A European Collaboration
The report discusses the outcomes of the “Young Civic Monitors for the Future” project led by five European organizations: the Romanian Center for European Policies, Amapola srl Impresa sociale from Italy, Pina – Association for Culture and Education from Slovenia, Transparency International Latvia, and 4C – Cooperate, Communicate, Create, Change from Greece.
The Aim of the Project
The two-year initiative aims to empower young individuals in Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Latvia, and Greece. It focuses on their involvement in civic activities, providing training, capacity-building, and opportunities for them to influence decision-makers on important issues.
What is Civic Monitoring?
Civic monitoring is a collaborative approach where individuals or groups, especially young people, engage in researching public-funded issues or community concerns. It involves various activities like research, digital tools, and group work to understand policies and promote engagement. This approach fosters dialogue between monitors and authorities, based on public data, aiming to share findings for positive change. It’s a joint effort involving citizens, administrators, and politicians to achieve common goals through their collective strengths.
Civic Monitoring in Practice
Phase 2 of the Civic EU project focused on local civic monitoring activities for both youth workers and young participants. It began with a 3-day exchange visit in Ljubljana, Slovenia, empowering youth workers to engage young people in active citizenship initiatives and network with local institutions and European stakeholders. The exchange covered youth participation theories, best practices in engagement, civic monitoring methodologies, working with public data, and using online/offline tools to reach youth. Partners formed monitoring teams, prioritizing informal settings to involve marginalized groups. A total of 33 young people were trained across the five teams for local citizen monitoring activities.
Solutions Found
The report highlights civic monitoring as an innovative way for youth engagement, emphasizing collaboration among generations and institutions. It underscores effective communication and understanding among stakeholders to achieve shared societal goals. Each organization included their report and sought to foster active citizenship and meaningful youth participation across Europe through this initiative.
The full report, in English, is available here.
The report is part of the project “Civic-EU:Young Civic Monitors for the Future”. The project is implemented with co-financing from the European Union. The content of the project activities is the responsibility of the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union or the Education and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.