This project organized for a number of volunteers to be trained in identifying and reporting hate speech as well as in offering immediate support to victims of such.
As part of the project, there were three calls for volunteers. Each cohort of selected volunteers participated in a workshop on hate speech issues and visited relevant places and communities (including Poznan’s Islamic Center, the Roma Association or the Jewish Community) in order to explain the concept of hate speech and to establish contacts with civil society organizations working in the field.
The training enabled the volunteers to offer basic consulting services to victims of hate speech.
The training enabled the volunteers to offer basic consulting services to victims of hate speech. They were trained in accompanying victims through the process of denouncing the acts to the authorities. Furthermore, with the consent of the victims, selected incidents were strategically publicized in the media.
The main goal of the project was to empower victims of hate speech and to lead to an overall increase in hate speech reporting in Poznan
Though the main goal of the project was to empower victims of hate speech and to make students in Poznan aware of the phenomenon, it sought to lead to an overall increase in hate speech reporting in Poznan. It thus aimed to make hate speech a more visible issue that is accounted for in official statistics. In the long run, statistical evidence provides a basis for anti-hate speech programs and policies on the local and national levels. This project formed part of a wider initiative that was launched by a number of NGOs in Poznan.