Peer-to-peer meetings empower young refugees

Last updated on Monday, 30/05/2022

Young peer-to-peer youth workers meet with refugee youth and have a fun day out, to introduce the refugees to Icelandic youth activities, share their experiences and build bridges between young people with different backgrounds.

May is a month dedicated to diversity in Europe and this initiative from Iceland is a good example of an excellent solidarity project focusing on inclusion and diversity.

The project, which was created by local peer-to-peer youth workers at Hitt Húsið youth center, took place this spring in Reykjavík. The youth workers are aged 16-20 and they met a group of young refugees aged 14-20 who have been in Iceland for a while now. These young refugees were from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Palestine and Venezuela.

Peer-to-peer youth workers, normally known as Jafningjafræðslan, is a decades old project where young people aged 16-20 can get employed for the summer months as peer-to-peer educators, who go around and meet other young people in youth centers or during their summer activities, in order to initiate dialogues on topics such as health and well-being, drug use, sexuality, gender norms, internet behavior, racism and more, on a peer-to-peer basis.

A group of peer-to-peer workers from Hitt húsið applied for a solidarity grant from the European Solidarity Corps last autumn. The goal of this project was to create a space and moment for a varied group of youth to come together and talk about what it is to be a young person today, but also how it is to be a young refugee. Eventually, they found out that despite their different backgrounds they had many things in common. Thanks to technology and social media they were able to talk to each other about their lives and interests across linguistic barriers.

This project created an opportunity for these new residents of Iceland to learn about typical youth activities in their new country. It also helped the peer-to-peer youth workers to get an insight into the situation of refugees and how peer-to-peer meet ups can better meet the needs of refugees.

During the project the group met together at a centrally located park for some ice-breaker activities before visiting some interesting places in Reykjavik where youth like to hang out. After strolling around the city center the group visited the Hitt húsið youth center to see the facilities. The group also got an introduction of the main public transport hall and information about the public swimming pools, which are a vital aspect of Icelandic social culture. They also went to see a fun exhibition on Icelandic nature and tried some local food favored by young people. The goal was to introduce them to Icelandic youth culture as well as Icelandic society in general.

In order to prepare for the project, the youth workers met with a few trainers who discussed the situation of refugees, the refugee system in Iceland as well as prejudices these groups might face. The workshop on racism and prejudice for the peer-to-peer workers was given by the national coordinator for Eurodesk Iceland. 

This project created an opportunities for these newly arrived inhabitants to learn about regular youth activities in Iceland. It also gave the peer-to-peer workers a better insight into their situation. It is the hope of the peer-to-peer workers to repeat this project yearly as everyone involved enjoyed the project deeply.