Citizen Z: Strengthening the participation of young citizens in democratic and civic life

ended

"The 'Citizen Z' project aims to respond to the EC priorities outlined in the European Democracy Action Plan and the EU Citizenship Report 2020, by enhancing civic engagement and democratic participation of EU citizens, in particular youth. The project applies deliberative methods, aiming both at stimulating interest in civic/political life among young people and involving them in the decision-making process. The project is in line with the position supported by the European Committee of the Regions, which in 2019 encouraged a 'cultural change' towards experimenting with deliberative democracy tools as developed at the local level (European Committee of the Regions, Putting citizens at the Centre of the EU agenda), as the most authentic democratic participation originates in the context closest to the citizen. The likelihood that participants from the local community are not interested in European issues is overridden by the use of a ""glocalisation"" methodology which allows participants to discuss European issues from a local perspective while contextualising local issues in the European setting. Special attention will be devoted to the intersectionality principle and those groups that are often affected by low levels of participation: migrants, disadvantaged communities, girls and women. The work envisaged in the preliminary stages (e.g. field survey) will serve to include people belonging to the above-mentioned groups in the deliberation process. A multi-stakeholder approach will be implemented to provide a space for genuine interaction between the different parties, and will thus supply impartial and relevant conclusions to policy-makers. The results will be unique as the project places deliberative processes within an innovative multi-territorial approach, based on the spillover effect between civic participation at the local and European levels. They will be shared with the wider public in a methodological guide, recommendations, findings and policy paper. "