UCYVROK - Uniting for Citizenship and Participation
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The UCYVROK - Uniting for Citizenship and Participation project theme was the empowerment of young people from less privileged groups and the promotion of their increased participation in the Youth in Action programme. The application was written by Reinhard Eckert while he was an intern at Future Worlds Center and it was implemented under the leadership of Larry Fergeson who served as its Coordinator when Reinhard left.
The general aim of the project is to promote and foster the empowerment - and participation in the Youth in Action programme - of young people from less privileged groups, e.g. ethnic or religious minorities, youth from rural areas, socially disadvantaged families or other groups confronted with prejudices, discrimination or social exclusion such as disabled or LGBT youth.
The project brought together NGOs that are active in youth work on an international and European level and which have a rich experience in developing and implementing projects in the context of the Youth, Youth in Action and Euromed Youth Programme and/or are striving to increasingly work with the Youth in Action programme. “UCYVROK” is aiming to provide a framework for these organisations in which they can exchange and pool their experiences and project deliverables from various projects they have developed or they are about to implement, especially youth exchanges, trainings, seminars, youth initiatives and youth democracy projects. It will help to establish links between projects and activities tackling similar issues and striving to overcome similar obstacles and arrange an organised framework for the valorisation, dissemination and exploitation of the results and achievements of those projects.
It meets the following objectives of YiA:
- to promote young people’s active citizenship
- to develop solidarity and promote tolerance among young people
- to foster mutual understanding between young people in different countries to promote European cooperation in the youth field.
Methodology
The special momentum of our project proposal was the SDDP methodology which was applied and which generated new ideas and strategies to promote the rights, opportunities and knowledge of less privileged youth and their participation in the Youth in Action programme. The approach promotes focused communication among the participants in the design process and their ownership of and commitment in the outcome. It is designed to prevent groups from prematurely focusing on decisions before they have adequately defined the situation, and conceptualize alternatives.
Objectives
- Create a platform for the exchange of expertise, materials and best practices of youth organisations working with the concepts of cultural diversity, human rights, empowerment, social inclusion and active citizenship
- Actively engage youth organisations in developing
a.) a Joint Vision of a European youth environment based on those concepts b.) a Joint Action Plan towards an increased participation of less privileged youth in European youth projects and activities
Target Groups
- Youth organisations in 12 EU countries
- Young people involved in youth projects
- Youth workers and trainers
- Youth policy makers
Expected results
- Web-based portal and website;
- Joint Action Plans and Vision Maps for the empowerment and inclusion of less privileged youth;
- Joint Declaration on Citizenship and Participation, submitted to local, regional, national and EU authorities;
- CD-ROM and Booklet with best practices, resources and material gathered by all partners.
Conference
European Conference on Youth Inclusion and Youth Participation
Survey
SDDPs
The European Structured Dialogue Workshops explored challenges of youth participation in European activities, encouraged participants to jointly develop characteristics of an ideal society that is culturally diverse and inclusive, and to identify the obstacles that we face to reach this ideal European society.
