"The European Union is none of my business because it has no influence on my everyday life." Unfortunately, I have heard this is sentence far too often from students during my time as a trainee teacher for social and political studies at a German high school. Quite alarming, in my opinion. Many young people – and especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – are not aware of the impact the EU has on their daily lives and how many different areas of life it regulates and facilitates. Others consider the EU as well as its policies as too complex to understand. Either way, the outcome is the same: their general interest in EU issues is relatively low.
People who are not aware of the benefits and rights that the EU has to offer cannot appreciate them accordingly and, more importantly, cannot take on their role as active EU citizens. Thus, I believe that projects which address these issues are particularly significant regarding the political and social participation of young people. I was therefore delighted to be able to accompany the YES Forum’s READY project across several of its phases.
Reflecting on the experiences I have made during the project’s local and international trainings, I believe what sets READY apart – and what I thoroughly enjoyed – is that it is young people themselves who work on the outputs. They act as translators and mediators, formulating and creating textual and visual content, on important EU treaties and policies as well as the EU institutions and their respective tasks, in a way that is easy to understand, accessible and interesting for their age group. This way, all those involved – me included – could not only deepen their knowledge of how the EU works and improve their European literacy but could also learn how to communicate about these complex topics in an engaging and easily understandable manner, enabling us to inform others and to become advocates for the European idea.
Moreover, READY and similar projects create opportunities for intercultural encounters, which I personally value a lot. They unite young people from different cultural, social, and professional backgrounds, having them work together towards a common goal, while at the same time offering them numerous opportunities to learn with and from each other, to establish networks, and to make new friends along the way. Furthermore, these intercultural encounters as well as the opportunity to travel to different EU member states do not only foster the participants’ intercultural competence, but also allow them to directly experience what it means to be a European citizen.
I am very grateful that I had the chance to make these experiences myself through my participation in project READY and I believe that there is an unprecedented need for more projects like this, especially when it comes to raising awareness and advancing enthusiasm for the European Union amongst young people.
