Project objectives
DIYverse is an international project with the basic vision of providing young people with diverse access to a positive experience of diversity. The path to this goal is represented by two project results in particular: 1. a guideline for setting up social project offices, in which both organisations in the youth sector and young people themselves - accompanied by a theoretical basic curriculum - can later realise their own project ideas with a socially relevant background. 2. designing Silent LABs (auditory methodology tool for interactive theatre) to sensitise young people in particular to the experience of diversity as a resource and to make material available to them as well as to organisations in the youth sector for the independent design of Silent LABs.
Elements of kickoff meetings
In addition to clarifying questions, the kick-off meeting focused in particular on formulating a common project mission within the partner organisations. Through the exchange of personal experiences, expectations and potentials, a collective understanding of the DIYverse project, the two project goals and the following work steps was made possible in diverse work sessions. In order to benefit from the local network of Starkmacher e.V. in addition to the project-internal work, the varying workplaces (e.g. S-HUB-Mannheim and Agáta-Rösterei & Kaffee) provided an opportunity for direct exchange with and getting to know network partners. Since the next meeting of the partner organisations will not take place until spring 2023 in the Czech Republic, the coming work phases will be predominantly characterised by virtual meetings. It therefore seemed all the more important to create spaces for team building in addition to the thematic discussion of the project: Through time for personal conversations during meals, an evening in Heidelberg and, last but not least, a visit to a family business in Seckenheim (among other things, also a significant place of learning for the MAREA project of Starkmacher e.V.), the group was able to get to know each other beyond the project. The meeting, which lasted several days, thus laid both a thematic and a group-dynamic foundation for successful cooperation in the coming two years.