E-Citoyens Erasmus Project

Project Title

E-Citoyens

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

The E-citizens project aims to strengthen the capacity of committed young people to foster youth civic participation through innovative methods linking informal education and emerging digital practices adapted to new practices.

Faced with a strong demand for youth civic participation in Europe, informal education structures remain an essential vector for the training of young European citizens. There is also an evolution in the forms of expression favoured by the new generation which moves towards digital spaces: digital platforms for debate, citizen consultations, online forums, questioning platforms, etc. Practices stemming from civic tech are more in more common in companies or public administrations but poorly integrated by youth structures in Europe. While many associations are questioning how to keep up with those evolutions, various European youth actors are developing projects promoting youth civic participation by combining physical and digital exchange spaces, methods of informal education and civic techs.

To promote new practices, we have formed a consortium of actors which aims to develop innovative methods and specificities in terms of approaches and audiences:

– EYP-France: participative expression and debate projects, carried by young people and for young people.
– Polyspektiv: exchange spaces promoting dialogue between young people and political decision-makers.
– FSPJ: programs to raise awareness of societal issues through youth encounters and exchanges fed by online participatory spaces.

Through a process of exchange of practices, E-Citoyen aims to give the means for young people to set up participative projects combining physical and digital exchanges through several objectives :

– Identifying methods to combine informal education and digital innovations within the consortium and in Europe and analysing their impact on young beneficiaries.
– Create training and resources (kits, MOOC), enabling young people to appropriate these methods.
– Train and accompany young people in France, Switzerland and Germany, and disseminate these methods on a European scale through our European partners.

The project mobilises actors of the consortium, partners (youth workers, decision-makers, civic tech experts) and young people participating in the final training. It follows a process of sharing practices divided into three steps :

STEP 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSORTIUM’S EXPERTISE BY SHARING PRACTICES

– A1 – Kick-off meeting – Paris – November 2020: Begin sharing practices between the actors of the consortium, in the presence of young people and expert actors to produce a first analysis.

– A2, A3, A4: 3 Participatory Visits – Bernes, Berlin then Rodez – From January to April 2021: Organise an innovative event with a group of young people to experiment new practices and observe their impact.

STEP 2: DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES AND TRAINING TO DISSEMINATE GOOD PRACTICES TO YOUTH ACTORS.

– A5: Transnational resource-building meeting: Berlin – June 2021: Produce resources based on these practices, enabling youth actors in our networks to take ownership of them.

STEP 3: TRAINING OF YOUTH ACTORS AND DISSEMINATION OF PRACTICES IN EUROPE

– C1, C2, C3: Training courses to develop the civic participation of young people in Lyon, Bernes and Berlin, September to December 2021: Accompany committed young people and youth leaders from France, Germany and Switzerland to appropriate these methods.

– A6: Final meeting, finalisation of results, organisation of the dissemination of the resources in Europe.

The E-citizens kit will include a series of resources: tutorials, practical sheets, online training videos in the form of MOOCs distributed in France, Switzerland and Germany through the consortium’s institutional, associative and educational networks, but also on a European scale.

The project aims, in the long term, to ensure that:

– Youth leaders from various countries are sensitised and equipped to take up good practices to encourage the development of new projects based on an inclusive methodology combining physical and digital debate.
– Innovative projects adapted to democratic practices are developed, facilitating youth democratic participation.
– Young people are benefiting from new inclusive spaces that encourage the civic expression of everyone.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 75859 Eur

Project Coordinator

Parlement Européen des Jeunes – France & Country: FR

Project Partners

• polyspektiv Frank Burgdörfer und Heidi Ness GbR
• Dachverband Schweizer Jugendparlamente DSJ