Ambassadors for European citizenship and mobility in the Outermost regions of the European Union (ORs) Erasmus Project

Project Title

Ambassadors for European citizenship and mobility in the Outermost regions of the European Union (ORs)

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Transport and mobility; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

During the last European elections in May 2019, voter turnout was extremely low in the Outermost regions (ORs) of the European Union (EU): 19% in Guadeloupe, 15% in Martinique, or 18% in the Azores. The EU seems very distant for citizens living in the ORs. In order to fight this sense of alienation, Les Jeunes Européens – France and their partners will create a network of ambassadors for European citizenship and mobility in the Outermost regions.

This project is carried out by Les Jeunes Européens – France, in partnership with The European Association of Young Educators (EAYE), Los Jóvenes Europeístas y Federalistas de España (JEF – Espagne), Le Forum Français de la Jeunesse (FFJ), La Fédération des Maisons des Lycéens (FMDL) and Le Comité pour les relations régionales des associations de jeunesse et d’éducation populaire de La Réunion (Crajep Réunion).

By building on the partners’ various complementary skills in terms of European civil education, non-formal education methods and project management, the 6 partners want to develop educational activities in the ORs for audiences most remote from their European citizenship. They will be able to rely on the twenty years of experience of the educational programme « L’Europe Par les Jeunes » carried by Les Jeunes Européens – France (http://www.europeparlesjeunes.fr/), founded in 1999 and supported by the Ministry of National Education and Youth.
A first experiment was ran in March 2019, which resulted in the organisation of 10 educational activities in one week, raising awareness among 270 young overseas residents in Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Building on this success, the association and its partners wish to further develop educational interventions with youngsters on a larger scale in the ORs. To this end, we want to train facilitators and representatives of youth organisations in order to create a transnational network of ambassadors for European citizenship and mobility. These ambassadors would be able to train other facilitators and to organise and host pedagogical activities in the ORs.

The project will start with a preparatory phase from February to August 2020, during which the organisations will reach out to educational institutions, youth organisations and centres, and organisations focused on popular education in the ORs. Pedagogical tools and frameworks will also be developed during that period and adapted to the specificities of each territory.

The project activities will run from September 2020 to August 2021. They will consist of educational interventions and training of trainers in the targeted ORs: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion Island, the Azores and Madeira (in partnership with The European Association of Young Educators) and the Canary Islands (in partnership with Los Jóvenes Europeístas y Federalistas de España).

The pedagogical interventions will be directed towards young people from 6 to 25 years old. The organisations will use fun, participatory, non-formal education methods. The goal of these interventions will be to familiarise young people with the functioning of the EU, to raise their awareness of their European citizenship, the rights associated with it and the opportunities for international mobility it offers them.

In addition to these educational interventions aimed at a young audience, we will also run training of trainers for youth workers in the fields of education, training and youth. There traineeships will enable the trainees to develop their skills and adopt new teaching methods and tools, so that they themselves would be able to organise interventions and trainings after the end of the project.

Finally, the dissemination phase of the project will take place between September 2021 and January 2022. The main objective of this phase will be to share the good practices and experiences gained throughout the project with other youth and education organisations established in the ORs. To this end, an international seminar will be organised to exchange good practices on European civic education in the ORs, bringing together around 30 youth workers to share and discuss methods, tools and facilitation techniques adapted to the ORs.

During this dissemination phase, we will also hold training sessions dedicated to youth organisations and groups of youngsters to support them in structuring a network of ambassadors for European citizenship and mobility in the ORs. The objective is to provide them with all the necessary tools so that educational interventions can be renewed and so that these ambassadors, trained and equipped, can continue to raise awareness of European citizenship and mobility in the outermost regions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 210754 Eur

Project Coordinator

LES JEUNES EUROPEENS-FRANCE ASSOCIATION & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Young Educators – European Association
• FEDERACION DE ASOCIACIONES JOVENES EUROPEISTAS DE ESPANA
• Forum Français de la Jeunesse
• Federation des Maisons Des Lycéen.ne.s
• CRAJEP REUNION