Empowerment of mobile youth in the EU

The overall objective of the project Empowerment of mobile youth in the EU (EMY) was to increase the involvement of mobile EU youth in the political and social life of the host country. The EMY project was about bringing EU citizenship to life, in particular for young voters.

EU citizenship is much more than a fictional concept or an imprint on our passports. Under the Treaty on the European Union all EU citizens have the right to vote, and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament in their home country or, alternatively, in any other
country in the EU where they reside (‘host country’).

Thereby EMY (a) identified ways of fostering and supporting democratic participation of mobile EU youth, (b) increased awareness about opportunities and entry points to expand political and social participation of mobile youth, (c) specified and developed methods and tools that support democratic participation of mobile EU youth by mapping and conducting interaction activities, and using this input for developing policy recommendations.

The project targeted specifically mobile EU students in Austria and Estonia, i.e. Erasmus and other bachelor, master and PhD students, interns and post docs who are citizens from other EU countries. Secondary level students aged 16-18 were also be included, since they were entitled to vote in Austria in all elections and in Estonia in local elections. It specifically focused on a group underrepresented in formal politics and social life: young people aged 16 – 29 who were EU citizens studying and working in another EU Member State and having their residence there.

eGA was the leading partner of the Work Package 4 entitled “Use Cases Austria and Estonia: mapping & engagement”, which focused on the raising awareness and engagement activities with mobile EU youth in both countries.

Project activities were funded by the European Commission and € 10,000 through the External Projects Funds of the Civil Society Foundation of Estonia.

Who benefited from our project?

• Mobile youth aged 16-29, primarily students, residing in another EU member state, notably Austria and Estonia.
• Community leaders in Austria and Estonia, in particular, linked to universities and schools.
• European, national and local policy makers and administrations dealing with elections, citizen engagement and education.

• We increased awareness among mobile youth in the EU about opportunities for democratic engagement by organising advocacy meetings, community meetings, and public debates or roundtables both in Estonia and Austria.
• We got better understanding of youth preferences and attitudes, including improved knowledge and understanding of the role of digital technologies.
• Developed recommendations for policymakers, authorities and social and political communities to better meet expectations, needs and preferences of European mobile youth for engagement at the EU and local level.

What did we achieved?

• We increased awareness among mobile youth in the EU about opportunities for democratic engagement by organising advocacy meetings, community meetings, and public debates or roundtables both in Estonia and Austria.
• We got better understanding of youth preferences and attitudes, including improved knowledge and understanding of the role of digital technologies.
• Developed recommendations for policymakers, authorities and social and political communities to better meet expectations, needs and preferences of European mobile youth for engagement at the EU and local level.

Activities

The project conducted the following activities:

• Awareness raising about EU Citizenship and the right to take part in European and local elections in the host country, and other options for engagement at EU and local level;
• Mapping and assessment of electoral and (pre- and post-election) political engagement of mobile students – preferences, readiness, awareness — at EU and local level in Austria and Estonia (based on the EU elections in May 2019 including recent elections for student representative bodies as appropriate); special attention will be paid to the use of social media, e-tools and platforms (e.g. for e-voting) in Austria and Estonia;
• Organizing and facilitating focus-group and online discussions as part of interaction and crowdsourcing activities to seek mobile students’ feedback to reveal engagement opportunities and suggest policy changes. Such discussions will be based on the results of the mapping surveys undertaken before;
• Identifying use requirements (via crowdsourcing) and technical specifications for a scalable pan-European tool (application service) to serve the information and interaction needs of mobile EU students willing to be more active socially and politically in their host countries. The tool is planned to be designed as a prototype for use initially in Austria and Estonia (after the project end) and then scaled up to cover the entire EU as a self-organisation and sustainability support instrument for networking among mobile students interested in engagement in local social and political life;
• Development of policy recommendations aimed at national and European governing bodies responsible for and dealing with youth mobility for broader and sustainable transnational engagement of young people across the EU; this will include a proposal on how to scale the project to all EU Member States and guidelines for the best use of transnational online tools based on the results of the activities described in points above.
• Formulation and agreeing on a sustainability strategy for a networked movement (community) of mobile EU students active socially and politically in their host countries built around of a planned e-tool designed to support and encourage such engagement.