ERASMUS+ 2019-1-NO01-KA229-060160

The three-year partnership project "Learning Democracy and Civic Engagement" brings together 4 partner organizations - high schools from Norway, The Czech Republic, Estonia, and Spain. This project aimed to help the youth be conscious of the value of democracy and be responsible for it. The sustainability of democratic principles is currently an essential pan-European theme. When populism and extremism are growing, it is necessary to look for specific or concrete inspiration that can be used in schooling to promote the democratic thinking of young people.

In our network of 4 partner schools from 4 European countries, we have chosen 4 key/relevant project topics related to the project objectives:

1. European Youth Parliament (NO)

2. Participatory Budgeting (CZ)

3. Civil Initiative (EE)

4. Equal Opportunities, Women's Rights (ES)

Each school in the partnership was responsible for just one topic and was the coordinator of one short-term exchange of groups of pupils or training activity.

The project aimed to:

• strengthen knowledge about democratic processes,

• teach the youth a methodology that gives a practical approach and experience in making resolutions as a working tool and democracy in practice,

• develop civic and political engagement,

• make arguments, discussions, and negotiations for cultural and social diversities,

• write case documents which form the fundamental element for making decisions and resolutions,

• apply for improvements in the school, town, or local environment,

• gain knowledge and experience about democracy and cultural heritage in other European countries,

• gain an understanding of voluntary and charity campaigns,

• cooperate in mixed international teams.

Relevant outcomes of the project are:

• resolutions made during committee work,

• 4 mini-project applications based on participatory budgeting,

• 4 proposals on how to start the specific civil initiative,

• presentations based on the topic of a list of fundamental women's rights seen from a different point of view,

• ECVET certificates for the participants of student workshops,

• project website (Google Web and eTwinning) with the activities carried out, photos, videos, and mentioned project outputs.

Several groups of participants were taking part:

• Students from the age of 15-18 attend upper secondary school. They participated in all project activities, starting with preparatory work, next virtual or remote cooperation, and ending with 4 training activities.

• Teachers of social sciences, languages, and cultural studies had to learn and use the European Youth Parliament methodology and implement it in their subjects.

• Regarding several project topics, we have established a collaboration with several local expert groups:

- The European Youth Parliament (EYP),

- Local representatives of the city councils,

- Civil servants from the city government,

- Regional voluntary organizations.

The sustainability of the project results is a vital aspect of this project.

• The knowledge of the European Youth Parliament Methodology will be shared among the teachers of involved schools and will be used in the lessons of social science and languages.

• The knowledge and competencies of participatory budgeting will be the starting point for the long-term continuation of cooperation between the schools and local authorities.

• All participating schools strive to amend curricula concerning acquired skills and competencies in the four subtopics of this project: European Youth Parliament, Participatory Budgeting, Civil Initiative, and Equal Opportunities, Women's Rights.

• The involvement of local and regional external expert groups becomes the starting point for long-term cooperation with the civic-activity organizations.

• Using eTwinning virtual space should standardize effective communication methods.