#EUROSUDSTORIES: “FOSTERING YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS”
More than 25 participants from Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Finland, UK, France, Germany, Bulgaria (some of them also live and study in other EU countries) applied to the seminar.
The main aim of the project was to inform the new European generation about how the EU works and of rights and obligations the EU citizenship brings in order to encourage youngsters to vote in the next European elections and contribute to boost the turnout.
The organizers and the participants were amazing. The atmosphere was peaceful and very familiar.
We had meetings with qualified and important people, as the Bulgarian Minister Lilyana Pavlova, Tanya Chuntova, PR of the Bureau of the EP in Sofia, H. E. Eric Lebedel, Ambassador of France in Bulgaria, or Andrey Kovatchev, MEP and Vice-president of UEF.
But it was also a great idea to let participants provide workshops on interesting and catching themes, as:
- the rise of the Extreme Right in Europe
- The Role of “Erasmus +” for Encouraging Active EU Citizenship
- Communication strategies of the EP
- E-Petitions of the European Parliament as a Tool of Direct Democracy
- Potential Threat of Personalised Content to Media Pluralism and Social Media
We got familiar with different cultures and other countries’ traditions and languages, especially during our free time, spent in traditional clubs or sightseeing around Sofia. This city has been a beautiful surprise, really warm (despite the weather!) and captivating. We managed to explore also its surroundings, in particular Vitosha mountains and the Rila Monastery.
We can feel very satisfied of this project because we have gained practical knowledge on how to involve young citizens in the EU and, most of all, in the campaign for the next elections and we can’t wait to put it in practice!
#EUROSUDSTORIES: “ME AND YOU ARE EU” TRAINING COURSE ORGANIZED BY THE TDM 2000 ORGANIZATION IN MALTA
Thanks to the EUROSUD association, we had the opportunity to take part in the Erasmus project “Me and You are EU”, a training course organized by the TDM 2000 Organization in Malta, from 10 to 18 November.
In this project were involved 8 European countries: Italy, Malta, Spain, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Hungary and Poland. For each country there were 3 participants with very different cultures to create strong intercultural dynamics and dialogue.
For a week, we got to know and interact with each other. We were actively involved in a rich program of activities including workshops, discussions, group work, role-playing, simulations, and outdoor activities.
The main aim of this project was to empower youth workers and equip us with all the necessary tools and different methodologies to deliver democratic values in our communities.
This project helped us to be more motivated to take an active role in educating youths with regards to voting and how to be a more active citizen in our country.
We learned to develop an intercultural and European dimension and also we learned a lot about the values behind the European Union, especially democratic values.
The working methods that have been used during the exchange were based on the principles of non-formal learning. During the exchange, active participation, intercultural dialogue, social inclusion of people, entrepreneurship and creativity of young people have been promoted directly.
Skills developed by the participants were: intercultural cooperation and dialogue, tolerance, critical ability and ability to make quick decisions, empathy, creativity, gender equality, respect and tolerance of diversity, openness and interacting with people from different countries.
We are all very happy and grateful to have participated in this project, because it was an experience of personal growth for us. We met many beautiful people with many different cultures, and the most important thing for us is that we have created strong bonds of friendship that we hope to maintain in the future.
It’s been an amazing experience that has left each other so many beautiful memories and we hope to have other opportunities like this.