“Let’s talk about Europe”

a transnational youth initiative on the topic of debating on challenging issues for young people and supporting them make their voices heard in view of the European Elections 2014!
Project Summary:
15 young people from Greece and Italy (10 from Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki) & 5 from Italy will come together and reach out their peers with the aim to give them the space to discuss challenging issues of their everyday lives, make proposals for the future and practice ways of participation in political and social life.

Main issues addressed:
 what democracy and participation mean to young people,
 what are the threats leading to political and social alienation of young people,
 why is there a dramatically lower trend towards political and social engagement ,
 what are the alternative ways as a way out of a multifaceted crisis for their future
With this project the young people want to highlight the importance of social engagement but also the one of political engagement especially in view of the European Elections 2014.
Timeline:
January 2014:
Local groups of 15 young people from Athens, Thessaloniki and Rome (10 from Greece and 5 from Italy) are going to gather locally so as to share their problematic, ideas and develop their plan of action for the coming months. They are going to conclude on their main issues of concern.
Each group will appoint one coordinator
Coordinators with get feedback from their groups and decide, based on their needs, the main topics they would like to address, and will prepare the topics of the international meeting. Depending on the needs the supporting organisations will seek for experts (e.g on European Institutions and decision makers, use of tools like social media etc..)
February 2014:
3-4 days international meeting , Thessaloniki, Greece which will focus on a) the exchange and sharing of problematic, b) the common knowledge building on existing institutions influencing youth and c) the various ways (e. g via social media, campaigns, voting etc) young people may use so as to promote their interests and influence politics.
February-March 2014:
Reaching out young people, collecting feedback on challenging issues by young people.
Method: online and organizing 1-2 open days per country.
Once back to their countries/regions participants will organize 1-2 open days for other young people in order to raise awareness on the common problematic issues but also to inform them and ask for their support .
April-May 2014:
Campaign-after collecting feedback and ideas, young people will 'lobby' for their rights and challenge debates on them from policy and decision makers (like European Parliament and European Commission representatives, Youth Forum Jeneusse a.o)
Debate-Day – Invitation to open day debate by a representative of European Institutions_decision makers
May –June 2014:
Evaluation – White Book with results and outcome from the project.
Participants’ age: 18-30 years old
Financial Conditions: Standard for a YiA Project: 70% travel expenses + 100% food and accommodation covered by the project. If you think you would have exceptional costs directly related to your participant, please specify.
Financial support for local groups meetings: estimated 500E/group.