Youths Promoting 4 Competences for Democratic Values in Europe

<< Background >>Pros4Democracy was conceived to equip and empower youths so that they:- acquire competences needed by critical voters to be knowledgeable about what is happening around them through higher media literacy,- become aware of the European values of democracy, social solidarity and sustainable equality through socio-emotional literacy and social justice literacy,- become active EU citizens ready willing and able to promote European values in their future professional life and- up their skills and confidence in being more eloquent promoters of democratic rights and European values.It met the needs of citizens, communities and the European Union to place more and better participation in democracy higher on the EU agenda, putting youths as leaders of the message outwards so that, after working on their themselves and maturing their vision of things, they become a positive influence within their networks. The context of the project is the higher incidence of right wing extremism and lower turnouts in participation in democratic participation across Europe, especially from the younger generations. It is also in the context of the need of critical voting mindsets in times of incorrect, distracting, fake news and monopoly of the media.<< Objectives >>Pros4Democracy was intended to achieve:a. 4 BROAD OBJECTIVES by:1. making young citizens aware of how content on social/media is developed and distributed by different sources, including malicious or misinformed sources in the digital world including news and social media.2. promoting critical voting literacy achieved through higher media, socio-emotional and social justice literacy,3. increasing participation in democratic process therefore countering apathy and cynicism about its value and effectiveness and 4. pushing the need for more critical voting literacy and higher participation in democratic process higher on the agenda ofEU institutions.b. 4 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES of:1. EMPOWERING YOUTHS WITH THE NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCES REQUIRED TO BE CRITICAL VOTERS,2. CULTIVATING A GENERATION OF YOUTHS THAT ARE ACTIVE AND POSITIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES with more knowledge, competences and confidence as communicators with sound moral, democratic and European values,3. REWIRING YOUNG MINDS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES COUNTERING MANIPULATIVE STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE EXTREME RIGHT VIEWS AND ANTI DEMOCRATIC (AND EU) SENTIMENT and4. UPPING THE PROFESSIONAL PROFILE AND CAPACITY OF YOUTH ORGANISATIONS AND WORKERS.<< Implementation >>Activities carried out were planned to:- implement the planned Result,- monitoring the path towards planned results and outcomes and- 3 horizontal activities.There were:- a Kick-off Meeting to start up activities- 3 Interim Meetings with the third one coinciding with training C1 and- a Final Virtual Meeting to close activities and plan Multiplier Events and exploitation.The Result was implemented achieving all planned outputs:- a Training Path and Resources including the Handbook aimed at late teenage to mid-twenties with ample opportunity for transfer to other age groups, non-formal education and voluntary or community bodies on European Democratic Values and the importance of Critical Voting Literacy conveyed through Media Literacy https://pros4democracy.internprize.eu/MediaLiteracySocial Justice Literacy https://pros4democracy.internprize.eu/SocialJusticeLiteracy andSocio-Emotional Literacy https://pros4democracy.internprize.eu/SocioEmotionalLiteracy- a round of pilot testing with 285 beneficiaries of the Result with structured validation featuring feedback on the Result.- a plan for youth leaders/educators to adopt and adapt the Training Path as a whole or in modular form, assimilated into standardcurricula on personal and social development or other initiatives to up citizen engagement in democratic process,- regional rounds of EU forum for debate starting in the pilot training activities on the subject of the project engaging youth leaders/educators and youth to give a higher informal learning dimension to the Training Path and Resources and collect information for the further development of the Handbook making it an informal learning enabler and- a Memorandum for European Institutions on the importance of pushing public education on critical voting literacy higher on the agenda https://pros4democracy.internprize.eu/MemorandumThe partners organised 7 Multiplier events (E1 - E7) to promote the project process, outcomes and partake of the project's mission of bringing the importance of more participation in democratic process, critical voting and European values higher on the local, national and European agenda.There were 3 horizontal activities spanning throughout the project lifetime:- dissemination and community building around the project that will be a partnership wide effort,- coordination and monitoring activities will last throughout the project lifetime and- quality management and validation on organisational change as part of impact measurement on the partners.