About NOA

NOA – Networks Overcoming Antisemitism, offers a pioneering approach to tackle the problem of rising antisemitism in Europe. With its unique partnership of major Jewish networks, it evaluates EU Member States’ policies across areas, from education to culture and security, and helps them to develop holistic national action plans to address and prevent antisemitism.

European Jews have experienced a rising tide of antisemitic violence in the last ten years, so major European Jewish partners teamed up to create positive and systemic impact in European societies from grassroots level to policy-making by developing educational tools and training for communities, sport clubs, schools and public authorities; social media campaigns; cultural events and “Report Cards” for Member States to help them combat antisemitism.

In direct response to the European Council’s Declaration for Member States to adopt a holistic strategy to prevent and fight antisemitism, the NOA project provides a mechanism to support Member States in the development and implementation of national action plans and provide a wealth of socio-cultural educational resources that can reverse the tide of antisemitic attitudes. Only through such a hand-in-hand approach that marries policy and practice, security and education, transnational and national actions, can positive results be achieved in reducing the prevalence and impact of antisemitism in Europe. 

The word ‘noa’ means ‘in motion’ in Hebrew, reflecting a positive movement towards a society where Jewish life will flourish and antisemitism will be curtailed. Together, the partners represent 756 national affiliates.

An online hub of good practices and resources, to be published on this website, will support Member States in the implementation of their action plans. Accompanied by various social, cultural and educational activities across the EU, the project outputs will be further multiplied via the partnership and their networks.

This NOA (Networks Overcoming Antisemitism) project was funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020).

Detailed objectives

1. Hold governments accountable through a National Report Card based on the various fields of actions called for in the EU Council Declaration, benchmarking progress indicators and engaging the various stakeholders in the development and implementation of national action plans. The methodology will be tested in different countries and it will engage policy-makers and policy-influencers in each country, culminating in a European final conference to nourish their efforts and influence other Member States to systematically implement a holistic strategy to address and prevent antisemitism.
2. Map efforts to combat antisemitism at the outset of the project to identify the various initiatives, bring them into network, recognise complementarities and identify gaps to be filled.
3. Equip educators from a variety of sectors (schools, sports, public authorities, community and cultural institutions, youth movements) with training and teaching tools that effectively counter antisemitic prejudice. A new and improved Overcoming Antisemitism Training Manual will be produced plus downloadable resources for addressing the most pressing pedagogical challenges faced today.
4. Diffuse positive narratives through socio-cultural educational activities including cultural festivals, school-based programmes, film and social media campaigns using new resources and scaling up existing good practice.
5. Garner commitments from sporting authorities and clubs to ensure that they are creating inclusive and respectful environments wherein any expression of antisemitism or other forms of hatred will not be tolerated through national workshops, leading to concrete action plans.
6. Assess project impact with a formative evaluation as a tool for informing further action by the EC to combat and prevent antisemitism, and to improve and sustain the project’s activities and similar actions in the long-term.