VirtuEU

Objectives of the project

• Need: VirtuEu addresses a series of challenges and needs present in EU and Western Balkans Countries. These needs and challenges affect not only the resident population in these regions, mostly the youth, but they are also obstacles to the fulfilment of the European comprehensive, long-term strategy for cooperation with the Western Balkans.
• The aim is to create activities in the form of a non-formal educational curriculum, to achieve the empowerment of youth towards their capacity to become more active and open to participation. Promoting European and universal values of democracy, peace, freedom, solidarity, and collaboration among young people in Europe and Western Balkans, strengthening their identity as active citizens and residents of Europe and providing with adequate skills that will improve their employability chances.
• The target group will be young learners and virtual exchange young participants in the 18-30 age range, trainers and facilitators (HEI academic, professors, faculty, staff, teachers and educators

Expected Results

Active citizenship and civic participation present a series of benefits for both the communities and the individuals, bringing results at multiple levels. The most highly appreciated among them are:

• Reducing Distrust and Dissatisfaction rates among citizens. Distrust and Dissatisfaction with national governments is a trend that undermines Democracy10 and hinders the foundations of society. In Europe (Central and Eastern) and Western Balkan Countries trust in Democracy is in peril11. At the same time, radicalization and extremism rise, while Euroscepticism remains a worrying issue12, quite high on the European agenda.
• Accelerating social change. Engaged and active youth are undoubtedly the most promising and capable social group to undertake the role of the driver of social change. The surprising positive turnout in the European Elections of 2019, was mostly based on the high increase of young voters11. This trend needs to be fostered and further supported, as well as to be spread out to neighbourhood countries.
• Strengthening Social Cohesion. Based on research reports from the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), that followed the “Great Recession” of 2008, communities with higher levels of civic engagement have proven more resilient in the wake of the 2008 recession, against essential socio economic indicators such as unemployment13.
• Contributing personal skills and boosting employability (or in other words local economies). Active citizenship and participation play a key role for people regarding their personal development, especially for the youth. Volunteering, joining political activities, and creating or participating in initiatives beneficial to the community on the local, national, or global level, are considered great ways to acquire important skills related to future employment. According to research initiated and conducted by Northumbria University Students’ Union in England, employers consider volunteer experience equal to other forms of work experience and rate it as the third most valuable competence when a graduate applies for a job position14. Moreover, a similar study15 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, reveals that volunteering is associated with 27% higher odds of employment. EU Youth unemployment rate is at 13,6%, more than double the unemployment of the general European population which stands at 6.6%. At the same time, Western Balkan Countries not only present high rates of youth unemployment but also there are notable signs of youth disengagement and skill mismatch related to the job market16. On top of that Unemployment is the second major concern of citizens in Western Balkans, following Economic Situation and followed by Corruption. Being an active citizen is considered an entry point to employment. According to the Balkan Barometer 2022, unemployment is the second major concern of citizens in Western Balkans, following Economic Situation and followed by Corruption.

Project Activities

• PM & FM Handbook
• Design of Training Curriculum
• Virtual Cultural activities
• Train the facilitators on Active Citizenship Curriculum “VirtuEu”
• Virtual exchanges