<< Results >>OUTCOMES AND RESULTS FROM THE PROCESSa. IMMEDIATE- partners' higher experience in joint training resources design through the contribution of content by all partners based on the experience/expertise of each partner and respective democratic milieux,- new or higher levels of critical voting, media, socio-emotional and social justice literacy by all youth (and educators) participants in one round of national/local pilot testing of new innovative training resources designed by the partners,- an awareness of what participants have learnt and acquired during this journey,- the start of nuclei of youths and youth leaders who have come together in cross border debate on a sensitive issue and that are now therefore more ready willing and able to approach themes and strategies with a European mindset and- higher visibility of youth work with local, national and EU institutions as contributor to youth and education policy through the distribution of a Memorandum to EU institutions on the need to put critical voting and higher participation in democratic process across Europe higher on the agenda reporting on the experience of this pan-European testing of critical voting training.b. MEDIUM TERM- higher capacity of the partners in augmenting or improving the variety and quality of their youth services and training,- higher relevance of youth organisations in the personal and professional lives of young people by supporting them in acquiring experience and track record that formal education does not provide,- higher visibility and social positioning of youth organisations seen to be closer to the social mission of bringing change in the same way as other civil society organisations that are becoming more important in the European democratic milieu presently threatened by lack of good governance, adherence to European democratic values by nationalistic and protectionist approaches,- young participants who venture into their professional life equipped with values, critical thinking and European mindset and- young participants with more confidence in their opinions sustained by the 4 literacies for critical voting citizens with readiness to communicate with others in the face of adversity.OUTCOMES AND RESULTS FROM THE PROJECT1. NEW INNOVATIVE YOUTH TRAINING RESOURCES PROPOSING INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES CONVEYING CRITICAL VOTING LITERACY THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR YOUTH AND EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS on media, social justice and socio-emotional literacies, on how democracy must not be taken for granted and higher awareness of the importance of citizens engagement in democratic (if not also political) life. The innovative aspect is in the media used to design the content, the topics chosen from a wider expertise than the partnership given that this project exploited results of a previous School Education project called Eurovoters and the ease of transfer and adoption (modularity) in youth, school, adult and Higher Education.2. A HIGHER POSITION OF THE NEED OF CRITICAL VOTING LITERACY ON THE AGENDA in the form of a Memorandum to EC institutions on the need for more education on the 4 literacies from early years and throughout life on issues, agendas and more sophisticated strategies and technologies of social media. The strategy adopted was that of an organic publication rather than a large pdf format. This enabled the partners to engage more youths and players into the dialogue around the document making itself become a platform of dialogue and discussion.3. A NEW FORUM OF DEBATE ON THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF EUROPE AND ON EUROPEAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES engaging youth professionals and youths, upping their communicative competences and confidence to participate in debate with sound and articulated arguments in local, national and EU level forums. This was promoted in the local pilot activities and then in the Multiplier Events held in all the partner regions.4. NEW AVENUES FOR FURTHER COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PARTNERS building on this project that pools their expertise making it an educational journey through exposure to each others' varied target groups of youths and their needs and higher skills and broader mindset of their youth leaders and educators. This has in fact matured into two other project proposals for school education and a Horizon on democratic credentials of politicians and institutions.Summary concrete outputs:- Learning Path and Resources with handbook instructions for 60 activities on Media Literacy, Social Justice Literacy and Socio Emotional Literacy apt for school, youth, adult and higher education students and educators,- 36 youths and educators involved in a large training activity on critical voting that included a visible activity in Maltese Parliament,- 280+ youths and educators involved in pilot training activities across the partner regions involved in a European debate,- a Memorandum for EU institutions,- a sustainability plan for further cooperation between the partners and other organisations and- 7 Multiplier Events that served as a further activity in the European debate about the need for more and better participation in democratic process.