From November 22 to 28, 2025, young people from Lithuania 🇱🇹, Ukraine 🇺🇦, Spain 🇪🇸, Armenia 🇦🇲, Georgia 🇬🇪 and Poland 🇵🇱 gathered in Olsztyn to explore a topic that is particularly relevant today: the integration of refugees and internally displaced persons, the barriers they face, and ways to support them through creativity, empathy, and joint action.
The HopeSpan: Bridging Tomorrow project became a space where complex topics were explored through practice: art therapy, creative techniques, intercultural exercises, and honest conversations.
📌 During the week, participants:
🎨 tried creative tools that help talk about trauma and adaptation;
💬 discussed social, cultural, and economic barriers faced by refugees and IDPs;
🤝 shared their countries’ experiences and sought solutions that could be implemented in communities;
🌍 explored best practices for integration and generated ideas for future initiatives.
The project gave us not only new skills, but also an important insight: every story is unique, and our role as young people is to create an environment where people can find support, safety, and a new beginning.
❄️ Although the end of November in Poland was snowy, the participants were warmed by shared values, mutual respect, and warm conversations, which united them more strongly than any methodology.
