CITIZEN PARTICIPATION FORUM, TOGETHER WITH CENTER AMALIPE, PRESENTED ITS NEW “YOUNG EDUCATOR’S HANDBOOK ON CITIZEN PARTICIPATION”

On March 30, 2023, we met with over 20 young leaders from vulnerable Roma communities who are willing to conduct civic participation training among their peers. The Young Citizen Participation Educator’s Handbook aims to show young people how to improve the civic participation knowledge of their peers, how to motivate them to be active citizens and show them how to plan successful advocacy campaigns.

We taught young educators how to set up a welcoming atmosphere so that participants feel comfortable, what assignments to give them, and how to encourage conversations between the participants.

The Young Citizen Participation Educator’s Handbook contains three main topics. The first one introduces the basis of civic participation and why it is important to our society while illustrating the tools through which civic participation can be implemented at a local level. The second chapter explains what a civic group is, and gives examples of successful youth civic initiatives as well as information on how young people could become involved.

The third topic provides useful tips on how to organize an effective advocacy campaign at a local level and how to efficiently use advocacy tools. To facilitate the trainers, a sample training scenario is developed for each topic.

The handbook is useful not only for young trainers but also for people of all ages interested in civic participation.

You can find the handbook here.