Municipalities4Democracy (M4DEM)
It is a four day international training module for municipal youth policy officers and decision-makers on how to design and implement youth participation in municipal decision-making. This training module is repeated several times allowing many local officers and local politicians to participate. It has been designed to support municipalities in making youth participation relevant to their local reality, and to become empowered by both theory and practice.
What to expect from this training course?
The aim is to show how to successfully involve young people in municipal decision-making and strengthen democracy in your municipality. During the four day activity you will understand the four steps of the Democracy Reloading model and learn about related theory and several practices.
Courses organised before: Budapest (2021), Braga (2022), Oslo (2022), Brussels (2023), Braga (2024), Mons (2024), Florence (2025), Segovia (2025), Cyprus (2025), Faro (2025)
What is happening during such a training course?
Our training course methodology is based on non-formal learning, which means we try to limit the number of lectures as much as possible, and instead, we are offering space and tools for participants:
- to discover different forms of local youth participation in decision-making
- to reflect on their local key partners/stakeholders
- to share their challenges, experiences and practices
- to understand professional self-reflection
- to experiment with strategies in simulation activities
- to create a network with fellow municipalities
- to identify ways and ideas for your municipality to further develop local youth participation.
These methods would expect active/interactive participation throughout the course and less formal dress codes than in office settings.
Who is this training course for?
This training module is desinged for youth relevant staff of local and regional municipalities in Europe, that are implementing or planning to implement youth participation in their municipality's decision-making process, at any stage of development.
Who from my municipality can participate in this training course?
Municipal youth policy officers, elected political representatives, youth council coordinators, youth workers working with municipal youth participation, and other relevant municipal staff who want to improve youth participation in local decision-making can follow the training course in English.
When and how can I apply?
This training module is organized 1-4 times every year in different European countries, hosted by an Erasmus+ Youth national agency. You can find the calls for participants for the upcoming editions in the News section.
The training course lasts 4 full days, plus an arrival and a departure day. The participation is free of charge, accommodation in single hotel rooms and meals from dinner of the arrival day to the breakfast of the departure day are covered by the host agency. Travel costs are reimboursed by the sending Erasmus+ Youth national agency, you should contact them for details. Usually the arrival day is a Monday, and the departure day is a Saturday. You have to submit your application through the SALTO website, the link is included in each call for participants in the News secttion.
The training course is based on non-formal education principles, that requires your active participation and interaction with the other participants. It is a safe learning space where all participants have similar profile and represent a local or regional municipal authority. The activity is facilitated by two Democracy Reloading trainers who are trained for the program and experienced in the field of democratic youth participation. Each program day is dedicated to one of the four key tasks of the Democracy Reloading program.
“The self-assessment tool helped me to reflect on my practices and better understand that there is a lot more to do regarding youth participation.”
“The participants sharing their practices was a highlight for me. It really helped me in developing my competencies. I got new ideas and a good comparison material (what I have and what others have, what they have achieved and what I would like to achieve).”
“I especially loved the sharing of experiences with the other participants. It was encouraging to share ideas and values and to find out that, although we might have different circumstances, we share the same values and have the same kind of worries.”