The central theme of the Heart of the City project is migration, which see as a phenomenon that has accompanied humanity from its very beginnings and is a part of our shared fate, as it will also accompany us in our future. The majority of the Slovenian public and Slovenian politics are both clearly not aware of this, as the central discussion there revolves around the short-sighted measure of closing borders. The long-term goal of the Heart of the City project is to raise the awareness and sensibilities of the public when it comes to all forms of migration, and to develop empathy towards migrants through the method of personal identification. The preservation of the local community's historical memory based on the stories of their ancestors who, just like the immigrants and refugees of today, were displaced because of poverty, famine, ethnic violence and war, is something we see as a precondition for: dialogue, the constructive and tolerant resolution of interconnected issues, coexistence, and the social integration of refugees and migrants.
A pilot project will be carried out among primary school students and their teachers, in which we would like to review various work strategies: a workshop to train teachers and five two-part storytelling workshops for students at strategically chosen schools. Students included in the project will experience a significant shift, both in terms of their self-understanding and in terms of their understanding and experience of refugees and migrants. We also expect an increase in their empathy and resistance to hate speech in their own environments, and also some shifts in the self-reflection of the entire environment.
The Medvode Primary School has agreed to be the pilot school where the materials produced could be tested and donor country partner provided special training for Slovenian high school children on media literacy.