Youth clubs are a great place for young people to come together and mix with people from different backgrounds, but this doesn’t happen automatically. Youth workers from Wallonia, Belgium found that the resources available weren’t suitable for use in a youth club setting and didn’t really tackle the issues they were seeing in their youth clubs.

FCJMP developed a project “mixed character” in order to promote exchange between different groups to create a more integrated society by enabling young people to go beyond stereotypes and meet people from different backgrounds.

The project created a series of resources The Mixed Character that support youth workers to work with young people on projects exploring diversity, or just to raise discussions during the normal activities of the club. The Mixed Character includes activities that deal with:

• Gender. How do we encourage boys and girls to mix?
• Age. Young people, adults, seniors . . . how to promote their having fun together?
• Disability. How do we get acceptance of the difference related to disability?
• Intercultural. How do we enable young people from different backgrounds to meet?

The Mixed Character aims to:

• Go beyond prejudice and stereotypes and foster mutual respect.
• Professionalise the daily practice of youth workers.
• Help young people live together by fostering meetings between different groups.

This impact of The Mixed Character is to:

• Improve the quality of activities and projects offered to young people and improve the education support offered to youth clubs.
• Give youth workers access to quality tools to support their practice.
• Educate young people about the issue of diversity, giving them opportunities to meet people from different backgrounds and develop mutual respect.