Youth4Democracy

Democracy Reloading?
Democracy Reloading is a strategic Erasmus+ Youth/European Solidarity Corps National Agency cooperation program that started in 2015 with the aim to empower local governments to engage young people in decision-making. Young people should be engaged to influence their own present as well as to (re)design future democracies, so in this regard they are in the position to reflect on existing solutions and come up with new approaches to democracy.

Why is the training called Youth 4 Democracy?
The goal of this training is to empower 30 young people all over Europe to have more impact in their municipality in the long term.

What can you expect from the training? 

• To meet 29 other young people who are interested to learn more about youth participation on a local level. 
• To learn from other young Europeans how to work together with local communities and local municipalities.
• To learn how to get more knowledge about your own local context and understanding the obstacles and opportunities within it.
• Develop your personal skills for getting more involved in democratic youth participation in decision making. 
• To learn how to use the Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps grants for developing activities and/ or projects focusing on youth participation.

Who are you? 

• You are someone who can speak, read and write English on a basic level. You are still learning but can express yourself in an international group. The training will provide a safe space for using English.
• You are 15 - 20 years old;
• You have participated or organised at least one participation activity, a project or initiative in your local community or school. 

What we DO NOT expect from you: 

• We don’t expect you to have years and years of experience in cooperating with local authorities. It is enough if you have at least one experience in organizing or participating in an activity in your local community. 
• We don’t expect you to speak on behalf of the youth in your community. We want you to be able to understand your community and its challenges and opportunities and  in the training course we will focus on  skills needed for this. 
• We don’t expect you to be a public speaker, we believe a variety of skills are important for a young person in this context. For example: researching, reading, collaborating, analyzing, discussing with others, listening etc. are also needed in this context. Public speaking is just one of many skills. We will experiment with all of them in the assignments of the training throughout the week. If you are open to trying out new things which may be out of your comfort zone, you will manage this. 

Let’s meet in Lier!  It is near Antwerp in Belgium

• You should arrive on Wednesday, 30th August until 16.00, and you can leave in the afternoon on Sunday, 3rd September.
• From each municipality, a maximum of 2 participants will be selected.
• We are looking forward to your application! ��

Priority will be given to residents of Portugal, Belgium, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland, Croatia, Sweden, Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Bulgaria.