More information
Description
The project aims to increase young people''s political education and involvement in decision-making processes by raising young people''s awareness of democratic processes and opportunities for engagement.
In Latvia, there is a very passive involvement in political processes among young people, caused by various factors, such as misunderstanding of political processes, beliefs that their votes have no influence, distrust of political parties that do not emphasize essential issues and often do not take their recommendations seriously. To achieve the project’s goal, an informative and educational campaign will be implemented, promoting youth activity and understanding of political processes and ensuring the protection of young people''s interests at the level of state institutions.
As a result of the project, the activity of young people in the forthcoming 14th Parliament elections will be increased, and the provision of sustainable political education and the representation of young people''s interests will be promoted. This will reduce the confusion and stereotypes among young people that they can not influence the political processes in the country, create an understanding and opportunities to participate in democracy building and decision-making. Active and politically educated youth contribute to the overall sustainability of democracy and the efficiency of public administration.
Summary of project results
In its 26 years of experience, the organization has observed that there is very little awareness and involvement in civic political activism among young people. Some of the problems also arise from the policy makers'' passive interest in the field of youth, which is not given full support and the opinion of young people is often not taken into account. Young people cite the belief that their votes are not important and have no influence, they are afraid of making the wrong choice, politics is associated with unpleasant emotions, and the young people believe that their opinion is not important to politicians. All this results in the reluctance of young people to understand political processes and low turnout of young people in elections. Failure to address this problem lead to consequences such as the rise of populism, radicalization of society, the rise of misinformation, low critical thinking, and other problems that make democratic governance ineffective.
-National-level trainings were held with the aim of providing information and non-formal education teaching methods to youth and school workers from various regions of Latvia, which educated young people aged 13 to 25 about the need to be politically active, starting with active participation in elections.
-Regional workshops were organized with the aim of helping young people understand the importance of elections in democratic society.
-An active youth network was created.
-Advocacy activities with the aim of representing the interests and opinions of young people at the level of state institutions were implemented.
-Study on the implementation of enhanced political education in the interest education program of schools was conducted.
-24 podcasts were recorded to promote young people''s understanding of decision-making.
Within the project, the association cooperated with both youth workers and young people, as well as policy makers and state institutions. Young people were educated to reduce their prejudices about policy-making processes and were given a deeper understanding and opportunities to influence decisions in a democratic country. Policymakers and state institutions were also involved in solving the problem, in order to ensure the protection of young people''s interests and the search for solutions to the problem at the national level as well.
Teachers and youth workers will be able to use the knowledge and methodical materials acquired during the project long after the end of the project.