TITLE: ALTIUS Network, Act Locally, Think Internationally. Union (S)Elections

FOUNDING PROGRAM: Europe for Citizen 2014-2020

PERIOD: 1st of April 2015 to the 31st of December 2016

PARTNERS:

• Social Youth Development (KANE), Greece
• YouNet, Italy
• International Initiatives for Cooperation, Bulgaria
• Europe House Slavonski Brod, Croatia
• European Association “World-Our Home”, Latvia
• Pistes Solidaires Méditerranée, France

OBJECTIVES:

• To foster capacity-building for youth organisations and structures in order to contribute to civil society development.
• To promote cooperation and the exchange of experience and good practice in the field of youth and non-formal education.
• To contribute to the development of youth policies, youth work and the voluntary sector.
• To develop sustainable partnerships and networks between youth organizations.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

• To improve the quality of non-formal education practices/activities in all partner organisations.
• To share non-formal learning methodology tools and experiences.
• To review, evaluate and exchange good practices between the partner organisations.
• To examine the significance of youth work and volunteerism in each country and how it can directly benefit local communities.
• To assess the role of Civil Society Organisations, especially in the field of Youth, in community development and in the personal development of the young people, as well as in the inclusion of young people of fewer opportunities.
• To directly build the capacity of the staff of the partner organizations, through a training course and job-shadowing activities.
• To foster good collaboration between partner organizations and create a network between these organizations and other organization in the participating countries and not only.

SUMMARY:

More than half century ago, six countries initiated a perpetual process of unification of – a destroyed by the two World Wars – Europe. What started as the European Coal and Steel Community is now the EU of 28 countries.

Despite the impressive expansion, the EU seems to need a lot of effort to achieve the active participation of its citizens in the policy-making process. Indicative of this, is the 42.54% of participation in the recent elections for the EU Parliament. The reality is that EU citizens seem to consider EU as an external factor in their daily life, which in cases of – the so called – euroscepticism is an external factor that suppresses national identity. Consequently, millions of people cannot see themselves as part of the EU, and therefore, they do not feel the need to participate in its decision making processes.

This project focuses on EU citizens, regardless of nationality, race, gender, age, sexual and other orientation, religion or any other possible discriminatory identity. Its main aim is to raise awareness in local communities and provide citizens with space, time and tools for expressing their views on the EU, and help them understand their role and place in the EU. Thus, we will attempt to demonstrate that acting locally and for the common good of their local communities, they can actually be thinking about the good of the wider European community, without needing to reconsider their local traditions. The idea of the project is to motivate EU citizens to think internationally while acting locally, to eventually (s)elect the EU they dream for them and for the future generations.

The project will last 18 months and includes partners from Greece, France, Bulgaria, Latvia, Croatia, and Italy covering a wide European region, both in sense of geography as well as experience within the EU. The methods used will cover a wide range of local and international activities, focusing on research, debates and informational events.