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From Teenager to Citizen

2019-2-RO01-KA105-0642792019Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: RO|EL|SK|BG|PL|IT|ES|MK · Grant: €26,963
International cooperation, international relations, development cooperationYouth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Objectives

Being a citizen is something most of us don’t give much attention to, we just are. But being a citizen is a set of rights and responsibilities that give us all the benefits we are used to and, on top of that, it represents our identity, who we are and where we belong. Therefore, being a citizen of the European Union is a right of all bearing a member state passport, it is a door open to the countries of the Unionand to the world. However, few are those that know this, mainly young people. The project brings together 32 young participants + 8 group leaders and 2 facilitators, from 8 European countries for a 10 days mobility in Sinaia, Prahova County, Romania. The mobility took place between 18-27 August 2021 and aims to empower these youngsters, their friends and the communities they live in to make a difference. This way, we’ve set 2 objectives around which we were focusing our activities: 1. Increasing the knowledge of the 32 participants during the 10 days of the mobility on their rights and duties as citizens and how they can influence through an active attitude the decision making process. 2. Developing a positive attitude for the 32 participants during the duration of the project regarding the importance of sharing and being promoters of the citizen's rights and the way that they can influence the decision making process. Through the activities included within the project and its final results, we want to help the promotion of active citizenship through the understanding of what it means to be an EU citizen and the values of tolerance, respect for diversity and intercultural dialogue that come along with it, the development of critical thought and the importance to be well informed and, finally, the promotion of political participation as the only way to strengthen the European democracy. Also, participants got to better their English, become more confident and responsible, by working with deadlines and getting to evaluate their work and the work of others within the project, through the non-formal activities, presentations and debates. The involvement of the participants on the organisation of the project was be a constant. At the beginning, during the preparatory meetings, they were be asked to come up with ideas for debates, topics they want to talk about, to gather ideas on what would make a better Europe, what is the general feeling of their friends, family and community regarding the European Union and ideas on what active citizenship means to them and how it can be applied into societies. During the mobility, among other activities, participants got to present and sustain the ideas they chose from their fieldwork in their community and compare them to other ideas participants from other countries gathered. Working in international groups, they have chosen the best 60 ideas from the 360 presented by everyone. Another main goal of the project regarded active citizenship and political implication of young people into society. To help participants understand these concepts, activities within the project included meetings with experts and coordination by members of the project team during the mobility, from people with experience in the field of civil rights, political science and European policies. Participants have also get to debate and reflect upon their own initial ideas about active citizenship and its use and the ideas they were able to form after the learning activities, presentations and debates with facilitators.

Project partners (8)