Youth Democracy Academy

Background The "YDA" program was designed and tested to address the needs of young people and educators in Europe. The decision to create the program was based on the findings of the "Why Europe Matters" survey, which revealed that many young Europeans feel excluded from EU decision-making and lack information about the EU in their school curriculum. As a result, the program was created to complement existing citizenship education with non-formal education training modules and a board game to engage young people and explore the concept and values of democracy in an innovative way. The project addressed the needs of two target groups: young people who increased their knowledge about democratic systems and institutions, and educators who were equipped with the necessary skills and tools to conduct the program. The project was carried out transnationally to test and compare results between two different countries, highlighting the opportunities and challenges the program brings to different realities in Europe, aiming to engage young people as the main actors in safeguarding and reshaping society in the pandemic recovery process, recognizing the importance of active citizenship and participation in shaping democracy. Objectives - Bringing the idea of democracy closer to young people by increasing their understanding of its concept, values and instruments through participating in Youth Democracy Academy; - Developing young people’s understanding of decision-making processes at the local, regional, national and European levels and ways in which they can participate in them; - Developing young people’s sense of critical thinking and skills for information analysis and fact-checking. - Re-building trust in democracy by giving the space for young people to have a critical look at the existing democratic system in the EU and their own role in it; - Engaging young people in COVID-19 recovery process through a board game that enables them to explore ways in which their participation can contribute to safeguarding democracy at the local level while contributing to COVID-19 relief; - Supporting existing citizenship education programs in schools with a set of training modules and board games that can help engage young people in a more innovative and youth-friendly manner. Implementation The project implemented several phases, including the design and development of the YDA program, which included a training program, board game, and assessment tool. The second phase involved training school and youth centre staff to implement the program, providing them with the necessary tools and strategies for promoting young people's understanding of the democratic process. The third phase involved testing the program in two different environments in Sweden and Italy, including a baseline survey, program implementation, and end-line survey. The fourth phase focused on improving intellectual outputs based on the testing and comparative analysis of results. Finally, the intellectual outputs, including the Youth Democracy Academy program, were disseminated from September 2022 to February 2023. Moreover, two transnational project meetings took place during the project. The first meeting brought together project coordinators from partner organizations to discuss project details and plan implementation. The second meeting focused on evaluating the YDA program and discussing improvements, dissemination strategy, and overcoming challenges. Achievements The results that the project achieved are: - Youth Democracy Academy program designed and tested in a school and a youth centre; - Results of the Assessment tool (base-line and end-line research before and after the Educate for Democracy intervention) analysed and compared; - 17 Educators and youth workers from the participating school and youth centre trained to implement the full Youth Democracy Academy program; - Board game designed, tested by young people, adapted based on their feedback, fully produced and translated; - 200 young people played the board game during the project; - 48 young people completed the Youth Democracy Academy program in Italy and Sweden; - Youth Democracy Academy program disseminated to other schools and youth centres around Europe to be replicated.