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Description
The need to create an accelerator of youth engagement emerges from a lack of formal opportunities to develop active citizenship and community involvement habits. Although 10 years ago Romania received a recommendation to include education for democratic citizenship in the national curriculum (CM/Rec(2010)7 of the Council of Europe), this is still absent, with noticeable results. A study conducted by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation showed that 80% of Romanian youth had never taken part in volunteering or civic mobilization, and 55.4% were completely disinterested in local politics. The project aims to shape 24 youth (aged 15 to 26) from 24 small urban and rural settlements into vectors of local change. As such, they will take part in training sessions and will receive support for developing advocacy skills and for addressing issues that they have identified in their communities, as part of a mentorship and coaching program spanning seven months. The 24 youth will also host replication events in the form of local sessions with information regarding civic rights, democratic citizenship and active community engagement, increasing the level of civic education of at least 720 young people from small urban and rural areas from at least 12 Romanian counties. A series of tools will also be developed during the project (a good practice guide, a local action manual for youth and an online quiz game, available on a web platform), so as to increase the level of civic engagement and education of youth. The Association for Active Development, the Romanian Academic Society’s partner in this project, will be a substantial contributor via its expertise in structured dialogue and activity involving youth in rural areas.
Summary of project results
The project” Civic engagement accelerator for youths” implemented from March.2021 to October 2022 aimed to shape 24 youth from 24 small urban and rural settlements into vectors of local change. The young participants were selected in the first period of the project following an extensive selection process with over 200 applications. The 24 participants had initial training (a 7-day intensive training), as well as ongoing training, mentoring and coaching activities. All participants took part at webinars and individual mentoring meetings. During the second part of the project’s implementation, the beneficiaries submitted requests, petitions, had meetings with decision-makers and involved the local community in their respective approaches: public debates, collecting signatures, citizens'' consultations, etc. Each of them also organized a multiplication sessions to share with other citizens information on civic involvement and human rights. 19 of the 24 young people were actively involved in organizing 22 information sessions in 21 localities, with a total number of 552 participants. In total, during the entire project, over 2,500 citizens were involved in a certain way within the project. The direct beneficiaries took part at a simulation of the local Council, leadership trainings with recognized experts and two structured dialogue sessions with high ranking officials. The four final deliverables of the project (best practices guide for the civic involvement of young people, local action manual, civic involvement game for students and the analysis of the challenges faced by young people in Romania) are most important documents, which ensure the sustainability of the project. The analysis regarding the challenges of young people was launched at the Parliament and it is a reference document for public youth policies.