Boosting Active Citizenship among Youth in Small Cities

The fourth meeting of the “FIRST STEP TO EUROPE – BOOSTING ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP AMONG YOUTH IN SMALL CITIES” program took place from April 2 to 6 in Conversano, Italy.

As part of the program, visits were made to NGOs, local institutions and Non-Profit Organizations in Bari, Polignano a Mare and Conversano.

With selected actions designed by the M O H organization of Italy, emphasis was placed on the cooperation of the participating organizations for the education of young people in the ways of civic participation, environmental education which is the cornerstone for the society, environmental awakening of young people, disinformation and fake news. The exchange of good practices strengthened the youth groups of the partner organizations for international exchanges.

The partners Reflections on Europe from Poland, Mobility Opportunities Happening APS from Italy, Innovative Actions in Education, Tourism, Health and Interculturalism KDETYD from Greece and the Academy for Active Youth Association based in Bulgaria, with the implementation of the program, aim to have the active participation of young people, the defense of the quality of living standards based on the principle of freedom, equality and democracy.

The intercultural workshops were particularly important, as young people from different countries, with different language and culture participated. The experiential seminars aimed to develop innovative practices that promote good behavior patterns to create the active citizens of tomorrow.

The result of the project is to build a strong and long-term partnership of organizations dealing with the social inclusion of young people from smaller towns (and therefore to strengthen the potential of their organizations), it was achieved, as with the actions of the program, they encouraged young people to invest in their local communities, participate in non-formal education and spread knowledge about the European Union and shared values.