Democracy In Crisis

Erasmus+: KA3 Support For Policy Reform 

Place: Cyprus

Dates: 16/03/2016 - 21/03/2016

This project was initially designed as a youth exchanged under the youth in action program when the partners identified how young people have lost hope in the EU democratic system. We have changed this project to be a KA3 project to allow young people to meet with policy makers and to discuss how young people can be more active in policy reform in their countries and in the EU. Many young people have lost hope in the democratic system. We believe that the main reason for this is that they believe that they are insignificant in the EU and that their voice is not heard. Our project will simulate the democratic process and will allow the youth to interact with other youth to discuss common problems and to find solutions for these problems and then to take these problems to policy makers. The project will simulate the democratic process and we hope that our results will be seen by policy makers in our own countries after the project. We will question the EU and how it represents each and every citizen. Are we all truly equal in the EU? Are small countries that contribute less to the economic side of the EU simply pawns or is our voice heard? We will allow our youth to present these questions and many more so that we can discuss our role in the EU and the obligations we have as EU citizens, but we will also see how the EUs obligations towards us are met.

During the project we will meet with various policy makers to see how young people can be more involved in policy reform and also understand how policy makers perceive youth in each country. The participants will meet with policy makers in their countries to discuss pressing issues youth are facing and during the project activity we will invite various policy makers from Cyprus to present our findings, our problems and also suggestions for possible solutions to youth problems.

The objective of the project is to give young people the opportunity to understand the EU democratic system better and also understand their role on the EU, their obligations and the benefits and advantages they have as EU citizens. They will also learn about how policy reform is made and how they can contribute towards policy reform and be more active in their communities and in the EU.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission (Erasmus + Programme).

This publication article reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.