The Living Together Initiative 

The project in brief

Implemented by

Terre des Hommes 

Country 

Europe and Global 

Duration 

Since 2018 

Description 

The Living Together Initiative (LTI) sees young people from migrant and host community as the integral and primary group capable of changing the narrative on migration in Europe.

Their voices can provide a different source of information through expressing real experiences, challenges and positive ideas, in a tangible way.

Stories by host and migrant youth on their experiences of living together in the Euro-Mediterranean region are discussed with young Europeans through interviews and public events, and communicated further through online media channels and the participation of youth in advocacy events. 

VIDEO: Living Together: Ahmad Badran

Project aims 

The overall objective of the LTI is to empower and inspire young people from all backgrounds to connect and engage for an inclusive society in the European Union. We aim to create youth advocates for a better protection of migrant children and youth. 

Resources used 

• 50’000EUR over 2 years 

• 1 employee dedicated to the project 

• A balanced core group of 20 young volunteers from migrant and host communities 

• Web and social media technical capacities, relying on organizations run by young people themselves 

Partners

Rania Ali, young Syrian journalist who sought refuge in Europe. 

Challenges and how they were overcome

The slow organic development of the community was addressed by increasing our presence on social media and relying on amplifier professionals. 

Results of the Good Practice 

Through our participation in public events we have reached out to over 4000 young people. 

In 2018, 400 youth engaged with LTI directly at the Sziget festival through participation in workshops, social media and other activities, which allowed our online community to grow to 940 followers by the end of September 2019. This August we participated again in the Sziget festival, where we directly engaged over 700 young people in our activities and collected over 50 video testimonies on empowerment, migration and integration.  

From December 2018 to March 2019 our community grew by 138 new followers while at the end of June 2019 we had a total of 725 new followers, a 68% increase in only six months. The stories and experiences shared on our social media have reached a maximum of 3000 people in March 2019, up from an average of 400 between October 2018 - February 2019. Visits to our website has increased: in April – June 2019 we welcomed 693 new website users, in contrast to the first trimester, which showed only 341 visits.