Content/Background of the project: Democracy is about much more than voting once every five years or so in a national or European election. It is also about civil engagement and participation in the democratic process. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that while turnout in the 2014 European elections stabilised at just under 43% (very similar to 2009), turnout has been declining since 1979. Furthermore, turnout among young voters in the European elections of May 2014 (18-24) was low, at 28%. Contrast that with turnout among people aged 55 and over, over half of whom (51%) cast their ballots in 2014, and it’s clear that youth participation in European elections is not the best it could be. The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) has traced and analysed voter turnout in this regularly updated facts and figures briefing. Young people have developed different forms of political activism and participation, such as demonstrating, volunteering in associations and socialising and expressing political opinions through digital and social media. While social media is increasingly used in campaigns across Europe, the ultimate effect of this usage remains unclear. Some attribute the increasing levels of political activity on the internet to citizens who are already politically committed. It may be that social media have only a very limited effect on getting otherwise disengaged citizens to engage. Youth organizations have to take advance of this phenome and empower there members to use this new media to promote Yourope Matters. Partners of the project: The proposed project will be implemented by 5 youth organisations from Germany, Italy, France, Macedonia and Polen and 1 media companies from Germany. The project pursues three main objectives of the project: - To encourage and form young people to use social media and to become influencers for European values - create smartphone apps, vlogging and social media campaigns to support EU Values under young people - provide innovative forms of youth participation and cross-border communication and collaboration; - tackle unemployment and social exclusion of young people in Europe, especially those with fewer opportunities, by improving the level of key competences, transversal skills, digital skills, entrepreneurship and intercultural competencies; - promote human resources development and capacity building in youth organisations creating new jobs by promoting youth self-employment and social entrepreneurship in the NGO media sector. Description of activities of the project: The project combines the development of new training programs for youth organizations (O1) in the field of new media to train them to become influencers, the development of an innovative app for cross-border communication and collaboration in the field of new media and the development of a training programme for youth media entrepreneurs. All programmes developed will be tested within the project and finally adapted to individual needs. The Production of Videoblogs (O2) will be promoted true the “Yourope Matters APP” (O3) and also a Social Media Campaign (O4) where the new Influencers will disseminate there vison of Europe. Long term benefits of the project: - offering young people opportunities for non-formal learning and the acquisition of transversal skills, such as political participation, creativity, digital skills and multicultural competencies will improve their livelihood prospects and reduce the risk of social and economic exclusion; - motivating and enabling young people in Europe to take position and influence their peers though social media; - promoting quality improvements and unprecedented forms of cooperation and synergies in with the help of new media will promote innovation and the int’l dimension of youth work; - enhanced usage of new and media for the acquisition of practical know-how, exchange of good practice and cross border networking will promote the digital integration in youth work and non-formal learning; - creating new opportunities for employment and income generation of youth with fewer opportunities will contribute to attain the inclusive growth targets of the EU 2020 Agenda.
According to the German Federal Statistical Office, the voter turnout of the German population in the 2019 European elections was 61.4%, the highest in 30 years, although there were differences between age groups, with young people casting their vote below average. But promoting democracy and social participation of citizens* and especially young people is about much more than just voting every five years at national or European level. As the "Fridays for Future" movement in particular impressively shows, young people increasingly feel inadequately represented in political decision-making processes which directly affects their future. They are looking for new channels and forms to point out their view of current sociopolitical developments and their legitimate demands for a social and livable future as well as their expertise. Nowadays, political opinion-forming and democratization among young people takes place predominantly in the digital world through Social Media. Media offers innovative and attractive forms for young people in terms of civic participation, participation in current political discussions and influence on the future shaping of society. According to the current development, the project “Yourope Matters” aims to make better use of the great potential of Social Media and to motivate young people to become multipliers ("influencers") for European issues and values within their "peer groups" and the general public. Because of the importance of this topic, the goals of the project are: - an increase in interest of young people in a united Europe and a better understanding of key common challenges, - an increase in awareness of fundamental European values and their importance for democracy and the rule of law, - a stronger mobilization of young people to participate in their local environment and community - and an increase of the visibility of younger generations of their opinions in the European society. The project coordinator is Starkmacher e.V., a recognized voluntary youth education organization based in Mannheim. Already the title of the project "Yourope Matters" is supposed to express that Europe is the concern of everyone and especially of the younger generation. The target group of this project were about 120 young people who produced 131 short videos. The so called “Vlogs” focused on European topics such as fundamental values, active European citizenship, participation in democratic life, integration of migrants and refugees, solidarity in Europe, ecology, culture, sustainability and zero waste. On our website www.youropematters.eu you can find all the different videos which were published within the project and all materials which were published under the hashtag #Y ouropeMatters. “Vlog” is a made-up word that combines video and blogs. Rather than just a written text, the vlogger uses visual media platforms such as YouTube, to publish self-made videos. These young people participated in regional but also international youth encounters or vacation workcamps mainly organized by Starkmacher e.V. However, the aim is also to involve other young people in this project through Social Media. By creating the hashtag #youropematters, we want to spread the produced outcomes as much as possible, especially through Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. The young people are accompanied in the production of the vlogs by youth workers, who already participated in education and media training courses. First of all, they are to guide the young people to deal with European topics in a reflective way. In addition, the young people will be supported in producing their own vlogs and distributing them on the Internet as part of Starkmacher projects. The detailed description of the intellectual outcomes and their production will be explained in the next chapter.