Timeline: November 2022 – November 2024
Context: The project aims at highlighting the importance of youth’s participation in civic life and the democratic process in 5 European countries (Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, and Latvia), as well as providing mentorship opportunities for young people in the field of civil monitoring.
Why? Young people can provide decision-makers with innovative proposals, which can later be turned into optimal policy plans that address the priorities of future generations.
What can we do? Raise awareness of the need for young people’s participation in designing and assessing public policies aimed at improving their future lives, advocating for marginalised groups’ integration in the decision-making process, and encouraging youth to take an active part in all aspects of civic life at the local community or national and European levels.
How? Organising trainings, study visits, exchange programs, and civic monitoring campaigns, as well as building bridges between young people and their local administration representatives, or ensuring that the disengaged (marginalised groups, such as women or racial minorities) have a place at the discussion table.
Target group: Young people in the 5 countries included in the project (Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, and Latvia), Local NGOs, civic groups and authorities, as well as the general public
Project partners: Amapolla- Progetti per la Sicurezza delle persone e delle comunita associazione (Italy), Association for Culture and Education (Slovenia), Transparency International (Latvia), 4C-Cooperatecommunicate-Create-Change (Greece).
Summary
Young people’s involvement in civic life or the democratic process in Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, and Latvia is below the European average. Additionally, in all 5 countries, we observe low trust in young people in local or national administrations. In addition, vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities or Roma are more likely to be uninvolved in civic life in their communities. The most aggravating fact is that many young people feel they have no say in political decisions that directly affect them, especially regarding policies related to their local communities or European policies. This high level of political apathy can aggravate the phenomenon of scepticism and distrust in European institutions and eventually lead to the rise of extremist political parties.
Our project targets five MSs (Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, and Greece) where young people’s interest in subnational, national, and European politics is below the EU average and where there is a more severe lack of involvement of the youth in all areas related to civic life. Moreover, in these states, marginalised groups (such as minorities, women, migrants, or people from the Roma community) are even more likely to be disengaged from the democratic process due to the discrimination and prejudices they face on a daily basis. The project targets young people in the 5 member states to raise their awareness of the importance of being engaged in civil society and creating connections between them and decision-makers in their respective communities.
This project encourages young people to engage in civic and democratic life at a subnational, national, and European level. In addition, we wish to build different collaborative relations between youth and decision-makers in all 5 countries and fight the under-representation of marginalised groups in the public sphere. We plan on organising trainings, skill-building activities, youth exchange opportunities, and creating a network of civic monitors that can influence the public policies that concern them.
Our approach
Our project is divided into 3 phases:
Phase I. Youth Capacity Building and Civic Monitoring Action
Phase II. Youth empowerment for dialogues around EU policies
Phase III. Sharing outputs and policy recommendations to enhance youth participation at a local level
Our objectives
O1. Improving youths’ self-perception on their key role in improving democratic life at subnational, national and EU levels through tailor-made and age-appropriate instruments
O2. Evaluate how the capacity-building activities lead to effective, inclusive & sustainable participation of youth in the democratic life
O3. Mapping, prioritising and connecting youths’ views and areas of interest with the decision-makers and relevant actors at sub-national, national and EU levels
O4. Testing and implementing the civic monitoring mechanism for 25 youths from Romania, Italy, Greece, Latvia, and Slovenia to foster participation and accountability
O5. Developing the 25 civic monitors’ awareness of their rights/opportunities, critical thinking, creativity, sense of initiative, and soft skills, enabling them to become active citizens, and express their voice in decision-making at a local, regional or transnational level
O6. Actively contributing to fostering the public participation of underrepresented groups (youth, women, marginalised and socio-vulnerable communities, minorities) in the democratic life of their communities at the national and EU level.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
