WE VOTE FOR EUROPE

Nowadays, a great number of European countries are struggling with the disinterest of young people regarding the democratic process and their involvement in civic society. This main issue was identified during the “VOTE EU” Seminar by 3 of the partners involved. Election rate from 2019 votation is 50.62%. It has been highlighted that the high rate of absence in European elections were young people (18-35). A low level of involvement of young people in active participation and democratic society can lead to exclusion of them from the decision making process and no representation of them in political institutions. The voices of young people are not heard, which means that no policies targeting their issues can be created. However, this situation can be changed for the better.

During Erasmus+ funded  training course “We vote for Europe” 27 youth workers from Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Portugal, Malta and Spain were learning about and exploring deeper, the causes and subsequences that can emerge because of low levels of political involvement among young people. And what is highly important, participants also have tried to find the solutions to these problems and identify the ways to prevent them.
Thanks to the help of the NGO “Young Effect Association”, organisations from partner countries and professional trainers, Tiziano Tomassini and Kaloyan Tsvetkov, participants had the opportunity to have meetings with the members of the Magenta and Taggia political institutions, cities where rate of youth voting was over the national average, in order to seek and know good practice examples to foster active participation. 

Moreover, during seven days, participants were involved in a non-formal education process in order to develop and improve key competences related to active citizenship and European Citizenship. That competences have started to be used right after the mobility, in order to encourage the democratic and civic participation of at least 300 young people from the 8 communities through a better understanding of the functioning of National and EU institutions by implementing specific actions.

One significant action has already been done during the project. Together with the guidance of the trainers, participants created a video guide aiming to support youth workers and young people that have not participated in the mobility. The video guide can support learning tools and methods that can be used for the encouragement of more active participation of young people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U83GwNGq-A (we can see the video here).
Together with gaining essential knowledge about EU institutions and active participation, participants had the opportunity to get to know more about each other's countries, traditions and even to organize traditional dance lessons, during the free time after the sessions. Moreover, they could enjoy the beautiful amazing Ligurian seaside and visit such unique world cities as Bussana Vecchia and Taggia. Every moment of the project was filled with joy and new knowledge that can change European and world realities for the better.