A cross regional predictive models for youth policy shaping - Youth Observers

ongoing

Youth Political participation today is taking place within the context of a shrinking space for civil society, rapid digitalisation, advancement of populist ideologies, increased inequalities, and a rise of global youth movements. Effective ways to encourage and strengthen voices of those young people who are “invisible” and to build bridges between youth voices and authorities need to be better understood and further promoted. In order to build up on the wealth of the knowledge and resources already available and additional ways to integrate the diverse opinions of young citizens into democratic and policymaking processes as for a form of democratic engagement we are proposing – a cross regional predictive models for youth policy shaping “Youth Observer”- Y-Os. There is a powerful intuition lying behind Y-Os, which is that a small group of people can work together constructively on tangible problems. The project Y-Os MODEL aims to create a new model for youth engagement as watchdog group in politics and society named- “Y-Os” with youngsters from Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Italy- contributing in encouraging policy dialogue, cooperation, networking and exchange of best practices, raise the capacities of youth and promote strategic cooperation between youth organizations. Y-Os, will commit to promoting youth policy country results and developing a channel to policymakers. By actively listening to Y-Os opinions and accounting for them in policy formulation, democratic institutions can show respect for the youth’s ability to engage in thoughtful political debate. That is where the idea of Y-Os comes in- a vehicle for influencing youth engagement in politics.