by georg.kiraly -

Good Practices Vol.2

The European Union is home to two outstanding initiatives aimed at promoting democracy and civic engagement among its youth population: the European Youth Parliament (EYP) and Democracy Alive. EYP provides a platform for young Europeans to come together to learn about politics and democracy, while Democracy Alive is a network of youth organizations advocating for the rights and interests of young people in Europe. Both initiatives are essential in empowering the next generation of Europeans to become informed and active citizens.

The European Youth Parliament (EYP)

The EYP is a non-profit organization that aims to promote intercultural understanding and European cooperation among young people. It is a youth-led organization that provides opportunities for young people to engage in debates and discussions about current European and global issues. The EYP was founded in 1987 and has since grown into a pan-European network with over 20,000 members.

EYP operates through a network of national committees in over 40 countries across Europe, and they organize events such as youth forums, workshops, and international sessions. During these events, young people participate in discussions, debates, and simulations of the European decision-making process.

The goal of EYP is to provide young people with the skills and knowledge they need to become active and informed citizens, and to encourage them to become involved in the political process at the European and national levels. Through its programs and activities, EYP aims to promote intercultural exchange and understanding, and to foster a sense of European identity and solidarity among young people.

The European Youth Parliament is a recognized partner of the European Parliament and other European institutions, and its programs and initiatives are designed to help young people develop the skills and knowledge they need to become active and engaged citizens in a rapidly changing world.

Democracy Alive

Democracy Alive is a European-wide network of youth organizations that work together to promote democracy, human rights, and social justice. The network was founded with the goal of empowering young people to engage in the democratic process and to become active and informed citizens. The network provides a platform for young people to exchange ideas, share experiences, and work together to address important political and social issues. Democracy Alive uses social media, as well as traditional methods of communication, to reach its target audience and to provide young people with the information and resources they need to get involved in the democratic process.

Some of the specific activities and initiatives of Democracy Alive include:

Advocacy: The network works to promote the rights and interests of young people by advocating for policies and legislation that support their well-being and empowerment.

Capacity building: Democracy Alive provides training and resources to its member organizations to help them build their capacity and become more effective in their advocacy and activism efforts.

Networking: The network provides a platform for its member organizations to network and collaborate with one another, sharing experiences and ideas and working together to achieve common goals.

Information sharing: Democracy Alive uses social media and other digital platforms to share information and resources on important political and social issues, helping young people stay informed and engaged.

Democracy Alive is an example of a successful network that is working to promote democracy, human rights, and social justice in Europe. By empowering young people to get involved in the democratic process, the network is helping to ensure that the voices of young people are heard and that their interests are represented in the political arena.

by georg.kiraly -

Good Practices Vol.1

The issue of education being able to create conditions for peaceful attitudes in young people is on the agenda of Governments, educators and communities. Although good practices, good-willing thematic networks and institutional programmes exist at local, national and international levels, not enough is done to connect these initiatives and to develop a more structured, systemic approach to what actually works well, in which situation and why. There are some projects, supportet by the European Union, I’d like to share here:

– CITIZED: It addresses four categories of target groups: policy makers and other stakeholders participating in the policy making process at the different institutional levels, teachers’ training organisations, school teachers and schools as organisations. The project started in December 2020 and will last until November 2023.

The innovative approach is based on three main aspects:
1) Integration of existing elements and development of “missing elements” that will facilitate policy implementation.
2) Process innovation by bringing the issue of teachers training for democratic citizenship competences in a multi-stakeholder transnational debate involving policy makers, teacher training institutions, teachers and families and reviewing international good practices in view of its potential transferability;
3) Co-creation of innovative instruments and approaches to contextualise existing models.

– PEACE GAMES: The Peace Games consortium aims to contribute to the development of citizenship, democratic and social competences by using the full potential of creativity through game-based learning in formal and informal learning. Creativity stands at the core of this project as it is considered both as a way to acquire civic and social key competences, and as a competence to acquire and develop in itself via the use and the development of “self-made” games oriented toward Peace Education. Co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme, Peace Games aims at diffusing these competences in learners and at helping teachers to make good educational use of games. This is organised through the identification, assessment and support to the use of relevant games (online or in face-to-face) oriented to civic competences, intercultural communication and conflict transformation already existing and provide guidelines and advices for the development of new “self-made” games relevant for particular contexts.

Children playing the world peace game together

– PERFECT: The Project has the ambition to propose and experiment a holistic method to develop key transversal competences (cultural awareness and expression, citizenship, multilingual, digital, entrepreneurship, personal, social and learning) through a transnational experience of developing a cultural product (a piece of theatre, a musical, an exhibition including students’ performance, a multimedia work, etc.) including historic research, literature and art history, music, performing arts and digital skills. Teachers of different disciplines will concur to the design and development of these projects/products involving two classes in each partner school. Therefore, the core set of activities will be implemented within, around and between the partner schools with the methodological and management support of the other partners (European Networks like FREREF, OBESSU, IPA, the IIHL with its hosted Education Inspiring Peace Lab, the Ministry of Education of Malta).

Source: http://eiplab.eu/