Conference on Youth Participation
Democracy beyond Voting
We presented our new toolkit for youth workers at the Berlin Conference on Youth Participation
More than 100 youth workers and teachers participated in the Conference on Youth Participation, which took place on 29 June at FEZ Berlin. Citizens For Europe cooperated in organising the event as part of our project "Democratic Innovations in Youth Work". We facilitated two interactive workshops to present our toolkit "Democracy beyond voting" - an off- and online toolkit for youth workers and teachers to introduce the topic of democratic innovations to young people.
"What institutional boundaries and barriers do young people encounter when they want to participate? What conditions are needed for successful participation? How can participation and involvement be developed sustainably?" The Conference on Youth Participation addressed these questions with exciting contributions and interactive workshops. Speakers included Prof. Dr. Annedore Prengel, Prof. Dr. Benedikt Sturzenhecker, Franziska Breitfeld and Prof. Dr. Klaus Hurrelmann. The participants exchanged ideas in a World Café.
Our 10 international guests were then guided by Klaas a young organiser of the parallel youth conference and learned how a group of young people single-handedly organised an event with over 200 young people, what challenges they overcame and how they were able to promote youth participation.
A toolkit to introduce democratic innovations to youth
In the afternoon we led two workshops on democratic innovations and how to introduce them in youth work. This was a good opportunity to present our toolkit "Democracy beyond voting: Introducing Democratic Innovations to Youth". From January 2021 to August 2023, DIYW brought together youth workers, teachers, civil society actors, young people, filmmakers, and experts on democratic innovations. We developed, tested, and disseminated different didactic materials to support youth workers and teachers in introducing different democratic innovations to young people. These innovations were developed and implemented to promote democracy and to involve people, especially young people, more actively in shaping policies and decision-making processes that affect their lives.
The toolkit is available in 5 languages. It contains nine activities linked to videos featuring various democratic innovations such as participatory budgeting, citizens' assemblies and digital tools for youth co-decision. Go to our online toolkit here: www.democracyandyouth.eu
The conference was jointly organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Demokratiepädagogik e.V. and Beteiligungsfüchse gemeinnützige GmbH in cooperation with and supported by the Pestalozzi-Froebel-Haus (PFH), Fez-Jugend, Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Landesverband Berlin e.V., the project "Democratic Innovation in Youth Work" - coordinated by Citizens For Europe gUG and the Berliner Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.