Climbing for Social Inclusion and Diversity

ended

Climbing is a sport that’s growing in popularity all around the world as an excellent way to find a supportive community while increasing ones self-confidence and providing a healthy workout. Lately, climbing is gaining attention as a treatment for a variety of mental health issues and as a method of experiential education. Research has shown that apart from the physical benefits, climbing promotes various cognitive and socio-emotional components that can be beneficial for the social interactions. Despite its benefits, historically climbing has evolved as a white sport that has been accessible only to a privileged few. Although nowadays, the climbing community is growing and is more diverse than ever, it does not represent the diversity that exists in the societies and it is not socially and economically easily accessible to everyone, diminishing in that way the positive effects that it can offer to ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups of the society. Making climbing more inclusive and accessible for migrants and ethnic minorities can have a positive impact both on the climbing community, but also for the social inclusion of migrants themselves. Therefore, the general objective of this project is to promote inclusion in and through climbing. The specific objective of the project are: - To generate new knowledge regarding the benefits of climbing on soft skills development and social inclusion and the existing barriers for entering the climbing community in the partner countries; - To raise the awareness, capacities and skills among members of the climbing community and the involved organisations with the view to make climbing a more inclusive and diverse sport; - To use climbing as an educational tool for soft skills development and for promoting the social inclusion of migrants/ethnic minorities; - To raise awareness about the benefits of climbing on social inclusion and to promote engagement for a more inclusive and diverse climbing community.