Working group on promoting access to e-participation: Nicky (UK/Holland/Sudan), Radu (Romania), Federico (Italy), and Claire (Belgium/France).

The recommendations below are aimed at making e-participation more important in generating change in the community. They are the result of the working group on “promoting access to e-participation” organized within the Expert Seminar New Ways of Participation in Multicultural Youth Work from Budapest, Council of Europe Youth Center, during June 14-18 2010. Good working time with Nicky, Federico and Claire .

Recommendations to Youth organizations. They should:

• Empower, develop and promote the use of e-participation tools such as social networks, interactive platforms, audio-video materials, to their members. These tools should be structured and developed into a strategy to approach disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Combine the e-participation tools with regular face-to-face meetings.
• Organize trainings and workshops to develop e-participation skills.
• Engage authorities and civil society representatives in virtual meetings in order to shorten the distance between the two sides and generate a structured dialogue.
• Create e-learning opportunities for young people, adjusted to the specific problems of their disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Develop e-youth work to prevent dangers on the web, by training courses and exchanges of good practices.
• Network better between themselves to exchange good practices, success stories and tools of participation and e-participation.

Recommendations to Researchers. They should:

• Create evaluation tools to monitor the effectiveness of e-participation activities in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Better identify and explain the status-quo or the problems in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Implement specific participatory endeavors to young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Identify the disadvantaged neighborhoods and shape their profiles.

Recommendations to Policy makers (local, regional and national authorities). They should:

• Develop free internet coverage in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
• Develop and encourage structural dialogue so that at least once a month they are engaged in participation or e-participation activities.
• Support the work of youth organizations by providing materials, spaces and funding opportunities to them.
• Be more engaged in partnership agreements with NGOs and the private sector to attract more resources to the local community.
• Offer recognition to the participation and e-participation activities that make a difference in the community.
• Use grants/vouchers/other types of support to help young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods to acquire technological equipment.
• Train policy makers in the benefits of e-participation opportunities in their line of work.
• Ensure the presence of at least one youth centre adequately equipped with computers and other materials necessary for e-participation, in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• Have user- and youth-friendly websites.
• Have multiple language support of the websites of public authorities in multi-ethnic neighborhoods.

Recommendations to European institutions. They should:

• Encourage all of the member states to develop the job of youth worker.
• Develop the profile of e-youth work.
• Act as the driving force to implement policy change at a high European level.
• Organize and support training courses at European level for e-youth work. They could be long-term and sustainable, followed-up by e-platforms.
• CoE recommend the members of CLRAE to encourage and be more involved in e-participation activities in their neighborhoods.
• CoE use CLRAE to share good practices of e-participation as a way to solve or better address community problems.
• The European Commission could allocate more resources to help disadvantaged communities use e-participation tools.
• European institutions could make participation in disadvantaged neighborhoods a priority in their line of action.
• European Commission should make a more effective promotion of the e-consultations on various topics when working on draft papers.

More details can be found on ENTER project website.

• To explore the concepts of youth participation and e-participation.
• To explore current trends of e-participation in multicultural youth work.
• To explore the challenges of inclusive multicultural youth work and how e-participation can be a tool to overcome these.
• To analyze the motivation of young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods for e-participation, as well as the effects of e-participation on their social inclusion and democratic participation.
• To exchange experiences and good practices of e-participation in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• To explore ways of overcoming digital divide and ensuring that e-participation is democratic, inclusive, meaningful and empowering for young people.
• To make recommendations on promoting  e-participation as a mean to support the access to social rights for young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Here’s a presentation of the results of a working group on challenges to youth participation and e-participation:

There are some good research documents that the Council of Europe has issued so far. They include the “Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life,” the manual “Have your say!” which is related to the implementation of the Charter with young people, the report of the seminar “New ways of participation based on information technologies” organised by the DYS in 2009 where SMART Method of Public Policy is also mentioned, and the Agenda 2020. The seminar is organized under the framework of ENTER project on access to social rights for young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods.

And here are some relevant photos:

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• Either approve the response and thus close the problem’s page.
• Or disapprove the response. In this case he/she will state the reasons and the participation process is started again.

The page of a closed problem on www.public-policies.eu

• Red: the problem has been approved by an administrator.
• Orange: the problem has received at least one solution.
• Yellow: the project partners have published a policy paper.
• Light green: the target institution has issued a response.
• Dark green: the problem poster is satisfied with the answer or the action of the target institution.

The lower part of the problem’s page contains the form that allows citizens to publish their solutions to the problem of public concern in question.

Tip: Once you publish a problem, use the “share” widget to promote your problem in order to get as many solutions as possible.

The page of a problem of public concern, on www.public-policies.eu

The first step is to raise a problem of European public concern, click-ing on the “Raise a problem” link:

Raise a problem of European public concern

Then, fill out the “Raise a problem of public concern” link. Instructions are on the right-hand side of the online form:

Raise a problem of European public concern

Democracy Video Challenge 2010

The two-minute clip “Democracy is fulfilling dreams” has been officially accepted for competition in the Democracy Video Challenge 2010 and is up for Round 1.  It is also now live on the contest page, at http://www.youtube.com/democracychallenge. Here is what follows next (Source: the rules of the contest):

Round 1: Contest Sponsors will evaluate Video Submissions at the country level. Three videos from each country will be nominated to the semifinalist pool. Round 1 judging will be completed on or about March 31, 2010.

