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Action for empowerWOMENt: empowering young women for civic engagement and participation in structured dialogue.
Date du début: 30 nov. 2015, Date de fin: 29 juin 2016 PROJET  TERMINÉ 

When formulating policies affecting the lives of young people, many political actors, including institutions, decision and policy-makers, do not consider young people (in particular young women) nor youth organisations as relevant contributors, thus denying their ability to have an impact. Traditional means of civic engagement and political participation often lack transparency and the accountability of decision-makers to young people. Such means also lack the flexibility and modern tools and techniques to meet the needs of young people. Through structured dialogue in this project, youth policy-makers, experts and young people together defined how the concerns of young people in gender equality field can be effectively addressed through different policy fields and policy measures. In order to achieve this, the structured dialogue at the Transnational Youth Seminar served two goals: the definition of a common agenda encompassing the concerns of young people, and partnership for developing and implementing the concrete gender equality policies needed to address those concerns. In this framework our structured dialogue was not limited to priority areas, but it was linked to the implementation of the second pillar of the Council resolution – the horizontal aspects. Structured dialogue process in this project not only brought different actors in gender mainstreaming field closer together, but also led to better elaborated policies, as experience and expertise from the different actors - youth organisations, public authorities and researchers - could be taken into account at all stages of the policy cooperation. At the regional and European level, our partnership sees the development of Structured dialogue in gender equality and empowerment field as a way of bridging the gap between European institutions and young people, which is also crucial in view of the debate on the future of Europe and how the European Union could be closer to its citizens - primarily the young. The project consisted of the following stages: 1. The Preparation Stage. 2. The Implementation Stage. This stage included: a) Group surveys and opinion polls on the situation with young women representation and participation in policy-making; b) Local meetings with experts and decision-makers in the field of youth policy-making from our local, regional and national level; c) The eight-day Transnational youth Seminar held in Portugal for the representatives of all partner groups and key decision-makers responsible for gender equality and women empowerment policies. 3. The Knowledge-Sharing Stage. a) Transfer of Transnational youth seminar’s experiences in the partner organisations and networks; b) Development of the Action plan for change; c) Implementation of the action plan for change locally in our regions and countries. 4. The Evaluation Stage. Local evaluation meetings for all partners in their communities to sum up achievements and to develop a valorisation plan, to review the success, results and impact of the project and complete any follow-up activities to share this with others. 5. Additional measures assuring dissemination and exploitation of the project's results. All stages of the project encouraged the development of skills and competences that promote representation and participation of the young women in policy-making and work of decision-making bodies. The campaigns developed by young people during the Transnational Youth seminar and the knowledge gained about women empowerment helped them and other young people to recognise the value of such an experience. During the workshops the young people shared the knowledge of common Europe, its shared heritage and common basic values, and the common issues that affect the young people who live on the continent. The 72 young participants involved in this project came from the UK, Bulgaria, Portugal, Russia, Belarus and Moldova - and were made up of people from different backgrounds and life experiences. Each participant held his/her own values, beliefs and perspectives related to their own culture and identity. There was a number of opportunities to share, discuss and debate each other’s knowledge and stereotypes in a neutral safe environment. The shared learning with policy-makers enabled the young participants to better understand the dynamics of the decision-making processes having consequences on their life; through commonly agreed recommendations they also influenced decisions to be taken in the future by policy-makers. In their turn, experts and youth policy-makers involved in the project improved their understanding of young people’s opinions and needs for change in the field of accessing young women to policy making as well as supported emerging follow up initiatives and bridged the gap between theory and reality of youth policy-making.

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