Social Inclusion is one of our six Causes of ESN and it is no less important than the others. This Cause is not represented just by our events, but also by our behaviour. The main goal of this Cause is to make mobility inclusive for everyone and to fulfil the needs of everyone. To achieve this goal, ESN has developed its own programmes and projects on the topic, raising awareness among international students and supporting them to become more active citizens.
ESN plays an important role in making Erasmus+ more accessible for every single individual for example by active participation in MappED! project. This website helps students to find out if the universities or even the locations in the town, they want to travel to, are suitable for their needs.
ESN also tries to initiate an intercultural dialogue between locals of different social backgrounds and international students. It helps students to understand more the local social background and to learn the culture from a different perspective. These intercultural dialogues are supported by volunteering in local events such as cleaning the forest, visits to the retirement houses, walking the dogs or feeding the homeless people.
ESN believes in implementing volunteer experiences as a natural part of the mobility experience and aims to contribute to the social integration of students through volunteering activities under the SocialErasmus project. The most important project of Social Inclusion is Erasmus in Schools project. This project connects international and local students together. International students have an opportunity to present their culture to the local students. It helps to develop the intercultural dialogue from which everyone profits. International students are gaining presentation skills to the younger audience. Local students can learn more about different cultures and it motivates them to travel in the future and know the cultures by themselves.
To support the Social Inclusion activities ESN created the Social Inclusion Days. Social Inclusion Days last for two weeks and they happen twice a year, usually in October and April. These days are full of ESN support and promotion of Social Inclusion activities. This semester the Social Inclusion Days happen from the 6th of April to the 20th of April and we can’t wait to see, which activities would be prepared by the sections during these days! You can check them out at https://activities.esn.org/