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Description
Civil society and active citizens have an important role to play in a democratic and open society. This includes standing up for human rights, protecting the interest of minorities and vulnerable groups, and preserving natural resources and the environment. Active members of civil society are defenders of democracy who notice problems in society and who dare to take the responsibility for solving them. They point out when the leaders of these countries go against open society and democratic values. The Democracy Defenders Accelerator´ (DDA) aims to raise the awareness of active citizens about the principles of an open society, democratic values, and the functioning of civil society, so that they can take responsibility for initiating, implementing, and participating in community and societal projects. The DDA consists of 20 online trainings and a 10-day Democracy Defenders Bootcamp. Participants will learn how to design and deliver civic initiatives, tackling one or more problems in civil society and democracy. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to co-create and maintain a fictional organization that will be active during the whole program. As a result of the DDA program, participants have increased their knowledge of participatory leadership, methods, and technological tools for engagement, in planning, designing, and implementing civic initiative projects, and are able to reflect on their work and give feedback to other people. Further, the positive experience by people who participate in their projects, has given them confidence and experience which we believe will help these projects to have greater community or societal impact.