YourEP – Political games are a serious business Erasmus Project

Project Title

YourEP – Political games are a serious business

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 : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Inclusion – equity; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

CONTEXT

Citizenship has become yet another area of exclusion, especially for youngsters with fewer opportunities, with tragic consequences: for instance, the low turnout of young people in elections, experienced both at EU and national levels, played a key role in the Brexit referendum outcome.

Active citizenship, EU and political awareness, and Social inclusion are intertwined issues in the field of youth, and yet young people facing more difficulties than their peers (e.g. financial, educational, geographical, health issues, discrimination etc) are still underrepresented in initiatives fostering Political Education in general and EU Education in particular.

This gap between youth with “more” or “fewer” opportunities is even more striking in one specific case: political simulations, a powerful tool involving young people in “make-believe” politics to teach them how political institutions work while promoting their civic participation. A lot of public and private initiatives offer such opportunities, but many obstacles make it more difficult for disadvantaged youngsters to participate (e.g. lack of information and awareness, participating fees, needed knowledge, language requirements, application process etc).

OBJECTIVES & PROCESS

That is why YES Forum and its 9 partners, through the YourEP project, explored and promoted solutions to open political simulations in particular and political education in general to a wider audience.

To do so, in 2017-2018, YourEP consisted of a mix of online, local and international activities which developed and implemented a political simulation of the European Parliament (EP) specifically designed to be Inclusive and Accessible, and therefore open to young people regardless of their personal background and potential difficulties. Later on, it shared lessons drawn from this experiment with all interested stakeholders.

To better suit their needs, the #YourEPsimulation was designed with the active involvement of youngsters with fewer opportunities from 7 EU countries. They were accompanied by experienced youth & social workers, while the whole process was supported by the EU expertise of JEF Europe (Young European Federalists).

METHODOLOGY & RESULTS

YourEP unfolded into 3 phases.

Phase 1 focused on the preparation of young participants, giving them the skills and knowledge to design a simulation method of the EP specifically adapted to their needs. Online activities and local meetings in each partner country empowered them to fully engage in a 5-days Blended Mobility meeting: in Brussels in November 2017, they received in-depth training on the EU and the EP, helping them to start co-designing their very own #YourEPsimulation (Report: goo.gl/v51K7e).

Phase 2 finalized the design of and carried out the #YourEPsimulation. After online preparations, the young participants met once again in Strasbourg in May-June 2018: in the EP itself, they roleplayed as MEPs, journalists and lobbyists to get a real political European experience. It was a test for the method they developed: a successfully inclusive test, as all participants engaged in the simulation regardless of their diverse needs! (Report: goo.gl/BM4fbR)

Phase 3 built upon this #YourEPsimulation experiment to advocate for more inclusive political education. To do so, “Key Lessons for Inclusive & Accessible Political Simulations” (Publication 1: goo.gl/P4S769) were widely shared across the EU youth field in general, as these lessons are easily transferable to other political education methods. “Recommendations to Unleash the full potential of political simulations” (Publication 2: goo.gl/fr8ZF3) targeted political simulations organisers in particular to help them opening their own events thanks to hands-on, experience-based solutions. Dissemination culminated in November 2018 with a Final Conference in Brussels (Report: goo.gl/6ekDjf).

IMPACT

Young participants improved transversal skills such as:
– Social, civic, intercultural, interpersonal and communicational competences;
– Leadership and entrepreneurial skills thanks to their active role in the project;
– Improved EU and general political awareness.

Through the exchange of good practices underlying the whole process, partners and their youth & social workers learned new tools for inclusive political education, the main outcome being the #YourEPsimulation itself. And they also improved their own EU knowledge!

Project results achieved a greater impact in youth formal and non-formal education through its main publications (cf. above):
– The #YourEPsimulation method itself and its key lessons for inclusion were spread to other youth organisations to help them promoting the Active citizenship of youngsters with fewer opportunities.
– Concrete recommendations based on the #YourEPsimulation were shared with organisations carrying out political simulations on a regular basis in order to advocate for a better inclusion of disadvantaged youngsters.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 142611,34 Eur

Project Coordinator

YES FORUM EWIV – YOUTH AND EUROPEAN SOCIAL WORK FORUM & Country: DE

Project Partners

• ASOCIATIA NEVO PARUDIMOS
• JEUNES EUROPEENS FEDERALISTES AISBL
• STICHTING GO
• The Inclusion Network CIC
• CNLAPS
• Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Kath. Jugendsozialarbeit (BAG KJS) e.V.
• PITEA KOMMUN