A group of young citizens and politicians from Palermo recently experimented new spaces for political participation thanks to “We all Count Europe” project.
The project has initiated in 2016 a pilot experience in five European cities, including Palermo, foreseeing meetings with politicians and young people in order to discuss about active participation in democratic life and get to know the on-line plat Kuorum.org: the social network dedicated to politics that reduces the distance between citizens and policy makers.
Following the first meetings, both politicians and citizens created their personal profile on the platform. In addition two politicians published their project proposals.
In occasion of the third event, which was held the 23th of September 2016 at Moltivolti, in Palermo, policy makers and young people discussed the concrete proposals for Palermo, previously published on Kuorum.org, starting a debate that will continue on-line.
During the join event several activities took place:
- presentation of European commission objectives in the field of youth participation in democratic life;
- introduction to the e-participation tool Kuorum.org;
- presentation of the political proposals previously published on kuorum.org by the politicians who have joined the initiative;
- debate on proposals facilitated through the use of non-formal methods.
Both young people and politicians judged positively the experience together with the possibility offered by the project to discuss concrete proposals on-line and off line. This exchange generated several and unexpected points of reflection to improve the proposals. The meeting was also attended by the University of Constance, We all count Europe project coordinator and responsible of the evaluation of the experience in terms of political efficacy. The results of this first experience will be used to formulate recommendations in order to improve the second experience that will take place in 2017.
Create your profile in kuorum.org, read and comment the political projects published by the policy makers from Palermo.
The project is co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme – Key Action 3 Support for Policy Reform.
For further information about the project contact: caterina.impastato@cesie.org