Round 2: An independent panel of judges comprised of film experts and democracy and youth organizations will evaluate the semifinalists. They will choose three finalists from each of the six world geographic regions as defined by the U.S. Department of State (Western Hemisphere, East Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Near East, South & Central Asia) and three anonymous finalists for a total of twenty-one finalists, which will be revealed on the Contest site (www.youtube.com/democracychallenge) on or about May 15, 2010.

Round 3: The twenty-one finalist Video Submissions will be posted on the Contest site in mid-May 2010, and the general public will have until 11:59:59 GMT, June15, 2010 to vote (one vote per person per day) for their favorite videos using YouTube’s rating system, based on the criteria set forth above. One grand prize winner from each of the six world geographic regions, as defined by the U.S. Department of State, and one anonymous winner will be selected on or around June 18, 2010.

The winner could be you!

Well, in case you missed my clip, here it is again :):

This is a wonderful project idea made by a consortium of organizations: the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Youth Foundation, NBC Universal, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Motion Picture Association of America, New York University, the Recording Industry Association of America, Tisch School of the Arts, TakingITGlobal, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, and the U.S. Department of State. The official website of the project is http://www.videochallenge.america.gov/

Public Policies Made by Citizens (Europe)

This post is indeed an invitation to anybody interested in the field of “participative democracy.” I am developing the citizen engagement platform “public policies made by citizens” together with partners from Romania, Italy, France and Greece. We managed to win a grant from the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme. My first important deadline for this year is to have it ready by February 1. So, here’s what I invite you to do:

1. First, choose any problem of European concern and make sure you know how to explain it.
2. Then, go to www.public-policies.eu and click on the “Raise a problem” link (let me know if it is easy to find).
3. In the next step, fill out the form, click “Add” and let me know if it is reasonably easy to publish the problem.
4. Once the problem is approved by me, you will receive an email. Please, let me know if you receive that email and if you like it.
5. Visit the page of the problem and let me know if it has a coherent layout, which is easy to understand and use.

Now, start doing some outreach using the “SHARE” widget, to have friends or just other people post solutions to your problem, filling in the online form from the problem’s page.

This would be all for the moment. The entire method of participation is explained in the menu, under “SMART Method of Public Policy” at www.public-policies.eu.

Problem: Professionals or technocrats in general and young people in particular, do not have enough resources to run for an elected office. Voters do not have access to a comprehensive resource that offers accurate information to make a more informed decision when choosing who to vote.

Goals: Increase the number of candidates to elected offices that are technocrats, young, or with fewer opportunities. Offer a cheap, trusted and comprehensive tool in the form of the website www.candidez.ro that will be used to promote candidates for elected offices.

Key objectives:

• Establish the managing partnership.
• Create the website www.Candidez.ro.
• Organize a publicity campaign.

Expected impact: More young people, professionals and technocrats will run for offices. People in Romania will make more informed decisions when going to vote. More people will go to vote in order to refresh the political environment.

Wouldn’t it be great to have access to a comprehensive and accurate method to evaluate the candidates who run for elected offices in one place? This is the presentation that I made in front of the Aspen Board:

The CEI was established in 1989 as an intergovernmental forum for political, economic and cultural co-operation among its Member States. It is composed of 18 Member States: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine (Source: www.ceinet.org).

Approximately 60 participants from 18 countries attended the Forum and worked together on a Declaration that tackles needs, obstacles and demands concerning youth access on labor markets. It was adopted in unanimity and is aimed at being considered by the heads of state and government from the member countries at their regular meetings. Here are some demands:

• Policy makers should work together with the young people, consult them and create youth and youth-related policies WITH them and FOR them.
• To improve the quality of services of the local and national employment assistance offices in order to offer flexible and rapid expert evaluation and counseling to young people, as support for their studies, further studies and career decisions.
• To develop national employment programs that specifically focus on young jobseekers, paying attention to those with a low level of education. The aim is to tackle youth unemployment with a combination of training, coaching and work experience.
• To acknowledge the importance of a cross sectorial approach and to implement a multi-level network cooperation between education, youth, labor and other administrative sectors.
• Input of all stakeholders should be taken into account when developing curricula.
• Policy makers should introduce and enhance measures supporting employment of young people (e.g.: tax reductions, subsidies for companies that hire graduates etc.)
• To recognize and support volunteering and non-formal education.
• To encourage public-private partnerships in the process of professional youth training.
• To create a legal framework which regulates the possibility for young people to do internships in public institutions or private companies.
• There should be fiscal and other incentives for young people opening and developing their own businesses.
• To develop a system of monitoring and prognosis of the regional labor market (including information about vacancies, market dynamics, professional re-qualification possibilities, legislation, jobs classification etc).
• To take specific actions focused on the revival of economically disfavored areas and to stimulate young people living in rural areas to remain in the region and develop agricultural activities.
• To stimulate international work mobility within the CEI region for the young people, for example by creating and developing a “Work and Travel” type system at the level of the CEI member states.
• To take special measures concerning the integration on labor market of disadvantaged youth (footnote with definition of disadvantaged youth).
• To develop a network of university career centres, to provide the connection between the education and the job market.
• CEI member states should have a continuous dialogue on the above mentioned issues and turn to peer learning and best practice examples for finding the best ways to deal with them.

The full declaration can be downloaded from http://www.mts.gov.ro/stire/Declaratia_finala_a_Forumului_de_Tineret_al_Initiativei_Central_Europene.

More video clips are available here.

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