voluntary basis. Support the map by adding new points on the map! You can embed the map on your website.  The labels function like filters. Using specific hashtags in the search bar can help you to find the right things and to embed just a selection of points to your embeded map. You will expl...

SOLIDARITY, SOCIAL INCLUSION and NO WASTE – “Raccolta dell’invenduto” “Invenduto” – the non-sold weekly portions of vegetables and fruits thrown away every week in the local markets of Italy – was reborn in 2012, when Associazione Eufemia started collecting it directly from the market sellers, with the involvement of the local community. 3 years later, the project is now known in Torino (Italy) as “Pane in Comune”. Eufemia is working in 3 different markets and involving more than 30 families that meet every Saturday afternoon in the collection of goods, before the closing of the markets. Why is this a sustainable project? “Pane in Comune” puts different aspects together: it aims to decrease local food waste by involving people in need of economical support from the local community. The key is that the different families and individuals take an active role in the process and they manage a big part of it in autonomy. They become managers of a fundamental resource ...

There are not too many project examples that merge the three pillars of the concept of Inclusion is Fusion.  Here is another project that is also aiming at young entrepreneurship, sustainability and social inclusion: PRESET The project “Preset“ strives for long-term future prospects of youth: It is about discovering and reinforcing the potential that especially lies in the field of ecology and development of sustainable projects. Young people shall be empowered and promoted so they are able to build up an independent economical future. The project “Preset“ strives for long-term future prospects of youth: It is about discovering and reinforcing the potential that especially lies in the field of ecology and development of sustainable projects. Young people shall be empowered and promoted so they are able to build up an independent economical future. Side benefits of this initiative are the improvement of transnational relations between participating youth organizat...

Svátek čaje is a multicultural festival, which is held yearly since 2009 on the castle grounds in Cieszyn near the Polish-Czech border. This area offers unique atmosphere created by the historically significant buildings surrounding the castle hill. The organizers of the festival (come from both sides of the border and) are the civic associations Laja Foundation and Petrklic help z. s. The event promotes cultural diversity and creates a platform for meetings and exchanges between people from the tea production and trade. The first edition of Svátek čaje in Cieszyn and Český Těšín was held from 12th to 13th June 2009. The event, which was originally intended as a technical meeting of owners of teahouses. Gradually it grew into a public event focused not only on the culture of drinking tea, but also on traveling and learning about music and customs of foreign nations. The event took place in the courtyard of Castle Hill on the Czech-Polish border, in Laja tearoom on Polish sid...

Living Library is meant to provide a safe environment for sharing and discussion. You can think of it as an actual library where people go, borrow books for a limited time and read them. Only here the books are people and the action of reading the book means having a conversation with "it". In our case, the books were some of us, the participants of the second meeting for the INFUSION project in Cieszyn, and the readers were the visitors of the Tea festival that was happening at the same time. The topics of the books can vary and their subfocus is to challenge stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice.   The Living Library attempts to challenge prejudice by facilitating a conversation between two people: Books and Readers. Books are volunteers who have either been subjected to discrimination themselves or represent groups or individuals within society that are at risk of suffering from stereotype, stigma, prejudice or discrimination. Living Books often have pe...

Mischa is currently doing an internship at "International Young Nature Friends" (IYNF) in Prague. Together with Henrique from IYNF, he did some research on the current situation of refugees in Czech Republic and the attitudes of Czech people towards them:  Since the start of the refugee crisis in 2015, the arrival of refugees in Central and Eastern Europe has been generally received with anger and hostility by the majority of the population. The Czech Republic is no exception. As of September 2015, 69% of Czechs were against accepting refugees from the Middle East & Africa, and only 4% were in favor of accepting any refugees permanently, and these figures are probably even higher today. This attitude is mirrored at the political level. The Czech people joined Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in voting against the EU’s plans to impose refugee quotas to distribute asylum seekers across member state, putting the Prague government on a collision course with Brussels. The UN ...

What do we mean with "inclusion"? We are not only talking about including people with disability. In the project "Inclusion is Fusion", we are generally talking about social inclusion of youth which means we focus on actively including people with fewer opportunities.Here is a quick overview of the most relevant facts speaking about social inclusion in the European Union. According to the European Commission, 47,3% of projects in the Youth in Action project indicated that they addressed the priority of inclusion and one in four participans had "fewer opportunities". Now, in the Erasmus+ projects, do you think it has changed? Social inclusion was a key priority of the Youth in Action programme and the subsequent Erasmus + programme as well as an indirect goal of the ‘Youth Guarantee’ approach. The more recent Erasmus+ Inclusion and Diversity Strategy is trying to push further measures in a more strategic way. It is sometimes hard to define, who is...