A.C.T. for Democracy (Active Citizens Together for Democracy) CANCELLED / POSTPONED

A.C.T. for Democracy

(Active Citizens Together for Democracy) For the past years, we have witnessed a crisis of democratic values. Justice, liberty, equality, solidarity, equity are no longer in the core of the democratic discourse. This results in another type of crisis - the failure of representative democracy and the rise of extreme movements throughout Europe. In this context, anti-democratic and even anti-humane narratives expand where main easy-to-blame perpetrators are migrants and refugees, ethnic and religious minorities, people with different cultural and sexual identity. Standing strong for peace, democracy and equality is the only possible way to build a sustainable and developing common European future. Understanding and being able to communicate the existing dangers and all negative consequences of hate speech, radicalization and political manipulation is a must-to-know that all the youth workers and educators need to acquire. Therefore, it is essential to put efforts into reflecting upon democracy as a complex socio-political construct, composed not only by procedures and legitimate rules but also by value based preconditions, in order to find more efficient tools for fighting radicalisation and antidemocratic trends in nowadays Europe.

A.C.T. for DEMOCRACY is an educational pathway for motivated and passionate youth workers and volunteers that gives the possibility to go deeper into the values, concepts and effective mechanisms in order to ensure youth participation through active dialogue and cooperation, but also through effectively taking part in decision-making processes in their local, regional, national  and European context.

What is the AIM of A.C.T. for DEMOCRACY? The main aim of the training course is to support active youth workers and volunteers to comprehend contemporary democracy as a concept and as a practice by creating a safe space for learning and critical thinking for better understanding of their local realities, providing efficient tools and working educational approaches, hence how they could take an active role against radicalization, hate speech and manipulation.

Our objectives are:

- To explore and fully comprehend Democracy not only as a set of rules and procedures but as a complex concept based on values (peace, equity, solidarity, equality, coexistence),functioning in the context of dynamic societies and the link to the prevention of radicalization and marginalization;

- To understand the relations between lack of value-based democracy and the rise of radical ideologies and movements;

- To raise awareness about the extreme social and political movements in Europe and its negative implications in nowadays society;

- To explore broader understanding of Citizenship (also taking into account the revised YP key competences and the ETS Competence model for youth workers) through the concepts of human rights education and global education;

- To empower participants to take a proactive role in the social processes in their own realities in through youth work and trainings to combat hate speech, radicalization and exclusion;

- To reflect on the role of community work in addressing social injustice and inequality.

Target group: youth workers, volunteers (EU program and partner countries)

Duration: 7 days - 5 training days and 2 days for travel

Тeam of trainers:

Dzhafer Saatcha

Stefan Georgiev