Promoting the Active CItizenship oF Youth through Diplomacy

<< Background >>Life-long learning, teaching and educating young people, moreover enhancing the level of their skills through presentations, workshops and training programs were the main goals of our project. The innovative levels of the proposed project included learning opportunities, specific skills development and facilitated access to information. It also contributed to the increase of young people's knowledge of international relations/cooperation and representative democracy, as well as the role of diplomacy, diplomatic missions, and European values. The project also encouraged young people (especially those from different educational, social, and geographical backgrounds) to become actively involved in democratic processes, as it offered them a specific opportunity to participate in different types of diplomacy and decision making cases. The project therefore aimed to promote the active participation of young people in the social and political life of their local communities, while promoting social inclusion, intercultural dialogue, knowledge and appreciation of diversity and the promotion of tolerance. Our intention was that Young Local Ambassadors will engage in non-formal learning activities, also using the tools of cultural diplomacy.<< Objectives >>Our aim was to widen the students’ knowledge on diplomacy, on the EU, the challenges they faced since COVID-19, war, various crises, and to develop both a platform and reading material to teach and to learn. We also wanted to extend the cooperation among young students, and professionals. The aim of the project covered innovative training opportunities for young people, establishing CIPs, where the participants could gather, to have access to the teaching materials, they can function as local learning hubs (both physical and virtual). The innovative teaching material was planned to be accessible both in CIPs and via the developed E-learning platform. A Policy Handbook was also planned to be completed with policy guidelines and detailed roadmap based on experience in each partner country that can serve as guidelines for implementing training programmes and CIPs. Our aim was to strengthen democratic attitudes and increase civic engagement among the young generation within the EU. We also wanted to translate these documents to partners’ languages, to be able to reach a wider audience.<< Implementation >>The project is based on a participatory approach and partner ownership, and this is reflected in the way the work was conducted. Under PR1, the project was based on both secondary and primary research to support youth centres and cultural activities and to encourage civic participation through mapping good practices from the past. In designing and structuring the training programme, we ensured the training of trainers. For the latter, several pilot programmes were organised. PR2 was the phase of the development of CIPs as learning centres: Under PR2, the project was piloting the transformation of public spaces used by the project partners into learning centres, with a strong role for young local ambassadors and an additional objective to familiarise communities with EU culture and values, as well as promoted social inclusion and civic participation of young people.PR3 was about the development of a policy handbook, which includes a final report on the YLA programme and good practices on CIPs, as well as concrete policy recommendations to better involve young people in the political life and decision-making process of their regions/cities.These project results were tested several times by the partners, and we could modify the original aims. For example, CIPs could be both virtual and physical, while partners reported that they would use the teaching material of PR1 for further teaching programmes at the HEIs. << Results >>Our project has three distinct yet interrelated project elements.The PR1 output developed and piloted a comprehensive training program for Young Local Ambassadors (YLAs), including training materials, curriculum evaluation, and digital modules in English and partner languages promoting active citizenship, intercultural awareness skills among European youth. Under PR2 result, partners developed and piloted a Guide and methodology for establishing and functioning the Country Information Points. This Guide was developed in English and all partner languages. The pilot events were implemented in four partner countries, in Greece, Spain, Hungary and Italy, the developed pilot report presents the four partners’ experiences. Lastly, PR3 involved the production of a policy handbook that includes best practices on CIPs and policy recommendations.