Erasmus + KA1 Project „DemocrActive” was approved by the Greece – NA.
NGO CIVIS PLUS will coordinate the project.
Other participants are from: Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Poland
Youth participation in the democratic life of the Union is an area for discussion and reference point for a variety of measures and policies both at Member States and the EU. Despite strained efforts of EU to create close links with youth and increase their participation in European affairs, the latter presents low participation rates and certainly lower than the percentage of participation in national and local level. The low participation of young generation deprives the EU a remarkable and important source of ideas and opinions, creates mismatches between decisions taken and the real needs of young people, exacerbates the dissatisfaction of young people and alienate even more the youngsters from the idea of a united Europe.
In this context, the proposed project aims to increase youth participation in the democratic life of the Union, and specifically:
1) To bring young people closer to the EU and the decision-making.
2) To increase the confidence of young people in EU and decision-making processes.
3) To promote the concept of active European citizenship.
4) To promote democratic principles.
5) To promote cooperation and mutual understanding among young people from different countries and cultures.
40 young participants aged 18 to 30 years and 10 leaders from different cultural, social and economic backgrounds with intense interest on these issues and characterized by a strong need to further explore will be the main group of the exchange and will contribute to the preparation, implementation, evaluation and communication of the project and its results.
The exchange will be supported by three (3) facilitators from Greece. These young people will gather for eight days in the city of Athens and will participate in a series of activities relating to the EU institutions and bodies, direct and indirect forms of citizen participation, active European citizenship, rights and obligations of European citizens, democracy, contemporary social issues and other related topics.
The methodology of the project is based on participatory approaches and peer learning, active involvement of participants and equal cooperation of partners. During the exchange will be used non-formal learning methods and focus will be on participatory, peer and experiential learning and creative expression of young people.
Main results of the project will be young people informed on the EU and decision making processes, enhanced European identity and closer links between young people and the EU, and enhanced mutual understanding between young people from different countries and cultures and participants’ personal development. The above mentioned will strengthen the trust of young people to the EU and decision-making processes, the readiness of young people for more participation and its role as active citizens. In long-term it is expected that young people will be more actively involved in social and European issues and they will actively participate in decision making with direct or indirect way. This will help both the European society in the management of its issues as will gain a rich pool of ideas and will manage to better meet the needs of the youth and the youngsters themselves as the policies and decisions taken will be closer to their actual needs and interests.