Results
Project management and coordination
Objectives
- Promoting experiences of political and social participation
- Enhancing connection and exchange among grassroots NGOs at European level
- Establishing a connection between young people and policy makers at local and European level
This work package contains a detailed description of the tasks regarding the management and coordination.
The set of all coordination and management activities aim ensuring full compliance with the planned work plan and achievement of the expected results during the 24 months of the action. The strategic planning and controlling of all the financial resources, ensures efficiency and sustainability throughout all project activities. The management is a key activity that predicts the project implementation from the beginning to the end of the project to ensure the proper administration of the action, to determine any changes and to introduce adjustments if appropriate. The systematic collection of data and information (concerning work packages, deliverables and results) ensures uninterrupted engagement and allows a comprehensive final evaluation.
Let’s pack up (Collection of good practices of youth political engagement)
Objectives
- Promoting experiences of political and social participation
- Enhancing connection and exchange among grassroots NGOs at European level
Both these objectives respond to the needs highlighted by the official research and by the online focus group managed by the partners in each country. The solutions/activities elaborated and the methodology proposed by the consortium are already developed by the associations involved. However, this is not a mere replication of the initiatives already implemented: cooperation and exchange of practices between the partners giving the rise to an innovative and unique model for promoting the political and democratic participation of young people, which highlights the peculiarities and specific characteristics of each territory. Indeed, as one of the objectives of the project is to connect grassroots associations working with young people all over Europe. Life-experience of participation means emotions and emotions means positive addiction. This is true for political participation as well as for the involvement of young people with fewer opportunities. The project is not implementing dedicated activities for them but only activities where young people coming from both contexts (advantaged and disadvantaged) can meet and live a common experience. This is also valid for policymakers and their engagement in the activities of the project.
The journey: Mobility Preparation and implementation
Objectives
- Promoting experiences of political and social participation
During the implementation of this Work package, it will be developed the organisation of the Journey. The programme for the week of common life in Fittà is outlined, as well as the travel itinerary to places relevant to the social and political issues discussed during the activities. Guidelines are elaborated to prepare the youth for the Journey (prepared jointly by the partners). They consist in a practical handbook with indications and suggestions on how to train the young participants for the experience. Drafted in English, it is then translated into the respective national languages. Furthermore, a Local Trainer is also selected in each country, who is in charge of carrying out the next activity During M8 and M9 a series of seminars are held in all partner countries, involving a Local Trainer and the previously selected group of young people, in order to prepare them for the Journey they will undertake following the guidelines described above.
Main activities:
a) Seven days of Social Summer School in Fittà - a small village in the province of Verona (IT), is planned in July 2022. The programme of the school includes training sessions with national and international experts and meetings with other local, national and international realities. The young people will live together, sharing not only the school, ideas and discussions but also many aspects and activities of daily life, such as cooking and cleaning. This is what turns a school into a life experience.
b) After the week of living together, the Caravan-trip will start: 14 days of journey through places relevant to the topics addressed during the School. The itinerary crosses Italy touching relevant sites among which (but not restricted to):
- the Path of the Italian Constitution in Barbiana; - the International House of Women in Rome; - Cinisi-Palermo, places symbolic of the fight against the Mafia; - Lampedusa, the island where the dramas of migration are played out. Not only places of political interest are plan for the visits, but also meetings with personalities of interest are organised:
- politician and former MEP Elly Schlein;
- members of the politically committed music group Assalti Frontali;
- doctor, politician and MEP Pietro Bartolo; and
- the Combonian missionary Alex Zanotelli
In the two months following the end of the experience, the lessons learnt are collected, together with the opinions and impressions of the participants - collected, among other forms, in a logbook kept by the young people throughout the experience. Once discussed and analysed (by the partnership), this material will complement the previously elaborated Guidelines. The result will be a manual for the replication and dissemination of the Journey through political participation.
