
This project was born out of many of the dominant public narratives in the early 21st century, theimpact they have had on perceptions of the future of and in Europe, with the intention to makepotential steps towards both imagining and even creating a brighter future.
Through three Youth Exchanges, it is our aim to create and strengthen a new way of thinking with the ability to answer questions about the future and nourish hope instead of hatred. It is our idea for ‘D2D’ to employ a solution-based approach to the challenges we face today anddevelop the solutions we need for tomorrow.
During the project, 30 participants from Greece, Romania, Italy, Estonia and Germany, over thecourse of the three youth exchanges, will engage in alternative thinking regarding narratives aboutthe present and the future, creating possible methods for promoting optimism for the future amongEuropean youth, and realise their own abilities to make valuable and impactful contributions to society.
In the first Youth Exchange in August in Mühlhausen, Germany we started to look on our currentperception of the future by connecting it to pop-culture through analysing movies and their greatermeanings.
Following this, the second Youth Exchange will deal with the history of Europe and how theEuropean Spirit and identity evolved. Furthermore, we will work on questions such as “How didEurope become Europe, and when?”. What is the Europe I want to live in and how can I encourageothers to be more optimistic about the future. This part will also be built on the first YouthExchange and the first discussion about Human Rights and the created Human Rights Charta.
Moreover, we will not only discuss about political and philosophical questions, but will alsoexperience and discover the methodology FutureLab. The FutureLab will be the first step to “Dareto do what you dare to dream”. In the second half of this Youth Exchange we will produce smallpodcast episodes as well.
The third youth exchange will take place in Mühlhausen, Germany again and will be in the formatof an Answer Lab. It will deal with the world we will live in the future in more detail.