International Training Events for Third Sector Youth workers, Civic Educators and Activists “Gathering Data to Dismantle Gender-based Hate Speech”. Call for participants
Call for participation
Maghweb is looking for third sector youth workers, civic educators and activists from Spain, Croatia and Slovenia to participate in 2, connected, international data training events in Palermo (7-11 October 2024 3 days of activities, 2 travel days) and Athens (20-24 January 2025, 3 days of activities, 2 travel days).
About the training
The International Training Events for Third Sector Youth workers, Civic Educators and Activists “Gathering Data to Dismantle Gender-based hate speech” have been launched within the framework of Elephant Talk, a citizen’s engagement project designed by Maghweb in collaboration with Impact Hub Labs (Greece), Polylogos (Romania) and Young Educators (Portugal) which aims to engage young citizens across Europe in a collective, international collaborative data gathering and visualisation action against online gender-based hate speech with youth workers from their different communities.
The aims to build youth workers and members of the third sector’s capacities in trans-feminist data gathering for social transformation and activism: participants in the itinerant training will gain the knowledge, methodologies, skills and information to gather data with a grassroots approach that engages citizens within their own cultural contexts and social justice work.
The cohort of participants in the training will be youth workers from the consortium organisations in Italy, Greece, Romania and Portugal, as well as external participants from Croatia, Spain and Slovenia. The knowledge, information and skills gained in the training will then be put into practice by all of the participants in national data gathering actions regarding the perpetration of and subjection to gender-based body shaming online. For example, external participants will be engaged in the collection of quantitative data on this phenomenon in their national, cultural contexts by disseminating an online questionnaire among young people under 25.
What took place in Greece
In January, Young Educators participated in the second international training for the Elephant Talk project, hosted in Athens by Impact Hub and Maghweb. Building on the foundations laid in Palermo’s data-gathering training, this three-day workshop shifted the focus to data visualization and how it can be used as a powerful tool for social campaigning, advocacy, and lobbying against gender-based online hate speech.
Participants, including nine external youth workers, civic educators, and activists from across Europe, engaged in an interactive theoretical training led by Maghweb and Impact Hub. The sessions explored how to apply inclusive, transfeminist, and intersectional approaches to data visualization, emphasizing the importance of aesthetics, accessibility, and ethical representation when creating visual narratives. The training invited participants to critically examine how visual storytelling can either challenge or reinforce societal power dynamics, particularly in campaigns addressing online gender-based violence.
In the practical component of the workshop, participants collaborated to establish a common research and visualization methodology. Together, they discussed and decided on the tools, formats, and styles to visualize the data collected on gender-based online hate speech in their respective local communities. The chosen visualizations aim to highlight regional trends while ensuring that the representation of the data remains inclusive and contextually relevant. While Maghweb will lead the final execution of the visual outputs, the collaborative planning process ensures that the final products reflect the collective vision and input of all participants.
This training not only equipped participants with practical visualization techniques but also fostered a space for reflection on the role of data-driven activism in amplifying marginalized voices. By transforming raw data into engaging visuals, the project seeks to raise awareness and serve as an educational resource to challenge gender-based hate speech at both local and European levels.
We are grateful to the dedicated facilitators and participants whose collective knowledge and energy made this training another inspiring step forward. With the data gathered and visualized, we are excited to move toward the implementation phase, turning insights into action-oriented campaigns that advocate for safer online spaces for all.
