Democracy and Me

Introduce young people to politics and possibilities of citizen participation in order to increase their participation, not only in the elections, was the aim of the events under the European Youth Week, which took place at the turn of April and May 2019!

As part of this event, a one-day workshops were held with the topic “Democracy and me.” The workshops took place between April 24th and May 10th 2019 in five Czech cities: Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Ostrava, Ústí nad Labem and twice in České Budějovice.

Workshops with lively and actual topics were full of an interactive program and practical activities. After opening at half-past eight in the morning, the students started by trying out what it is like to present convincing arguments and fight for the audience’s voice. Afterwards, in activity aimed at identifying barriers to civic participation, the participants were going to try to find the answer to the question “What happens if it does not happen?”. Later on, for less than an hour, they turned into politicians and created their political party, defend and present its program in fictitious elections and at the end of this activity, they enriched their knowledge with facts about the European Parliament.

After lunch, there came the activity during which participants sat at one table with interesting guests from politics, identify local shortcomings and created a plan to solve the problem. With the help of the above-mentioned guests and under the supervision of experts, students were able to design their own projects in teams during the seminars, which responded to the identified problems in their neighborhood.

The series of workshops finished on 20th May 2019 at the closing conference in Prague, where participants were able to defend their projects before an expert jury. The authors of the most successful projects received interesting prizes and at the same time, they were able to consult their projects directly with project consultants of the Erasmus + Youth Program and the European Solidarity Corps. Young people will be then able to submit their projects in the autumn deadline for both programs.

Places of Workshops:

  • 24. 4. 2019 Hradec Králové
  • 25. 4. 2019 České Budějovice (ICM)
  • 30. 4. 2019 Pardubice
  • 2. 5. 2019 Ostrava
  • 6. 5. 2019 Ústí nad Labem
  • 10. 5. 2019 České Budějovice (KÚ JČK)

Program:
8:30 Opening
9:15 Citizen participation
10:15 What happens if it does not happen?
11:00 Stand for the election
12:30 Lunch
13:00 Discussion with guests about local shortcomings and working on projects
15:30 Closing (and if possible visit of regional office)

 

Workshops were prepared by the Centre for International Cooperation in Education (DZS), a semi-budgetary organisation, established by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with EUTIS, o.p.s.

The preparation of workshops in the regions involved the following partners:

News about the project

Young people will present their innovative projects in Prague! (May 17, 2019)

European Youth Week celebrated its finale – we know the most successful student projects of the “Democracy and Me” workshops! (May 21, 2019)

 

Photo-gallery from the final conference, European House, Prague, 20. 5. 2019

Photo-gallery from workshops

Hradec Králové, 24. 4. 2019

 

České Budějovice, 25. 4. 2019

 

Pardubice, 30. 4. 2019

 

Ostrava, 2. 5. 2019

Ústí nad Labem, 6. 5. 2019

České Budějovice, 10. 5. 2019