Encuentros internacionales de jóvenes que quieren mejorar sus comunidades:  Holanda del 18 al 25 de Febrero
Grecia del 24 al 30 de Abril

“Democracy Starts with You!” is an attempt to establish and stimulate a dialogue between European youths on local, national and European level and established policy makers. It will allow youths the opportunity to enter into a conversation and to come to a democratic solution on a European level with peers and policy makers. Research on local till European level has shown that youths would like to be involved in the process of democratic decision-making. On the other hand there is a huge suspicion towards the government and policy makers and that youths feel that their voice doesn’t matter.

“Democracy Starts with You!” want bridges the gap through dialogue and interactive tools of the here and now to the future. To come to a satisfactory end result it is necessary to make first an inventory on how Europe is perceived nowadays. We will plan several actions to make an inventory on what the future of Europe will look like when, for example the youth of today will take over the positions of the current policy makers.

The objectives of “Democracy Starts with You!” are
* To encourage involvement of young people in daily democratic life
* To develop dialogue and stimulate democracy
* To bring young people closer to decision makers
* To give input on and to develop youth democracy projects
* To experience to work within an European identity
* To develop personal skills and knowledge of the youngsters
* To develop an“Democracy Starts with You!” imagine

What to organize
The first step is to organize a youth exchange and to establish a dialogue among the participated youths on what the future of Europe will look like when youth of today takes over the positions of the current policy makers. As well as an intense and pointed dialogue to improve relations between the youth generations and to involve them more in regional, national and European policies and measures. The exchange will be used to come to a joint vision, a solidly founded vision that will be unequivocal to realise intended goals. Examples of possible subjects are: the environment, xenophobia, healthcare, European citizenship, gender equality, (un) employment, education etc.

The unravelling of possible topics will occur through a mix of workshops, exercises, debates, intercultural dialogue, role play, creating questionnaires, simulations, outdoor activities etc.

The second step in “Democracy Starts with You!” is that each country takes the join vision back home and organize discussions and presentations of the exchange outcome with visitors of the youth centre and with policy makers. The received feedback could be broadening the participated youths knowledge and will be taken to the third step.

The third step will be use to evaluate the results of the first two steps and to develop it further by intercultural dialogue, art expression and debates. Using non formal education we want to compare the local evaluation moments between the participating countries. This can be done by exercises, debates, intercultural dialogue, role play and workshops such as theatre play, collage, art and video making.

That final results come together in a brochure and will present after returning to the visitors of the youth center and to the policy makers. A multimedia exhibition (video, photography and collage) documenting “Democracy Starts with You!” will be touring to venues in the home towns of the partner organizations

To guarantee a deeper impact, the youngsters will create together also instructive class lessons that shouldering appeal to the imagination of the youngsters. It’s our intention to not make long boring stories about democracy but interactive games, quizzes, jigsaws. This to make it more attractive for the youth to participate in the lesson and to get useful Involved after the workshops.

The applicants should fulfil the following conditions
* They should be working with the theme and must be open for social integration;
* They should be prepared to pass on the information, skills and contacts;
* Participants must have a mandate in order to make solid agreements;
* The age for participating is between 18 till 26;
* They should be able to use English as a working language;
* We expect an open and active role from every applicant;
* The applicant should attend the full duration of the project.

Each partner country will work with a fixed basic group consisting of 5 youths plus 1 leader. The composition of the groups is the responsibility of the designated leader. The leader will also take charge in the preparations of “Democracy Starts with You!” and the research within their own country and participation within the exchanges. The leader will prepare the youths through a series of workshops in their own local environment.

Working language
English