Starting from 2010, the share of young Europeans aged between 15 and 24 interested in politics has increased, and in the last few years half of them said to be moderately or strongly interested in politics. Research studies identified the increasing use of new media for youth to express their ideas related to social and civic communication. For instance, blogs, youth networks and podcasts are becoming more and more popular among youth, and they are considered as effective tools to facilitate peer and community-based politics and debates related to the current challenges. Even though many young people living in Europe consider themselves as European citizens, it seems that democratic participation is not a concrete priority for the EU. It would be interesting here to mention the importance of offering youth participatory budgeting, which “is a way of involving young people in deciding how public money should be sent”(SALTO). The experience of the local participatory budgeting programme Com’ON Cluj Napoca. In 2020 young people were encouraged to reflect upon 4 different perspectives of wellbeing: health, learning, agency and environment and they received hundreds of ideas. Once submitted, with the support of webinars guiding the process, a public voting to choose the winning project was organized. The groups with the winning ideas were in charge for implementing the idea and disseminating it. Provided with a tight budget, one of the winning groups (young artists) repainted an old tram that contributed to make the city more colorful. The idea behind this experience is that it served the local community on the one hand, and raised awareness among young people on the value of planning, presentation, implementing and reporting on the other hand. Do you want to here more about the COM’ON Cluj Napoca experience? Click here: https://participationpool.eu/project/comon-europe-participatory-budgeting-for-youth/

Based on a research study carried out in 2020 by Romanian, Croatians and British organizations and think tanks, together with EU-Council of Europe youth partnership, there would be a strong link between social inclusion, online tools and digitalised training opportunities and the youth field. The study focuses on the following dimensions: The digital tools and the online platforms targeting young people and youth workers aimed to boost social inclusion; The educational programmes and opportunities available online aim to target young people, including marginalized groups, but also youth workers and teachers. For instance, young people coming from minority backgrounds and living in more stressful situations, in terms of relational difficulties, minority stress, sense of loneliness can reach out and connect with different people by using digital platforms and online tools for communication and interaction. Another reason why digitalisation matters is the need for youth workers to keep up with young people’s transitions, changes and new online trends and challenges of our world and therefore they need to develop their digital skills to understand the issues and feelings faced by young people.

The RAN YOUNG Platform gathers the young and next influential leaders and thinkers in the field of prevention and countering of violent extremism (P/CVE). This group of people aimed to give a voice to youth’s ideas with regards to countering radicalisation and terrorism and share good practices, challenges and experiences that the RAN network of first-line practitioners could benefit from. What are the main objectives of the RAN Young Platform? Offer young people the opportunity to have a role in the field of prevention and countering of violent extremism, and to connect them with other young agents; Empower youth in the field of countering violent extremism and to benefit from debates and good practices shared so that their work can benefit from this knowledge and skills; Create a safe space where recommendations by practitioners and policy-makers committed to the field of prevention and countering violent extremism can be shared. Each year, the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) announces an open call for participation in the RAN YOUNG Platform of that specific year. The RAN Network encourages young people as future first-line practitioners between the age of 18 and 25 in the field of prevention and countering of violent extremism (P/CVE) to join the network. In practical terms, being a member of the RAIN Young Platform means to attend online and offline meetings (around Europe) and to join other RAN working groups, such as the Youth and Education Working Group (RAN Y&E) or the Mental Health working group (RAN HEALTH). If you wish to learn more, click here: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/radicalisation-awareness-network-ran_en

We are in a phase where everyone is talking about the importance of youth participation and how young people are the agents for future development and growth, but there is no focus on how to ensure a high quality, long-term and effective youth participation. Eurodesk reports some good practices to involve young people and encourage them to participate in a meaningful way. Let’s start… YOUTH PARTICIPATION should be… Transparent and informative Young people need to be provided with comprehensive, personalized and diversity-sensitive  material, resources, information services describing exactly how they can potentially take part in events and activities, the main objectives and purpose and the impact that they could have by joining that specific initiative. Accountable It is extremely important to give young thorough feedback on the impact of their participation (as small as it can be) so that they can be aware of the process and they can feel motivated to keep going. Relevant Young people need to be provided with concrete evidence that that specific activity, initiative or cause matters to them and it is relevant for their lives and have the potential to strengthen their abilities and knowledge. Respectful Young people’s needs and ideas should be heard- Try as much as possible to provide them with opportunities where they can lead projects or initiatives or give voices to their opinions. Inclusive Spaces promoting youth participation and information should be included and safe. Minorities and marginalized youth should be reached out. Supported by training In order to take on leadership roles, young people should be provided with tailored training opportunities and empowered.

On April 12-19th, and more precisely 2 months ahead of the European elections scheduled on June 6-9th, the European Youth Week 2024 will take place. It is an event organized by the European Commission, aimed to highlight the key importance of young participation and engagement and active citizenship all over the world. Why does it matter? It is your turn to raise your vision, take part in debates, but also be the one(s) suggesting and leading activities. The focus will be democracy and the European elections and how young people can become more engaged in the local communities and raise their voices and their peers’. In addition to that, it is a unique opportunity to connect with other young people sharing similar interests and motivation to make the difference, and get inspired by them. How can YOU plan an activity or event? First of all, remember that your idea will have to be aligned with the main topic of the event “Voice your vision”. It does not matter what type of format of activity or event you wish to suggest, it is totally up to you. Make sure to upload your event on the Activity Map that you find on the European Youth portal. Registration is already open until the end of March, upload the activity, download the visual identity and if you need assistance try to reach out other the Eurodesk nearby, or the National Agencies for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps. How can YOU join an event or activity? You should first check out the list of activities or events nearby where you live, starting from March. In case you are interested in taking part in the events or activities that will be held in Brussels in the European Parliament, we encourage applying on this website: youthforeurope.eu/european-youth-week-2024-join-the-event. Just for you to know, the registration form is not open yet, but please stay tuned for social media competition, as you might win tickets to Brussels, as well as accommodation for 2 nights and a pass to participate in the activities or events in Brussels. We hope you can find this article exciting

Almost 1 month ago, the YOULead team met in Porto on 10th January to share the experiences of the piloting of the resources implemented at a local level, as well as the results that were successfully achieved by the YOULead team. In 2 year-time The YOULead team succeeded to involve young people wishing to express their ideas on the one hand and youth workers willing to deepen their knowledge, skills as and tools, valuing the potential of interactive and online tools and material. to address the new challenges on the other hand. These new methodologies and activities offered within the YOULead project aim to facilitate the understanding of political and social contexts, the ability to recognize disinformation, propaganda, and polarisation. The young people and the youth workers who took part in the YOULead project come from the country partners, such as Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Austria, but also from countries such as Canada, United States and much more. The variety of backgrounds of people participating in the project is related to the possibility of exploring the resources developed virtually from wherever you are based and this creates active virtual societies. The resources developed within the YOULead project, especially the training programme targeting young people and a toolkit guide aiming to accompany youth workers in the educational path as well as the E-Learning platform, proved to be effective tools and opportunities to grow as humans and to become awareness of what being active citizens mean. The Final Conference was such an enriching experience where partner organizations could share the educational path that was built, tested and offered to young people and youth workers, and we hope that the good practices, as well as the resources presented will inspire stakeholders, young people and youth workers in the future.