iParticipate : enhancing civic participation of young people from deprived urban areas using ICT tools. Erasmus Project

Project Title

iParticipate : enhancing civic participation of young people from deprived urban areas using ICT tools.

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Capacity Building for youth in ACP countries, Latin America and Asia

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

This project was aimed at raising the capacities of partner youth associations for networking & policy dialogue to enhance civic participation of deprived urban youth using ICT (Information and Communication Technology) skills. Understanding all vital aspects of the so-called e-citizenship (community participation through electronic media) enabled our youth organisations to act as the experienced multipliers in national networks mainstreaming access of deprived urban youth to community civic life & policy making.

Partner youth organisations from UK, USA, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan & Bulgaria carried out research activities, exchanged best practices, underwent ICT / digital skills workshops & worked together on encouraging policy dialogue, cooperation & networking to apply the obtained knowledge to youth participation field.

The project was based on activities of the following 7 phases:
– Preparation activities,
– Transnational Project Meeting 1 (TPM) in USA,
– TPM 2 in Kazakhstan,
– Follow-up activities after TPM 2,
– TPM 3 in Kyrgyzstan,
– Implementation of the Action Plan for change,
– TPM 4 in Bulgaria,
– Valorisation and dissemination of results.

Aims & objectives of the project were to:
• initiate networking & policy dialogue process between participating youth organisations & other relevant stakeholders on the issues of e-democracy and e-citizenship;
• support new forms of participation & representation of deprived urban youth;
• discuss / enhance the representation of deprived urban youth in European / international youth associations & structures;
• initiate innovative projects on e-participation / e-citizenship & document good practice;
• develop methods & practical approaches to translate solidarity, participation, democracy & citizenship into youth policy dialogue;
• provide specific skills development (ICT skills) relevant to the participants’ projects & the development of their associations;
• inform the participants about EU institutions / youth structures & opportunities provided by their programmes & policies on youth participation issues;
• motivate & enable participants to share their acquired knowledge, information & experience as widely as possible & act as multipliers on the issues of intercultural education, equal opportunities & empowerment of deprived urban youth after the project;
• gather contributions for the future development of E+ programme development as regards e-citizenship education in Europe & its partner countries.

In this project our partnership used the resources of the established youth organisations to develop a pilot model of good practice for use of other partners & produced Action Plan for local peer e-campaigners to ensure understanding of the important processes that go in hand with accessing youth to community civic life, which fully fits within the objectives of the participating organisations (you can see the detailed Action Plan on our website: www.ka2project.com).

Dissemination & follow up stage planning allowed for the emergence of new youth initiatives in governmental, private & public sector to represent interests of deprived urban youth & development of an action plan to encourage young people from a wide spectrum of cultural backgrounds to find out what they can do if they want to take active part in building up / maintaining participatory youth policies and e-democracy (vs. traditional forms of civic participation) in their country.

The innovative feature of this project was the promotion of ICT / media literacy as a tool to deal with the issues of civic participation of deprived urban youth. This project enabled the participants to learn new approaches / methodologies from the professionals in the ICT field, work with young people from other countries & share experiences from their particular e-campaigns. Facilitators were focused on empowering participants to communicate their views effectively to policy makers & youth.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 150000 Eur

Project Coordinator

IVOLO LTD & Country: UK

Project Partners