The “Théâtre contre le discours de haine” project, coordinated by France Culture Connection, aimed to combat hate speech and discrimination through theater. With five international partners (Turkey, Greece, Spain, Romania, and France), the youth exchange sought to raise awareness among participants about hate speech, discrimination, cultural diversity, and environmental sustainability.

Objectives included:

• Educating participants on hate speech, discrimination, freedom of expression, and human rights.
• Using theater as a tool for combating hate speech and promoting cultural diversity.
• Developing critical thinking, creativity, communication, and problem-solving skills through theater.
• Encouraging participation in Erasmus+ and youth mobility opportunities.

Activities: The project used non-formal education methods such as creative writing, scenario development, and theater performances to address these topics. Three theater plays were performed to raise awareness against hate speech, with participants aged 18-30, ensuring gender balance and inclusion of minorities.

Impact on participants: Participants improved intercultural, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills, recognized cultural diversity, and learned to use theater for social change. They gained awareness of Erasmus+ opportunities and became motivated to participate in future projects.

Impact on organizations: The partner organizations enhanced their capacities to organize youth exchanges, learned new theater techniques, expanded their international networks, and increased their local and international visibility through dissemination activities.

Wider impact: At local, regional, national, and European levels, the project increased awareness of hate speech and discrimination, fostered appreciation of cultural diversity, promoted theater as a method to combat discrimination, and inspired similar initiatives, aligning with Erasmus+ objectives.