2022 is the European Year of Youth, and with this in mind the project #YouPart seeks to focus on young people between the ages of 13 – 23 who have less access to political life and whose voices are not heard in society nor in politics. The motto of #YouPart is “Engage - Connect- Empower" as it offers young people the opportunity to identify and formulate their own political requests and hopes (Engage), to discuss and connect with one another in an international context (Connect) and to give voice to their requests by presenting them to political decision-makers of different levels: local, national, European (Empower).
As a result of the initiatives promoted by the project, practical exercises that seek to include young people and educators coming from youth centers take place in the form of local workshops and European conferences. This experience is documented and developed in a Digital Toolkit designed for youth workers to help with the promotion of active citizenship through providing methodological instruments and useful content to the youth that will enable them to act politically at local, national and international level. The Toolkit is tested and disseminated by partners from various youth centers among their networks with the aim of reaching 12 European countries (Spain, Germany, Cyprus, Slovakia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria as well as the 6 countries involved in the project).
The Scheduled Meetings of #YouPart:
- Local Workshops (March and April 2022) - Activities aimed at promoting political participation among disadvantaged youth organized by WeWorld in collaboration with the Cultural Association Oltre.
- National Workshop in Bologna (30th April 2022) – The activities of the first meeting entail highlighting the participants own ideas and political demands through non-formal educational methodologies. These demands are then elaborated and reflected upon in line with the Conference on the Future of Europe.
- Youth Conference in Vienna (15-17 June 2022) - 60 young people coming from the 6 participating countries (10 young people and 2/3 youth workers per country) gather to get to know one another and begin work on elaborating their political demands in a multicultural and multidisciplinary environment. They also have the possibility to meet with the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and bring their demands to the UN in a presentation event in the Vienna headquarters.
- Youth Conference in Prague (29 September - 3 October 2022) - The same group of participants reconvenes and continues the elaboration of their political demands from the previous meeting and finalize their European Manifesto for the last step of the project in Brussels.
- Round Table at the European Parliament in Brussels (4-8 December 2022): The last meeting provides the youths with the opportunity to present their finalized European Youth Manifesto to members of the European Parliament and other representatives of EU member states at the Parliament’s headquarters in Brussels.
Activities of the Methodological Pillar
- Training for Staff Involved in the #YouPart Project in Bologna (March 2023) – Training and sharing of innovative methods for civic participation between youth workers with the developing and adapting of content to be inserted into the Digital Toolkit, on the basis of the principles of Global Citizenship Education.
- Digital Toolkit – Inspired by the experiences gained during the project and supported by the theory of Global Citizenship Education, the members of the #YouPart project create a Digital Toolkit that contains the best practices, the most innovative methodologies and the highest quality contents to give practical tools to youth centers and organizations working with young people to promote the active participation of young people in European politics.
- Diffusion of the Digital Toolkit (April – May 2023) - The Digital Toolkit is presented, shared and tested at 6 national events and 1 European event with the contribution of youth workers who support the development of innovative and high-quality methodologies. Every national event will include and require the participation of a youth worker from a different European country, so as to create an effective sounding board among the 12 countries involved in the Erasmus+ Program.
The activities have been adapted in accordance with national and international measures relating to the COVID-19 emergency, with the possibility of also carrying them out virtually if necessary.
