Democracy Reloading Webinars
Our four-part webinar series is designed for those who, due to their limited availability, cannot participate in our onsite events but eager to get an overall picture of the four key tasks of the Democracy Reloading approach and to become inspired by the presentation of one local practice.
What to expect from the webinars?
Each webinar focuses on one of the four key tasks that ensure a more successful implementation of youth participation in municipal decision-making.
Number of webinars organised since 2020: 17
1. ADVOCATE4YouthParticipation - on how to change the organisational attitude inside the municipal authority.
Main question: What are the benefits of engaging young people in municipal decisions? What can you do to change the attitude of the different key people within the municipal authority? How can you build up your stakeholder group in support of youth participation? What are the initial questions that the municipal authority must answer before reaching out to young people?
2. The (HE)ART of Participation - on how to find, empower and engage young people in municipal decisions.
Main questions: Where do we find the right young people to be involved? How do we ensure the representation and inclusion of less privileged youth? How do we empower young people to give their voice and influence municipal decisions? How do we motivate them and keep them engaged? How do we support them in their future careers?
3. What strategy and what structure? - on how to design adequate municipal youth participation strategy and structure.
Main questions: How can we build and optimise a youth participation strategy that ensures sustainable and meaningful participation in municipal decisions? How can we prepare an efficient strategy that is shared by all stakeholders? How can we design the youth participation structure that fits both municipal decision-makers and the young people involved?
4. Be the change you want to see! - on how to manage the process and sustain youth participation in municipal decision-making
Main questions: What are the minimum financial conditions your municipality has to provide each year? How can you use Erasmus+ grants to develop your youth participation? How can you manage the collaboration between so many partners and stakeholders? How and what can you show to the wider public about youth participation?
Who are these webinars for?
The webinars are designed for municipal youth policy officers who want to start implementing youth participation in municipal decision-making and for their local partners who can support the initiative.
When and how can I apply?
Four webinars are each year, two in spring (usually April, May) and two in autumn (September, November). There is one SALTO call published in February for the four webinars and you can select which webinars you wish to take part. This call is open until the last webinar is completed. You can find the general call for participants of the webinars in the News section.
Each webinar is 90 minutes long and free of charge. The call for participants is a registration, so we are not selecting from the applicants, all those who register from eligible European countries are invited to the webinars that they select. Registered participants receive an invitation email 2 days before the webinars with the zoom link. We do not provide certificates for participants of webinars.
Each webinar has three parts. In the first half hour the main questions are discussed, in the second part an invited guest speaker, who is a municipal youth policy officers, presents their youth participation practice with special focus on the actual key task followed by a short questions-answers session. In the third part the Democracy Reloading tools are explained and the upcoming training courses are presented.
It was a very nice teaser about how Democracy Reloading can help me in my work at the municipality.
The presentation of the guest speaker was really inspiring and showed a good example of youth influencing local decisions.
It was exactly what I needed to get out of my fears from this big task.