Anais Scaffidi Domianello, from our Italian Movement Federazione Giovanile Evangelica Italiana, participated in the Erasmus+ Training Course ReLit- Religious Literacy for Youth Workers, led by our partner Udruga Prizma. The training took place in Veli Iz, in Croatia, in October 2024.
In this article, she shares the main takeaways of the two religious literacy-themed meetings she organized with a group of eleven international young volunteers hosted in Val Pellice by the Diaconia Valdese.
“I am fortunate to work closely with young people from different parts of the world, whom we host here for about a year as part of the European Solidarity Corps volunteer program. Upon returning from the training in Croatia, I thought about sharing my experience with them. So, we met at Villa Olanda (Luserna San Giovanni), where I showed them the Padlet with some photos and content from the project.
Their curiosity was mainly drawn to two things. First, the type of experience: unfortunately, very few people still know about the Erasmus+ program. For these young people, who are currently abroad for a long-term experience, discovering that there are other opportunities for mobility and training abroad, even for shorter periods, was a pleasant surprise. The second thing that caught their attention was the training theme itself. They told me that it is not a very common topic in European projects, nor an ‘easy one to tackle.’ However, my recent experience during the training course had just proven otherwise, so I asked them: ‘Would you like a taste of it? Is this a topic you would like to discuss?’ Their enthusiasm pleasantly surprised me, and so I organized an afternoon of activities for them, revisiting some of the workshops I had experienced during the training.
In particular, I introduced them to a debate methodology that I had found very effective: the “four-corner stance” method. With this approach, the discussion begins with a statement proposed to the group; each participant then chooses a corner to position themselves in based on how much they ‘agree,’ ‘disagree,’ ‘strongly agree,’ or ‘strongly disagree’ with the statement. Those who wish can then speak and explain their position. This way, in a structured and respectful manner, participants can explore topics that often lead to disagreement, allowing different perspectives to emerge.
The discussion was lively and engaging—even just listening to others made it clear how invested the young people were. One comment, in particular, stuck with me at the end of the afternoon: ‘I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have a safe space where we can share our opinions as young people about faith and religion. It’s something we are not used to doing, but it’s such an important topic in our society.’ These words came from Khaoula, a young Muslim woman from Spain, who made a point of expressing her gratitude for having a safe space for discussion.
This issue had already surfaced clearly during the training course, and hearing it echoed by her confirmed to me that no opportunity for literacy on faith and religion is ever in vain. In a society that drives us toward confrontation rather than dialogue, competition rather than cooperation, and conflict rather than understanding, I believe that opportunities like these are more necessary and valuable than ever.”
The dissemination events took place on October 22 and 29, 2024, involving 11 international volunteers from the Diaconia Valdese.
You can download the Relit Digital leaflet at this link
Disclaimer:
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
