YourEP (2017-2018)

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Context

The YourEP project started from a shared observation: Citizenship has become yet another area of exclusion, especially for youngsters with fewer opportunities.

Active citizenship, EU and political awareness, and Social inclusion are indeed closely intertwined issues in the field of youth. While these issues can only be tackled altogether, youngsters with fewer opportunities are still underrepresented in initiatives promoting political participation and political awareness.

This is even more striking in the specific case of political simulations, designed to involve youngsters in “make-believe” politics to teach them how political institutions work and promote their civic participation. Disadvantaged youngsters are particularly underrepresented in such initiatives, even though they can benefit the most from these powerful educational tools.

Objectives

To contribute to open political simulations to a more diverse audience, YourEP therefore  consisted of 3 Transnational Project Meetings and 2 Blended Mobility activities aimed at developing and implementing a political simulation of the European Parliament (EP) specifically designed for youngsters with fewer opportunities.

To better suit their needs, the EP simulation method will was designed with the active involvement of 24 youngsters with fewer opportunities from 7 different EU countries. They were accompanied by experienced youth workers from the partners, while the whole process was supported by the European expertise of JEF Europe (Young European Federalists).

All activities took place in Brussels, Strasbourg, Stuttgart and in partner countries in 2017 and 2018. In the context of the Blended Mobility, the process was supported by online activities in between the main events.

Summarizing this experiment and the lessons drawn for it for Inclusive and Accessible political education, the YourEP Project was concluded by the publication of:

• "The YourEP Experiment - Key Lessons for Inclusive & Accessible Political Simulations"

• "Sésame, Ouvre-toi! Recommendations - Unleashing the full potential of political simulations"

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