What it is: Hollington Club for Young People and Salmon Youth Centre football trip to Langenhagen, Germany

Goals: To combat racism, xenophobia and stereotyping

Funding: 4,000 - financed by Southwark Council, Southwark Youth and Connexions Service, Voyage Instant Impact Fund, Hollington Club for Young People and Salmon Youth Centre. The 10 young people involved also paid 50 each

Ten young people aged 13 to 17, from Hollington Club for Young People and Salmon Youth Centre in Southwark, south London, travelled to the borough's twin town of Langenhagen in Germany last month as part of an initiative to tackle racism and xenophobia.

The aim of the project was to use a "world event", in this case the football World Cup, to raise awareness among young people about the problems associated with national and racial stereotyping.

The young people involved travelled to meet their German counterparts at a youth club in Langenhagen. They played their hosts at football and the two sides presented each other with footballs signed by all the players involved.

The young people, who attended a civic reception hosted by the Mayor of Langenhagen, were accompanied for part of the five-day trip by the Mayor of Southwark, councillor Paul Kyriacou.

Tony Sanders, youth work manager at Hollington Club for Young People, says: "The trip was a big success. One of the young people said it was a trip of a lifetime while another said the stereotypes he had learned about Germans were all lies. The young people enjoyed being part of a world event - four had never been out of the country before."

He hopes the trip will be "the start of something bigger" and says he is exploring the possibility of staging an international youth event in Southwark to coincide with the Olympics in London in 2012.

- Project to share? Contact Dipika Ghose on 020 8267 4724 or dipika.ghose@haynet.com.