PROJECT
From Youropía, the trigger was the European Parliament elections, in which, despite awareness campaigns, the abstaining youth remained at very high levels. From our point of view, the work to be done with the youth population could not focus on the period before elections, but lead to a long-term action, which would work in different concepts, values and competencies, and were felt to young people being part of Europe.
We want Democritic be the first phase of a large-scale project, which extends in time until 2014 – when elections are held following the European Parliament. In this way bet for long education and awareness process that gradually change the attitude of the youth population to the participation and active citizenship-
As we shared this view with some entities already known and others which were known along the second half of 2009, was outlining a blueprint for what is now present. We all agree that one problem was the “uprooting in European affairs” of the youth population, and therefore its disinterest in making decisions.
However, through direct contact with “Studenti contro la Camorra”, whose work focuses on the Naples area, or experience Yourope Needs YOU! throughout Europe (as responsible, Agniezka Strycharz, participate in our project on behalf of “Ela Tan”), led us to the conclusion that to promote European citizenship is essential to start from the encouragement of active participation at local level.
The pooling partners with these considerations led us to formulate the objectives of our project:
GENERAL PURPOSE
· Encourage active participation of youth and democratic values
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
• working with the participants the skills necessary for social development and their active participation in democratic life.
• Create spaces where analysis is through constructive criticism, concepts such as democracy, active citizenship and participation.
Learning how to create strategies for participation
• Exchange good practices of active citizenship
· Promoting intercultural work in a team
· Deepening on new challenges in the European Union
• Create a platform for exchanging tools
Regarding the program objectives, we believe that due to the cultural structure they have, based on work with people from different countries to foster mutual understanding and European cooperation in the field of youth.
Moreover, we stress that our main objective is fully in line with one of the program objectives: promoting active citizenship and European level and that the achievement of our specific goals will be a basis for strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations in the field of Youth. Also, the portal will build will be a source of resources and tools to help improve support systems for youth activities and encouraging active participation.
Analyzing Program priorities (and in particular: European citizenship, youth participation, cultural diversity), they not only represent the ultimate goal of our project, but rather reflect our methodology, participatory and based on the exchange of experiences and good practices – and are the backbone of all our work.
