Euro – participation Information Campaign

Youth Participation and Democracy Award category

Euro – participation Information Campaign

Organisation

Association for Promoting the Information Liberty into the Community - APLIC Association

Country

Romania

WEBSITE

https://aplic-ngo.eu/eurodesk/

Project link

General Overview

The purpose of the project was to improve the lives of young people aged 18 from Arges County through education in the field of participation and democracy.

The main objectives:

The personal and professional development of at least 150 young people from Pitesti City by organising workshops with non-formal exercises, strategies for professional growth and development, empowering them to be citizens actively involved in their communities.
To achieve this, we developed 8 Euro-Participation trainings using Eurodesk Euroclasses for students in Pitesti City, and 3 rural communes (Vedea, Mozaceni and Rucar) in Arges County, in order to help them make their voices heard. We discussed European values by ranking in teams what they consider to be the most important European values, which sparked a whole debate. Furthermore, young people learned about the elections for the European Parliament and the importance of their participation in voting, as well as the benefits of belonging to the together-in.eu community. They were actively involved in all the proposed exercises, and they enjoyed talking about the existing problems in Romania and how they see Europe today.

All the activities were carried out in collaboration with Arges County Library, which supported us. In every stage of the project, we ensured the visibility and promotion of the Eurodesk Network by providing information about its channels on social media, the website, the European Youth Portal, etc. The participants received promotional materials with the Eurodesk logo. We had the Eurodesk banner with us during the Euro-Participation workshops, and the participants even subscribed to the Romanian Eurodesk newsletter. In this manner, they will be able to stay connected to European youth information even after the project is finished.

Thematic Category Correspondence

(50 points max)

How does this initiative (project, event, material) correspond to the thematic category

The material we used is the Euro-Participation module from Eurodesk Euroclasses, specially conceived for developing youth participation in the field of democracy. Our main topics reflected all the objectives of the used materials: familiarising young people with European values, reflecting on the benefits of EU membership, supporting young people to see the impact of the EU on their lives, familiarising young people with ways to influence the direction of decisions made by the EU, increasing young people’s awareness of European institutions and their role, and providing background information on the 2024 EU elections.

The interactive exercises were intended to emphasise the youth’s role as protagonists in the changes that must be made around them for a better world. Many youngsters considered all the activities interesting, interactive, and instructive, even finding them useful for helping to understand what they need to do in the future. From now on, they can develop other initiatives for a more inclusive, green, and participative Europe. They can also get involved in future projects for the development of their communities.

In this manner, the young people were empowered to join different initiatives and projects developed at local, national, and European levels. Moreover, the whole project was created to encourage first-time voters to exercise their constitutional right. We explained to them the importance of voting in the European Elections and how this process would affect their lives in the future. During the discussions, we managed to change some young people’s wrong perceptions about the European elections, as evidenced by their evaluation forms. Many of them subsequently went to vote, as we kept in touch with their teachers and coordinators.

Impact

(30 points max)

How did your project impact young people / your community?

It was a project addressed to youths in the terminal years of different high schools in Pitesti City (chosen due to their lack of knowledge about European opportunities for youth) as well as high schools in rural communes. None of the chosen high schools had, at that point, developed a European project through the Erasmus programme.

Now, Armand Călinescu Technical College is already part of one, as we are currently collaborating on one of their mobility activities. Additionally, Ion Rebreanu High School in Mozăceni has implemented its first project in the field of education.

I believe this project had a significant impact on young people because they had the opportunity to discover what Europe has to offer them. They appreciated the way the Eurodesk Argeș Multiplier interacted with them and valued the opportunity to express themselves freely, which was less common in class. This helped convince more of them to listen and vote for their future!

The objectives of the project were fully accomplished through training sessions, encouraging young people to engage in their community by exercising their right to vote. Their personal and professional development, as well as their proactive attitude, are of immediate benefit to the project’s participants.

The impact on the local community was significant because, in the long term, our empowered young people can carry out further activities for other youths in their communities. They now have the ability to change locals’ misconceptions regarding European citizenship.

As results, we mention:

204 youngsters who learned about participation and democracy and who were empowered to become active European citizens;

8 Eurodesk Euro-Participation workshops for youth;

8 high schools involved from 4 local communities;

46 posts, albums with photos and information on social media (impact: 791, likes + reactions: 190).

Green Focus

(10 points max)

Did your project have any green focus and/or did you implement any eco-friendly measures when organising it?

The project had a green focus. We used and reused the materials that we developed for this project. We did not use any electronic devices for the activity to be even more eco-friendly. The green component of the project was also supported by the fact that the participants used public transportation to attend our events. For rural areas where this was not possible, we went to meet them in their communities and conducted some of the workshops there. For all the materials needed to implement this project, we used eco-friendly products: eco pens, recycled paper, cardboard cups and plates, and locally sourced organic sweets.

Youth Participation and Democracy Award category