Local Participatory Democracy Made Inclusive through Creativity

<< Background >>Compared to previous generations, today's young people show less interest in mainstream politics (Pattie et al., 2003) and experience historically low levels of voter turnout and involvement in party politics across Europe (International IDEA, 2008). According to Malafaia et al. (2021), political disengagement appears to be related to the opacity of the mechanisms of parliamentary and party politics, as well as the channels that connect local, everyday forms of engagement with the broader political sphere. An obstacle that further complicates this picture is represented by geographical limits, such as rural and remote areas, as well as difficult urban neighborhoods. Rural areas present complications because there is little evidence and current literature on the challenges of youth participation is often focused on the urban context (Trivelli, Morel; 2019). People from poorer neighborhoods are also less likely to vote than those from more affluent neighborhoods (Jöst, 2021). The project allowed the development of new practices to enable young people to take part in local democracy through non-formal learning.<< Objectives >>The OVERALL OBJECTIVE of ParticipArt is to enable young people with barriers related to education and training systems AND who live in disadvantaged areas to be active citizens in their local communities and to actively participate in democratic life through innovative art-focused methodologies. We have three specific objectives:SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Promote alternative forms of local participatory democracy for young people in Europe, with particular attention to creativity and critical thinking.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: Improve the participation in democratic life of young people with fewer opportunities (disabilities/barriers related to education). This specific objective also contributes to the development of new methods of youth work in the non-formal education sector (youth camp).SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: Strengthen the link between youth work and policy development, in particular to support marginalized young people. Specific objective 3 calls for building a body of knowledge about the obstacles young people face in participating in local democracy.<< Implementation >>The activities of the project have been the following:A1: Project kick-off meeting in Dublin and set up: this preparatory activity has allowed the partners to set up the project administrative system and build a project team.A2: ParticipArt: Methodology development: the partners have created, starting from the Appreciative Inquiry model, a new methodology to use art and creative-based learning to engage young people in analysing local issues and find solutions based on good practices.A3: Piloting of the ParticipArt methodology at local level: This activity has engaged young people in the ParticipArt process. 15 young people across the three countries have been involved in defining a local issue and analysing innovative solutions. The artworks (videos, drawings etc.) have been presented to local decision-makers to encourage a dialogue between young people and policy-makers.A4: Development of an open-source short course for ParticipArt: this activity involved the creation of an online course that explains the ParticipArt methodology and enable youth workers to apply it in their context. The course was piloted with 6 youth workers from across Europe.<< Results >>The results of the project are:1) 15 young people with fewer opportunities have developed creative and critical thinking skills, as well as confidence in discussing local issues with policy-makers. The young people have also developed art-based skills.2) A new methodology to promote youth participation for the solution of local challenges has been developed (ParticipArt) and it is available on SALTO.3) 9 youth workers have developed their capacity to engage young people with fewer opportunities in art-based activities, and encourage a dialogue between young people and policy-makers.4) 4 policy-makers have had the opportunity to engage with young people and learn about problems that are close to them.5) A short online course for youth workers is now available to learn how to use the ParticipArt methodology.