Current developments across Europe have raised worries about a destabilization of Europe: the rise of populist and nationalistic parties in a number of member states, who propagate euroskeptic and illiberal policies, fears of terrorism and crime fueling xenophobic and islamophobic sentiments. A negative attitude towards refugees, migrations and integration is becoming normal. Racism, xenophobia & anti-Semitisms is growing. Also growing citizens’ alienation and disillusionment with mainstream politics is detectable, their feeling of being left out and a decreasing sense of empowerment is driving many people to lose faith in “the system”, toward extreme political choices and renationalisation. All over Europe trust in EU partners and its institutions has declined. These developments show the immediate need for change: Citizens' active participation becomes increasingly significant, they need to play an active role in democratic life and to fight for inclusive, cohesive and solidary societies. Therefore, education, training and youth work are key to promote common European values, foster social integration and enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community and to prevent violent radicalization (European Commission 2017). In order to cater to these needs, partners from 9 European countries have created the partnership “WAKE UP! Young Europeans becoming Change Makers for a better Europe”. We strongly believe that the engagement of youth is essential to achieve sustainable human development, and that young people can be the driver of change. Young people are an important part of European society, and as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union emphasizes, it is important to encourage them to participate in the democratic life of Europe, and aim which is also a priority Erasmus+: Youth in Action programme. And young people are most likely to be mobilized, as polls revealed that when compared with older age groups, young people are less hostile to the EU, more tolerant of immigration, and more likely to feel that the EU had been successful in securing peace across the continent. And young people are already change makers in some areas, such as social media, blogging, online video and mass group protests – young people have a huge impact trough these channels of communications. Our main target group is young people (16 – 25 years), including migrants, refugees and people from disadvantaged backgrounds). They should become active citizens and “makers of positive changes” at least on community level. Partners will support the capacity building of young people and youth workers/educators by developing new ways of outreach work and training for young people. They will develop a “Wake up!” training with several specific modules (e.g. political involvement, the promotion of European and democratic values, critical thinking, social inclusion) for youth workers/educators, and one peer-educator training on the same topics. As a result a) youth workers/educators learn more effective ways to reach and address young people, especially ones with migrant or refugee or from disadvantaged background and get them interested in becoming an active citizen at least in their local community b) youth workers/educators learn more innovative methods to empower young people in active citizenship, and can provide a training for them c) young people will get interested in becoming an active partner in the development of their community (and country) and volunteering. They will be empowered and learn new methods and ways to become peer trainers and change makers, and having their voices heard d) young people will get involved and volunteer in order to put this new knowledge into practice and set up their own initiatives, projects, activities in above mentioned fields e) a campaign and strategic advocy work will be developed by young people in order to have their voices heard and other young people will be motivated to become active citizens. The project aims to have an impact in various ways: young people hear the “WAKE UP!” call, become more active and hopefully make a difference in a positive way. They will have an impact on society, as their own projects, initiatives, activities, and events will successfully tackle problems existing on local, regional, national or European level. Hopefully through their work, the PR work, and their active involvement, the ideas, opinions, solutions of young people will be heard by decision makers on local, national and international level and will matter. The potentially huge source of talent, innovation and energy for change of young people should be used more effectively in the future. It will lead to an improved quality in education, training and youth work in Europe, especially in the field of development of civic competences of young people. And all the young people involved will become agents of change for shaping our future for a better Europe!
Current developments across Europe have raised worries about a destabilization of Europe: the rise of populist and nationalistic parties, who propagate eurosceptic and illiberal policies, fears of terrorism and crime fuelling xenophobic and islamophobic sentiments. Racism, xenophobia & anti-Semitisms and discrimination is growing. Also growing citizens’ alienation and disillusionment with mainstream politics is detectable, their feeling of being left out and a decreasing sense of empowerment is driving many people to lose faith in “the system”, toward extreme political choices and renationalisation. All over Europe trust in EU partners and its institutions has declined. And the pandemic and the associated protective measures have exacerbated these developments. There is a big need for change: Citizens' active participation becomes increasingly significant, they need to play an active role in democratic life and to fight for inclusive, cohesive and solidary societies. Education, training and youth work are key to promote common European values, foster social integration and enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community and to prevent violent radicalization. This is particularly important to be able to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. In order to cater to these needs, partners from 8 European countries have created the partnership “WAKE UP!” The combination of selected project partners was important, as intensive cooperation enabled continuous learning and inspiration from MZ, AT, HR, UK, NO, DE, CZ and RO. The aim of our “Wake Up!” project was that young Europeans become Change Makers for a better Europe, as their engagement is essential to achieve sustainable human development and to initiate change in the European society and the democratic life of Europe. And young people are already change makers in some areas, such as social media, blogging, online video and mass group protests – young people have a huge impact trough these channels of communications. In our project youth workers/ educators learned more effective ways to reach and address young people, and how to empower them and get them interested in becoming an active citizen at least in their local community. Our main results were a pedagogical guideline, the “Golden rules of WakeUP!” and a project handbook for all future Wake UP! workshops, activities, projects, methodologies are set as standard. As a result of our different types of activities and outputs, 603 young people in the 8 countries got involved, volunteered and became active citizens, some of them peer educators: They participated in relevant projects for the benefit of communities, they set up their own initiatives or projects, and organized their own local workshops and activities. In total 168 workshops and activities were implemented by the young people with 2972 participants. In the activities/ workshops lead by peer educators others were empowered to engage in critical dialogue and collaborated on informed citizenship. The vision of a common European house was actively mediated and targeted at young people who have impaired access to resources, to the general population. Specifically in the countries of the former Soviet bloc, where propaganda and disinformation are now intensifying, the project has proved to be a crucial tool for the life choices of ordinary young people affected by social networking. The project captured the mood and coping with the advent of the global pandemic among young people to a significant extent and impact. Concerns about World War III were captured, young people responded to Brexit, the onset of vaccination, death in families or, conversely, denial of the virus. We all faced fake news and, in workshops with young coaches, we actively sought tools, methods and procedures to give young people a healthy and safe approach to democratic values within the common European House. Even in times of complete lockdown the young people and the involved youth worker and educators never stopped being active: they organised food distribution, collecting IT for poor kids, developed online activities and workshops and many more But also interest was raised in the participation in European strategies, initiatives and (program) activities, e.g. 5 local European solidarity projects were initiated by young participants. In CZ a youth club was newly opened, in DE young volunteers founded their own youth organisation, in HR a cross-border peace project was started etc. The involved young people joined common European values, acquired new competencies and became active on local, national and European level. Most of these workshops and activities are now described in detail and available on an online inspiration platform with contributions in 7 languages. So from now on others can copy and implement similar workshops etc. easily. 578 dissemination activities reached 227994, and in 20 multiplier events 371 participants were reached