YOUTH ENGAGEMENT FOR COMMUNICATING THE EU OBJECTIVES
The lack of adequate knowledge and the spread of disinformation about topics concerning the European Union are both major causes of the rise of Euroscepticism and disaffection towards the EU institutions and values. The project is built upon these two core objectives:
- a general one, which aims to foster European citizenship and to improve conditions for civic and democratic participation at EU level;
- a specific one, based on the encouragement of democratic and civic participation of citizens at EU level, by developing citizens’ understanding of the EU policy making process and promoting opportunities for societal and intercultural engagement and volunteering at EU level.
PARTICIPANTS
Overall, the project is expected to involve more than 1500 participants (approximately 250 from each partner country). Each phase of the project will have a specific number of participants, which composition will be determined by the specific necessities of each phase (see below).
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATION
Lead partner: Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani – FIDU (Italy)
Associacao Social Recreativa e Cultural Bem Fazer Vai Avante (Portugal) 
Centre for European Studies at Lund University (Sweden) 
European Centre for Economic and Policy Analysis and Affairs (Belgium) 
Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Culture and Education (Bulgaria) 
Research and Organisation Services Limited – TASC (Ireland) 
Youth Centre of Epirus (Greece) 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION
Start date: 01-04-2021 – End date: 01-09-2022
The project is composed of eleven (?) events, organized around three major phases. It is also expected to be fully supported by an appropriate dissemination and communication activity, in order for it to reach the largest audience possible.
Phase 1. The survey will constitute the central focus of this phase. It is the foundation at the core of the project: based on the goal to reach 200 replies per country, the survey’s results will serve both as a way of understanding the perception that citizens from different countries have of the EU, and as a catalyst for the activities of the following phases.
Phase 2. Based on the survey results, educational and training activities will be organised: they will be six, and each one of them will address one of the issues resulted from the survey through one full day program. These trainings will consist of frontal lectures and debates, and they will be addressed to young students, researchers, policy makers (18-30 years old and EU citizens).
Phase 3. The last phase will be dedicated to creative labs: the package includes 2-5 days creative labs to be held in Italy and Portugal. These are intended as multidisciplinary and international events where participants are asked to explore new way to communicate the EU in order to counter disinformation and to promote a wider understanding of it. The final event will be held on 9th May 2022 (Europe Day celebration) in Brussels: it will be a final conference which is expected to fully deliver the results achieved by the project, presenting all the data collected while ensuring that it reaches a reasonable media coverage among audience, stakeholders and relevant personalities.