Young people represent almost one-third of Europe’s population but are generally not interested in politics or decision-making processes. Statistics depict that youth apathy is a multi-faceted issue influenced by various social, cultural and personal factors. Additionally, young people find the policy-making processes monotonous and too challenging, thus making youth not want to directly get involved in it or seek alternative forms of engagement. Social media provides an avenue to raise awareness on topics important to young people and mobilise support for causes that directly affect their lives. To address these issues, the EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027) sets 11 Youth Goals that focus on three core areas of action: Engage, Connect, Empower and stimulate more inclusive societies with the active involvement of young people.
Reports indicate that, currently, there are more than 5 billion active social media users – the highest number ever reached. Young people aged 16-24 spend the most time online (more than 7 hours daily), followed by those aged 25-34. Young people spend most of their time on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, which highlights the importance of video content as an effective tool to communicate information and engage users (esp. young individuals). On the other hand, storytelling has numerous positive effects – it develops cultural and moral understanding, provokes curiosity, evokes emotions, and builds focus and listening skills.
The youth exchange Young Visionaries aims to promote active youth engagement through the use of emerging technologies, such as digital storytelling and video-interviewing to collect the opinions and views of young people on youth participation and engagement in community processes. The project will implement civil and non-formal activities and learning to highlight the importance of young people’s voices. Through the use of digital storytelling and interviews, the participants will collect stories from peers and explore and promote the EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027), particularly YG #1 Connecting EU with Youth, YG #3 Inclusive Societies, YG #9 Space and Participation for All. Additionally, the youth exchange will explore the views and opinions of young people from across Europe to raise awareness of the importance of active participation and youth engagement in matters that truly interest them. The collected interviews by young people will be used to create a youth diary with the messages and views of the young participants and other young people they will interview.
The specific objectives of the project are:
● To raise awareness of the importance of youth participation and stimulate young people’s involvement in decision-making processes
● To connect, engage and empower young people to be active citizens and to strengthen democratic processes across Europe
● To promote the EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027) through digital storytelling and the collection of video-interviews
● To raise digital skills and new knowledge on storytelling and interviewing
● To raise new knowledge and skills on active participation, activism and campaigning
● To raise awareness of the common EU values and provide ways to promote them and safeguard them
Venue: Varna, Bulgaria
Duration: 18-24 September 2024
Countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Portugal
Participants: 24 young people
Infopack is available here.
Apply to September 1st: Registration for Bulgarian participants
The project is funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ program.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.