The Building Bridges Toolkit is a web platform, designed to share the know-how on voluntary projects involving asylum seekers and refugees as well as raising awareness on forced migration in general. We want to inspire you with our case studies of successful projects on the topic. We also want to support you in starting similar initiatives by providing you with a list of practical guidelines on how to organize such projects and specific methods you can use inside them.  

The creation of this online toolkit has been driven by the ever bigger need of the international SCI network to exchange best practices on projects with refugees and asylum seekers. The project is coordinated by SCI Switzerland with the support of Utilapu Hungary. Its existence wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Mercator Foundation Switzerland and the active contribution of Building Bridges working group and a number of SCI branches.
​
The Building Bridges Toolkit is an ongoing project. We welcome you to send us your best practices in the field and inspire others to continue the work towards peace and intercultural understanding.

Civil Service International founded by Pierre Cérésole, a Swiss engineer who established a peace and humanitarian movement in the aftermath of World War I and laid down the foundations of SCI in 1920. Cornerstone in their work are international work camps for volunteers. More info: http://www.sci.ngo​. 

The toolkit was developed by the Youth Forum’s Expert Group on Youth Policy, made up of representatives from the Youth Forum’s member organisations, with the aim of developing a practical tool for youth organisations to assess the quality of youth policy in their own context (whether national, local, regional or European) and to support advocacy work calling for policies that fulfill young people’s rights.
The Expert Group has identified 8 quality standards that represent good quality youth policy. For each standard there is a set of indicators that help members to comprehensively analyse the situation in their context.

The toolkit is designed for members of the Youth Forum and youth organisations to use themselves and to examine and reflect on youth policies. Based on their assessment, organisations are encouraged to develop their advocacy plans in the light of what they found, in order to promote the rights of young people and, ultimately, make young people’s lives better.
​
The European Youth Forum encourages youth organisations to continue to call for better youth policies, which support young people in the areas that affect them most. It calls for youth policies which are mainstreamed across the various sectors, such as employment, education and healthcare. The Youth Forum would also like to see policies which see young people as a solution and not a problem, and calls for young people to be involved in the policy making process, so that they are integrally involved in formulating solutions to the problems which affect them.

Domino is a manual to use peer group education as a means to fight racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and intolerance. This manual has been produced by the Council of Europe's youth department.

Compasito is a manual developed for youth workers, trainers and facilitators on Human Rights Education for children. The manual has been developed by the Council of Europe's Youth Department.

This manual - “Gender Matters” - builds on the educational resources and experience of Compass, the manual on human rights education with young people. It provides practitioners in human rights education with specific education tools and insights for a gender-sensitive approach to human rights education. This manual has been developed by the Council of Europe's Youth Department.

​Human rights cannot be defended by legal measures alone.  They need to be protected and safeguarded by everyone, including young people.  Human rights are best respected and appreciated when we know them, stand up for them and apply them in our lives.

COMPASS is a manual published by the Council of Europe's Youth Sector.  COMPASS provides youth leaders, teachers and facilitators of human rights education activities, whether professional or volunteers, with concrete ideas and practical activities to engage, involved and motivate young people in leiving, learning and activing for human rights. It promotes a comprehensive perspective on human rights education and sees young people as actors for a culture of universal human rights.

COMPASS was originally published in 2002 and is now available in more that 30 languages. A Version specifically designed for human rights education with children - COMPASITO - enjoys a similar success.  This fully revised and updated edition includes new activities and information about human rights issues such as disability, migration, religion, remembrance, war and terrorism.

COMPASS is a practical tool and resource for citizenship and human rights education. It is an essential companion for all those who are curious and interested in making the right to human rights education a reality for everyone.