Our shared experience with our partner, Metropolia Poznań Association (SMP), points to a low civic and social participation among the young people in Wielkopolskie Voivodeship. SMP research from 2018 conducted among the students from primary schools in Poznań showed huge gaps in knowledge pertaining to consultations and civic budgets among the kids 13-15 years old. From among those surveyed only three out of 120 students admitted they voted for initiatives within the Poznań Civic Budget for 2018. Civic budgets for the city of Poznań, as well as our experiences from previous projects point to a low turnout in civic budget voting in municipalities across Wielkopolskie Voivodeship and the need for a more engagement on behalf of the youth.
In order to develop youth’s civic participation and increase the engagement in public affairs, we have created Young Citizen School Clubs in 20 municipalities across Wielkopolskie Voivodeship. First, we have conducted a training for school coordinators (one teacher per school), preparing them for the project. The youth from each of the clubs participated in a series of civic workshops. Each club organized four initiatives: Oxford debates, designed a civic school budget in their respective schools, ecology-oriented activity based on conversations with the local community, as well as an initiative directed at individuals with disabilities and seniors.
We have also organized two online conferences. The first one pertained to civic education at school, while the second one served as an opportunity to summarize the project.
Our partner supported us with knowledge and experience relevant to the recruitment efforts, trainings with the local government officials, and workshops at the involved schools, organizing debates and helping with the School Civic Budgets.
We have observed that our initiatives have increased the knowledge and experience of students in regard to their involvement with the schools. We are pleased to see so many more people engaged with our project than we have anticipated. For example, over 6000 youth and children took part in voting for School Civic Budgets, which was three times more than we expected. We plan on further collaboration with each of the schools to continue strengthening them in developing of their actions supporting students and their civic and social competences.