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NaUKMA will co-implement another new big Horizon Europe Project
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- Published on Friday, 13 December 2024 11:09
In 2024-2027 the Professor Volodymyr Poltavets’ School of Social Work at NaUKMA, in cooperation with a group of prominent international partners, will implement a three-year project «Visionary roadmaps: Crafting an Inclusive and Participatory European Democracy with Youth and Communities (Youth for Europe / YOUROPE)» under the support of European Research Executive Agency of the “Horizon Europe” Framework Program.
The YOUROPE Project is the project represented by the strong consortium of prominent international educational and research institutions that is aimed at addressing the traditionally low political participation rates among, especially underrepresented, youth by tapping into their potential and aspirations through innovative approaches.
The democracy is presently challenged by the rise of authoritarianism, political extremism and misinformation, therefore, the decreasing engagement of youth is extremely vital. In response to this challenge, the project aspires to transform European citizenship and democracy by enhancing youth involvement, creating a more inclusive democratic process, and developing policies that align with the different needs, perspectives, and ambitions of European youth, especially those who are currently underrepresented. It is dedicated to reinvigorating European democracy by enhancing inclusivity and participation, particularly focusing on underrepresented youth and their communities.
The result will be achieved by establishing shared democratic spaces and roadmaps through the innovative “Community-Led Research and Action (CLRA)” methodology in combination with quantitative methods. This democratic methodology promotes a reciprocal environment of learning and action within educational institutions, recognizing their significant role in advancing European citizenship and democracy. It also ensures that strategies are grounded in evidence, sustainable, iterative, extensive in scale, and fundamentally participatory. The project will implement this approach in 21 educational institutions, involving 630 young individuals and 6300 community members, connecting them directly with over 30 European policymakers. The project's vision extends far beyond its immediate timeframe, intending to establish a basis for continuous research and action on future democratic scenarios for Europe.
On the importance and role of the project for Ukraine and NaUKMA its lead at NaUKMA and the Head of the Professor Volodymyr Poltavets’ School of Social Work at NaUKMA, Oksana Boyko: “Young people are leaders of ideas, policies and practices aimed at building the future. Building connections between youth and decision makers is especially important now, when there are so many challenges faced. To enable it, we already need to know and to understand the mechanism of engaging wider range of youth populations into developing and making decisions which have impact on both certain communities and for whole country life in general. The project is specifically aimed at developing specific algorithms and ‘road maps’ to ensure inclusive democracy process in practice. And we are convinced that the project outcomes will be extremely useful in Ukrainian context – both during the war and in post-war reconstruction and recovery”.
Project Coordinator — University of Lodz (Poland). Members of the international consortium – Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Coventry University (United Kingdom), University of Augsburg (Germany), The European Wergeland Centre (Norway), Post Bellum, z.ú. (Czech Republic), University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (Czech Republic), Mestenhauser Institute for International Collaboration (Czech Republic), Yozgat Bozok University (Turkey), Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland), University of Kassel (Germany), Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe (Germany), International University of La Rioja (Spain), Spanish Foundation of Human Rights (Spain), Knowledge Innovation Centre (Malta).