The E-citizens project aims to strengthen the capacity of committed young people to foster youth civic participation through innovative methods linking informal education and emerging digital practices adapted to new practices. Faced with a strong demand for youth civic participation in Europe, informal education structures remain an essential vector for the training of young European citizens. There is also an evolution in the forms of expression favoured by the new generation which moves towards digital spaces: digital platforms for debate, citizen consultations, online forums, questioning platforms, etc. Practices stemming from civic tech are more in more common in companies or public administrations but poorly integrated by youth structures in Europe. While many associations are questioning how to keep up with those evolutions, various European youth actors are developing projects promoting youth civic participation by combining physical and digital exchange spaces, methods of informal education and civic techs. To promote new practices, we have formed a consortium of actors which aims to develop innovative methods and specificities in terms of approaches and audiences: - EYP-France: participative expression and debate projects, carried by young people and for young people. - Polyspektiv: exchange spaces promoting dialogue between young people and political decision-makers. - FSPJ: programs to raise awareness of societal issues through youth encounters and exchanges fed by online participatory spaces. Through a process of exchange of practices, E-Citoyen aims to give the means for young people to set up participative projects combining physical and digital exchanges through several objectives : - Identifying methods to combine informal education and digital innovations within the consortium and in Europe and analysing their impact on young beneficiaries. - Create training and resources (kits, MOOC), enabling young people to appropriate these methods. - Train and accompany young people in France, Switzerland and Germany, and disseminate these methods on a European scale through our European partners. The project mobilises actors of the consortium, partners (youth workers, decision-makers, civic tech experts) and young people participating in the final training. It follows a process of sharing practices divided into three steps : STEP 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSORTIUM'S EXPERTISE BY SHARING PRACTICES - A1 - Kick-off meeting - Paris - November 2020: Begin sharing practices between the actors of the consortium, in the presence of young people and expert actors to produce a first analysis. - A2, A3, A4: 3 Participatory Visits - Bernes, Berlin then Rodez - From January to April 2021: Organise an innovative event with a group of young people to experiment new practices and observe their impact. STEP 2: DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES AND TRAINING TO DISSEMINATE GOOD PRACTICES TO YOUTH ACTORS. - A5: Transnational resource-building meeting: Berlin - June 2021: Produce resources based on these practices, enabling youth actors in our networks to take ownership of them. STEP 3: TRAINING OF YOUTH ACTORS AND DISSEMINATION OF PRACTICES IN EUROPE - C1, C2, C3: Training courses to develop the civic participation of young people in Lyon, Bernes and Berlin, September to December 2021: Accompany committed young people and youth leaders from France, Germany and Switzerland to appropriate these methods. - A6: Final meeting, finalisation of results, organisation of the dissemination of the resources in Europe. The E-citizens kit will include a series of resources: tutorials, practical sheets, online training videos in the form of MOOCs distributed in France, Switzerland and Germany through the consortium's institutional, associative and educational networks, but also on a European scale. The project aims, in the long term, to ensure that: - Youth leaders from various countries are sensitised and equipped to take up good practices to encourage the development of new projects based on an inclusive methodology combining physical and digital debate. - Innovative projects adapted to democratic practices are developed, facilitating youth democratic participation. - Young people are benefiting from new inclusive spaces that encourage the civic expression of everyone.
Pour répondre à ces besoins, le projet E-citoyen-nes visait à effectuer un échange de bonnes pratiques et une coopération poussée entre les structures partenaires notamment pour : - approfondir les connaissances des jeunes et des travailleurs jeunesse sur les pratiques démocratiques et numériques dans le cadre de leur mission d'éducation civique; - découvrir de nouvelles méthodes et outils de travail non formels pour améliorer et encourager l'éducation civique chez les jeunes; - développer la coopération entre des structures jeunesse d'éducation à la citoyenneté en Europe; - développer l'utilisation responsable d'outils et supports numériques; - former les jeunes et les travailleurs de jeunesse pour leur permettre d'organiser des activités citoyennes innovantes notamment en ligne; - encourager les jeunes à se servir du numérique comme outil de participation démocratique et citoyenne; - sensibiliser aux atouts et aux inconvénients de l'utilisation du numérique et d'internet; - favoriser la création et la diffusion de pratiques numériques innovantes d'éducation à la citoyenneté mobilisable pour des projets à l'échelle locale, nationale et européenne.
Le projet a été pensé en pleine crise du Covid19. Lors des confinements successifs, et à l'instar du reste de la société, les structures jeunesses d'éducation à la citoyenneté ont repensé leur manière de travailler et leur outils. En effet, une grande partie de leurs activités se basait sur des événements locaux, nationaux ou européens en présentiel à destination de jeunes (activités de débat, formations, jeux de rôles, simulations...) : leurs objectifs d'éducation civique étaient alors centrés sur la participation active et la rencontre en présentiel de jeunes aux profils géographiques, socioéconomiques et éducatifs variés. Les partenaires se sont retrouvés autour du projet pour pallier le manque de connaissances et de compétences des jeunes et des travailleurs de jeunesse dans le domaine de l'éducation civique pour organiser des activités numériques incluant des méthodes d'éducation non formelle. De plus, il existait pour les partenaires la volonté de développer leur capacité de coopération dans des pays européens frontaliers et de développer des pratiques innovantes de citoyenneté à-même d'être diffusées plus largement, en s'enrichissant des expertises d'autres structures jeunesses d'éducation à la citoyenneté.