Following the highs of the encouraging participation results in the 2019 European elections; the disruption of COVID-19 and its consequent effects on society has stalled the momentum of youth participation in Europe. Sadly, the lows brought about by the crisis will have damaging effects on young people’s empowerment, engagement, and connection to civic initiatives. The Co-Operation Youth Vote project seeks to encourage and strengthen youth participation through education and communication actions at a time where we need it most. As the 2019 European elections have shown, there exists an inextricable link between information and participation. Taking this into account, the project will build on a strong coalition of youth-led civil society organisations focusing on the following target group: first-time voters and young abstainers.
1. Desk research and survey: challenges of and motivations for participation and engagement with EU politics (with a focus on the upcoming EU Parliament elections of 2024) which will support the development of a Voting Toolbok with best practices to inform and mobilise European youth around the European Parliament Elections 2024.
2. Training and capacity building for young people to foster political engagement and participation within their communities based on the Voting Toolbox
3. Dissemination of informative materials through various activities, both in person and online.
4. Networking - create an informal alliance of youth orgs to work towards the goal of increasing informed youth participation in the EP elections 2024.
This project is led by JEF EUROPE in partnership with JEF Latvia, JEF Italy, JEF Hungary, Lifelong Learning Platform, Young Educators (Portugal) and OBESSU.