Confrontation among individuals is for a variety of reasons extremely important. First, the need for sociability is part of human nature. Then, it can create an exchange between people, and it can stimulate younger generations to want to participate in the political life of society.
Building spaces for discussion and moments of aggregation has always been close to AP8 – Active8 & Particip8‘s heart: an important step toward the ultimate achievement of its goal of promoting civic engagement among the younger generation. While online, the moments of sharing created within the project have been many and equally important.
Moreover, in recent months AP8 has always put young people first, letting them voice their desires. Very often in fact, especially in some national contexts, the younger generation complains about a lack of attention from politics to the issues they care about, thus finding themselves excluded from political debate. This phenomenon creates a disaffection toward politics and little participation in elections.
That’s why we designed the Online Public Forums: two forums organized in Athens and Palermo by the
ACP Greece partners and by CESIE. Held online to allow as many people as possible to participate, they involved young people not only from Greece and Italy, but also from Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Germany and Scandinavian countries, among others. During these moments of discussion, participants sought to answer some important questions:
- What does it mean to be active citizens? What can each of us do on a daily basis to define ourselves
- as active citizens?
- Climate change: what is man’s role? What can institutions – national, European, international – do?
- What does it mean to be a European citizen? What are the values that unite us?
Now, the project’s last major event is the European Parliament simulation: an opportunity open to high school and college students and educators.
The event will be held online on October 10, 2023 at 11 a.m. and will be organized by CESIE, ACP and ESN. For more information, write to Martina Romano: martina.romano@cesie.org – or Enrico Casacchia: enrico.casacchia@cesie.org.
About the project
AP8 – Active8 & Particip8 is a project financed by Erasmus+ programme – European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), CERV-2022-CITIZENS-CIV, Citizens’ engagement and participation strand.
Partners
- CESIE (Italy, coordinator)
- ERASMUS STUDENT NETWORK (ESN) Dubrovnik (Croatia)
- ACTIVE CITIZENS PARTNERSHIP (Greece)
For further information
Read more about AP8, visit the web page https://a8p8.eu/ and follow us on Facebook.
Contact Giuseppe La Farina: giuseppe.lafarina@cesie.org.