Your Voice Matters - Political and Social Participation of Immigrants in Europe

Objectives of the YVM project were - to explore fields and options of political and social participation of immigrants - to build capacity among providers of political education and enable them to...

Objectives of the YVM project were - to explore fields and options of political and social participation of immigrants - to build capacity among providers of political education and enable them to develop new and high quality education offers for internationals on democratic life and values - to pave the way to more active, motivated and better informed new citizens in Europe through tailored political education offers, participative activities, and personal experience The projects overall goal was to make immigrants develop a sense of responsibility for their surroundings and to allow them to experience self-efficacy in their host societies. The active participation of all members of a society is an important precondition for "social cohesion" - which is a long-term aim of the project. As part of this ERASMUS+ project, the partners also added a European goal to the project. Participants of the project and staff of the project partners could collaboratively explore options of political participation on the European level, organising among other things study visits to Brussels and Strasbourg and arranging meetings with political stakeholders like Members of the European Parliament or representatives of European Institutions.

In the context of YVM, activities in the following areas have been carried out: 1. The project partners SGN and vhs BW exchanged experiences on activities to foster political and social participation of immigrants. As a basis, the partners carried out a desk research on local, regional, and national projects and education offers on political participation for immigrants and created a best-practice repository for Sweden (17 practices) and Germany (16 practices). In 6 online and 3 personal meetings (two in Sweden, 1 in Germany), the partners' staff and participants explored the practices, also on-site during visits in the partner regions. 2. During meetings, the question "What's in it for us" was discussed, and, based on the discussions, new training and empowerment offers of political education for immigrants including were oooperatively designed and piloted 3. 2 cross-border trainings and empowerment offers of political education for immigrants were organised and further developed. The curricula of the international trainings are now used in the context of ERASMUS+ KA1 mobilities for adult learners with migration background 4. Participants got insights into politics on a European level during 2 visits to Brussels/Strasbourg.

This European partnership has provided the opportunity for working professionals to share and update their knowledge about immigrants' political and social involvement and on methods to empower newcomers as from their first days in the host country, e g through new types of self-organisation and collaboration, reforming the traditional concept of political education programmes that are often characterised by a linear teacher/expert and student/trainee/client relation. Immigrant participants learnt to add their perspectives to such programmes and 10 participants with immigrant backgrounds were trained as trainers. They are now able to offer political education programmes to other immigrants, also cross-border in English. Moreover, this idea of empowering groups of people with fewer opportunities has been spread throughout Europe in the framework of international meetings and conferences (e g in Brussels, Sweden, and Germany). Lasting intellectual outputs are: a repository of good practices (33 cases available/20 planned), concepts and curricula for three training programmes (Content: Campaignung & Communication, Storytelling, Political Systems in Europe), 10 qualified trainers, about 50 participants expanded knowledge/experiences.