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For five days (from July 9th to July 13th, 2013) Veliko Tarnovo will be hosting an international youth camp aiming at fighting anti-Roma stereotypes. The cam is organized within the project "Youth is tolerance" realized by Center Amalipe within the European Commission's Fundamental Rights and Active Citizenship Program. The camp will bring together volunteers from six districts in Bulgaria where youth tolerance club have been established, namely - Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Burgas, Vratsa, Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad as well as from partnering countries - Greece, Romania and Hungary. Partners in the project are: "Antigone" - Greece, "Dartke"-Hungary and "Romani Criss" - Romania.

During the camp the volunteers will learn about the culture, traditions and specifics of the Roma community in the four countries; they will discuss together how to cope when faced cases of discrimination and intolerance among young people, how to provoke their peers to overcome prejudices, how to break stereotypes through attractive and non-traditional methods - Forum Theatre, trainings, campaigns and many more. The innovative approach of the project to combat intolerance among young people envisages using the "peer education" method. The peer trainers will be selected based on whether the young people have participated in other programs as volunteers, whether they are active, communicative willing to work regardless of their ethnicity. A group of volunteers will be set up by young people from different ethnic backgrounds.

The main project activities after the training include the establishment of the Youth groups on combating racism and xenophobia among young people to respond to specific cases of racism in their community or school. They will represent voluntary clubs, supported by relevant institutions and minority communities that exist in the community and region. Activists of the youth groups will mobilize resources of active young people to form tolerance through peer education in their regions, addressing specific cases of discrimination and organizing public campaigns to raise awareness. In addition, exchange visits among youth groups from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Greece will be organized. Advocacy activities will be further organized to expand and ensure sustainability of the pattern after completion of the project.

The present document is prepared within the frames of the project “Youth is Tolerance: Combating Anti-Roma Stereotypes among Young People”, financed by the European Commission, DG Justice, Contract № JUST/2011-2012-FRC/2867. Amalipe Centre bears the whole responsibility for the content of the present document and in no condition it can be regarded as an official position of the European Committee.