Ways to get involved?

Ways to get involved?

“But what does an active citizen do?”, you may be asking. Well, there are some ways for a regular citizen to become an active one.

First, it should be emphasised that there are different geographical participation levels where you can get involved:

1. Some people choose to get involved in issues or causes that directly affect their lives at the local level. This kind of involvement in the life of one's community is very important to bring some problems and issues that are rather specific to a community to the spotlight. Acting on local issues may motivate more people to join a cause because the issue may be closer to their daily lives.

2. At the regional or national level, it looks at issues that concern a broader spectrum of people and can include putting pressure on the national government to discuss a current issue.

3. At the international level we can encounter issues such as environmental sustainability, fair trade and others that affect people's lives in many countries or even the planet as a whole.

Once you have determined the participation geographycal level you want to get involved in, there are many ways to get involved. Find a cause you are interested in, start to look around you in order to notice issues or things that could be improved in your community, country or globally. 

Then you should think on what kind involvement and impact do you want to have. Here you can have an idea of the type of impact you can have:

Then, we encourage you to find a association, community, or political organization that supports the same values and works for the cause you desire to promote. Examples might be getting involved in a non-governmental organisation, a workers union, a residents associations, advisory groups, volunteering, raising money for causes, political movement, political party, joining a social movement, protesting with organised groups and more. There are tons of groups and causes just waiting for people to be involved in.

After you define what interests you, try to implement the following features in your projects in order to become more successful: 

• address an important need or issue, 

• determine achievable outcomes, 

• find adequate resources, 

• use input by the community, 

• create space to reflect and celebrate achievements, 

• and make various forms of responsible action.

Last but not least, we would like to emphasize that although sometimes not conceptualized within active citizenship, traditional forms of political participation are also an important tool to achieve change. They are an effective way to have an impact in your community, or on a national or international level. Joining a party yourself, or even running for a position in office it is a way to achieve the change that you would like to see. 

Everyone in the EU can vote by the age of 18 (16 in Austria) and while your vote may feel like it would not have much impact, your voice counts a lot, especially if it is between two leading parties. Only imagine the great power parties have in your daily life and on an international level if they win the election only by a few points. Voting also relativizes the influence of voters in preference of populist parties and diminishes the power of populist groups, which always participate disproportionately in elections. Voting is thus also a stratagem to combat them. So don't forget to use your voice in the next elections.

To join a party, you have to decide which one to join. Have a look at the party's history, program and see which values and goals best reflect your own beliefs. Usually, to be part of a party you nowadays have to go through a simple online registration and admission process and then you can determine the level of involvement, the time and effort you would like to put in. Even if you can only vote and run for office at 18, some parties have youth sections that allow you to enroll at the age of 14.

Not conviced? Try to remmember how much some bad political decision impact your daily life, and how having someone different in that decison making position can improve your and your community life.

Difficulties on the way of involvement

Even though you might be eager to become an active citizen, you might face some challenges on the way and it is important to acknowledge that the way to become active is not the same or equally easy for everyone. 

An Eurostat survey about the level of active citizenship in Europe found that barriers to becoming an active citizen can be lower education levels and lower income, which might be explained by long working hours and long commuting distance that can keep people from participating in society. 

As citizens in a society we may often feel powerless in the face of large scale and complex societal issues. Being an active citizen means to gain confidence in your ability to promote change, but also to negotiate and influence decisions. In the past it was active citizenship in the form of collective action that gave marginalised social groups a voice and fostered positive change in society. So, even if you encounter difficulties, do not despair, together with your fellow active citizens you can build resources to overcome any challenges.