E-democracy: connecting European Youth and Politics through Digital Tools

‘E-democracy: Connecting youth and politics through digital tools’ focuses on the increasing lack of connections with society, more specifically politics, especially in the field of youth. The most recent European Parliamentary election shows a historically low turnout among young voters, but national elections in the Council of Europe members have also seen a decreasing youth turnout.

We believe that a more united Europe, as JEF envisions, is only possible if everybody’s voice is heard in society, especially the voice of the youth, which is future of Europe and a beacon of creativity and progressiveness.

Through the different activities that are part of this plan we aim at raising awareness and tackle these problems. Youth attending our activities will be in charge of that: throughout the year they will build knowledge and develop appropriate competences in order to fight for strong participation of youth in European society and to influence politics towards that goal. 2017 work plan general aim is to develop skills, knowledge and competences about digital democracy and digital participation among participants and further through campaigns and dissemination.

[ Meet the Project Team ]

Specific objectives are:

  • to develop skills, knowledge and competences about digital democracy;
  • give participants the tools to promote and improve the condition for youth e-participation in their local environment;
  • raise the opportunities for e-participation for young people in local environments.

To achieve these goals, five activities have been developed and will be implemented in the sequence as indicated below:

  1. “Discovering civic-tech” – 1-5 February 2017 Edinburgh, Scotland
  2. “Shaking politics: civic-tech for the political sphere” – 26 30 April 2017, Oslo, Norway
  3. “Reconnect: synergy between local action and politics” – 5-9 July 2017 Valletta, Malta
  4. “Digital Youth- what’s ahead of us?” – October 2017, Brussels
  5. “Loading digital democracy: local action” – July to December 2017