The return: Dialogue building with Policy – makers
- Establishing a connection between youngsters and policy makers at local and European level
The dialogue building work package aims at the development of contacts between the partners with the relevant municipalities and social spaces located in their respective countries that are willing to actively participate in the project. This activity complements the work carried out in the second Work package, in order to keep alive, the contacts established 6 months earlier with local stakeholders. The meetings and moments of discussion between the young people who took part in the Journey and representatives of local and regional institutions are organised in each partner country. These moments are mediated by youth organisations and associations operating on the territory, which will act as a bridge between the two target groups in order to make youth policies more effective and young people more involved. Furthermore, the combination of informal situations and exchange of ideas with moments of concrete work, on issues that are relevant to the youth population enrich and affirm the experience of the participants. The implementation of the tasks is elaborated by the youth together with the policy makers. They include specific recommendations, suggestions, and practical indications for the engagement of young people in politics.
Also, in this case the local organisations and associations will act as mediators, helping to establish strong connections between youngsters and policy makers. With a view to promoting the European dimension of civic engagement and cooperation between young people from different countries but interested in common issues, the different local groups of committed young people will exchange ideas, opinions, political agendas emerged during the months of discussion with local institutions. This exchange which takes place on the dedicated forum / international blog on the project website, with links to the social media pages of the project and of partner organisations. In the last months of the project implementation, the experiences brought by the young people in the international forum are analysed by the partners. From this analysis an development of International Manifesto emerges, addressed to policy makers at national and European level.
Communication, Dissemination and advocacy
- Promoting experiences of political and social participation
- Enhancing connection and exchange among grassroots NGOs at European level
- Establishing a connection between youngsters and policy makers at local and European level
One of the activities included in this Work package is the development of a strategy created by partners. The strategy will be used to provide information and guidance to all partners for constant updates on project implementation to stakeholders and the general public. During this phase the communication team is also established. The communication team consists of a communication officer from each partner organisation. In the first months of the project’s implementation the website will be set up to provide a virtual reference on the project's inspiring ideas, the actors involved and the progression of implementation. The website contains documents and media coverage of the project. It will also host an international blog, i.e. a space dedicated to the international exchange of experiences, proposals, ideas and concerns between participants throughout the course of the project. The website will also contain a performing diary of mobility (logbook), a photo and video gallery, and a section dedicated to policy makers.
Each partner devotes a section of its website to the project, its updates and upcoming events. The project website is accompanied by the creation of accounts on the main social media platforms. Those tools are preparatory to the Journey, therefore they serve to create an initial connection with the territory and to give a sense of involvement to the young people selected for the activities of the previous work packages. While the latter will serve mainly to promote the exploitation, dissemination and sustainability of the project results and to share the experiences with a wide audience.
Quality monitoring and evaluation
Objectives
- Promoting experiences of political and social participation
- Enhancing connection and exchange among grassroots NGOs at European level
- Establishing a connection between youngsters and policy makers at local and European level
Quality Assurance Plan is aimed at monitoring and evaluating the quality of the activities of the project, assessing outcomes and results and providing detailed information and precise indications to all partners for them to carry out such process on two different levels:
a) Internally within the partnership to measure the quality of working relationships, on time and on budget. Monitoring and evaluation tools in this sense include checkpoints and deadlines, milestones, evaluation questionnaires of online and face-to-face meetings.
b) Outside the partnership, to assess the actual results and impacts of the project activities on the final beneficiaries - first and foremost, therefore, youth aged between 18 and 29, then the public bodies, organisations and associations operating in the area and the local community. This level of monitoring is used to understand to what extent the project has contributed to fostering the political commitment of the young people involved, but also to establish whether a concrete and fruitful dialogue has been established between young people themselves and local decision-makers. Throughout the project activities, each local evaluation member is engaged in the constant and punctual collection of data at local level. The baseline research is carried out, through interviews and focus groups with the youth, at two very important moments for the project.