Idea - C

The project IDEA-C was an EU funded project aiming to restore electoral faith among EU citizens and to promote the democratic engagement and civic participation. It took part of “Measure Networks of Towns” within the Europe for Citizens Programme.

The project IDEA-C aimed to restore electoral faith among EU citizens and to promote the democratic engagement and civic participation. It took part of “Measure Networks of Towns” within the Europe for Citizens Programme.

The project was conceived considering the alarmingly low turnout rate in EU elections in some countries where voting is not compulsory and the democratic deficit it causes across Europe.

IDEA- C addressed the four main causes for low electoral participation found in collaboration with the project partners:

– lack of interest and of knowledge of the democratic workings of the EU

– mistrust towards EU institutions

-lack of sense of belonging to Europe.

IDEA-C will consisted of 13 local workshops organised from each partner

organization + 4 International events

The main contractor of the project was the Municipality of Geraci Siculo (Province of Palermo, Italy).

Thirteen partners took part in the project, including the network Mediter.

The first international workshop of the project IDEA- C “Inter-cultural Dimension for European Active Citizenship” was held in Geraci Siculo (Palermo province, Italy) from the 13th to the 16th of November 2014.

The two-days-event was composed by a kick-off meeting and an event open to public audience.

The discussion was about the importance of civic participation at EU level; the motivational issue as to why electors should engage themselves; the concept of democracy; the way how politics affects our everyday life; the misconception that it is useless to go to the polls.

The third international workshop was organized in Bremen, Germany on 17 July 2015

The event was organized by M2C Institut für angewandte Medienforschung at the City University of Applied Sciences Bremen.

Participation and active citizenship were the central themes of the European symposium. More than 30 local and European experts from academia, politics, business and culture discussed together with 95 representatives of the focus groups new perspectives for democracy and participation in Europe and methods for promoting active citizenship.

Together they aimed to provide a greater knowledge and appreciation of democracy in Europe and to promote active citizenship, especially among young people in Europe. For this purpose, were in the last 6 months events implemented with pupils, students and young creatives in which the M2C Institute with the City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, the Comprehensive School Bremen-Center, the ZwischenZeitZentrale Bremen and the Gotham Innovation Greenhouse cooperated.

It was about the joint exploration and trying out innovative, target group-oriented methods of participation and active citizens involvement together with representatives of these three target groups. The focus was very quickly onto the digital media based participation in democracy, design and decision-making processes as well as new forms of cultural expression of an active, young and self-determined citizenship in Europe. In the Innovation Zone of the symposium such ideas and prototypes will be presented and exchanged. Other partners in the Bremer symposium were the German National Urban Development initiative koopstadt Bremen-Leipzig-Nuremberg at the Senator for Environment, Construction and Transport as well as the Center for Intercultural Management in Bremen that organize together Mercedes-Benz the Bremen Diversity Award. The Bremer symposium ends at the Bremen citizens festival for cultural diversity “Breminale”.

Agenda of the symposium

The vent started at 10 am with an opening and introduction about “IDEA-C meeting 3 in Bremen” by prof. Dr. Helmut Eirund, Dean of Faculty, Scientific Director of M2C Institute and Martin Koplin, Director of M2C Institute

At 10,15 am there was the “Knowledge Fair: Participative digital tools, participation projects, active kids, gamed participation, PS2, Betaville”

At 1 pm there were several “Lightning Talk” about some topics: “Participation as democratic tool” by Martin Koplin, Director of M2C Institutem; “Young people as urbanizers” by Thomas Lecke-Lopatta, Member of the Senator (State Ministry) for Environment, Construction, Transport and Europe, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen; “PS2 Project – Best practice of participation and activation in Europe”, by Denise Kappe and Stephan Siegert, Researcher at M2C Institute.

José Carlos Bronze, Project Manager of Piaget Institute Portugal, spoke about “Towards an increased sense of belonging: from local to European level”; Saskia Edwards, Youth Mayor of Oldham and Mariam Waseem, British Youth Council Trustee, will speak about “Youth Participation – Grass roots engagement to European democracy: a UK Perspective”.

The fourth international workshop was organized in Krakow, Poland

he event was held in Krakow on 13 of February 2016.

Mediter was partner of the project, representing the international network which animates dialogue among European institutions and Mediterranean countries.

About the event

The event was organized by “The Union of Associations MULTIKULTURA” in Krakow, at Ośrodek Kultury im. Cypriana Kamila Norwida os. Górali 5. During the workshop, Mediter – represented by the communication officer Tiziana Sforza – spoke about “The role of Mediter network to strengths the European awareness of citizens and support the social engagement”. Furthermore, she spoke  about the outcomes of the local workshop held in Bruxelles on 10 December 2015.

Agenda of the workshop

The event started at 10 am with an introduction by Andrzej Bialko of Multikultura. At 10,20 there was  the “ARTzona Creative Workshop: Mind the gap”. At 10,30 there was  an informative session about the web platform and the dissemination strategy via the web platform clarified and featuring educational games promoting civic and democratic participation. It was launched a documentary about the project which will be used as dissemination tool.  At 11,45 am, Tiziana Sforza (Communication Officer of Mediter network), spoke about “The role of Mediter network to strengths the European awareness of citizens and support the social engagement” and she  spred  outcomes of the local workshop held in Bruxelles in December 2015. Also representatives of Greece and Spain told about their experiences.