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Description
Youths only seldomly participate in democratic processes and rarely participate in politics because they do not trust the dominant procedures and processes. This does not mean, however, that youths are apolitical; on the contrary, they seek new ways to express their political views and new ways to influence the existing political circumstances. However, they have little knowledge about democratic methods and processes that are not the mainstream part of everyday life. One cause for this is also the inefficient school system which says little about participation and gives no special motivation to youths.
This is why our project will prepare an educational model about participatory democracy, which will be universally applicable for the Active citizenship subject and transferable to any education institution. Moreover, we will use legislative initiatives with the aim to position our educational model inside the existing legislative framework of the education system. The model will be based on equal integration of participants into decision-making processes.
The education model will also be applied in practice in three Slovenian schools and the activities will be attended by at least 450 pupils.
Finally, we will implement an advocacy campaign first, to gather broad professional support for our model and the proposed legislative reforms and second, we will get support for our model from other NGOs and civil initiatives that work on active citizenship and citizens’ participation.
Summary of project results
There is a lack of education on active citizenship and participation in society which the project aim to adress.
At 5 high schools in various regions of Slovenia, an educational model for participatory democracy was implemented, which can be conducted within the subject module Active Citizenship. The model includes a theoretical part on democratic practices and practices of direct democracy, active citizenship. The second part of the educational model was practical - conducting a participatory budget at the school (formulating and collecting ideas, voting on the best ideas within the financial framework, implementation of voted projects).
The word about the project has already spread to other schools, which also want to implement the educational model. Part of the project was the creation of an educational tool - a card game used during the implementation of the educational model. The entire curriculum for the implementation of the educational model is also presented in a brochure, allowing teachers and schools to conduct this educational model independently.
Summary of bilateral results
Bilateral cooperation was mostly focused on consultancy and IT support on relevant educational model for education on participatory democracy and its implementation in practice.