Call for Participation in the �Youth Policies and Political Participation� Project

14 October 2004

Over the past several years, there has been an increasing need for cooperation between the youth involved in various fields of activities. Recognizing the need to develop the inter-youth dialogue, the Democratic Youth Initiative (DYI) and CARE International started a project for cooperation of the political parties youth organizations and youth NGOs, with the goal to improve the cooperation in dealing with mutual problems on local level.

Under the auspices of the �Youth Policies and Political Participation� Project, CARE and DYI organized the following activities in 2003 and 2004:

Survey of cooperation between political parties� youth organizations and youth NGOs;
Creation of database of political parties� youth organizations in Croatia;
Organization of four focus groups with youth organizations� representatives, in Krapina-Zagorje, Vukovar-Srijem, Sibenik-Knin and Primorje-Gora Districts, with the goal to analyze the situation of youth policies on local level.

In the Autumn 2004, CARE International and DYI continue with the project activities and invite all active members of youth organizations in the Krapina-Zagorje and Vukovar-Srijem districts to participate.

Goals:

Increase the cooperation between the political parties� youth organizations in the field of local level youth policies;
Develop and implement promotional actions and have positive impact on the development of youth policies on local communities� level;
Strengthen youth participation in the local level decision making processes.

Users and Beneficiaries
The project was designed for activists of youth organizations, political parties� youth organizations, youth NGOs, students� associations, trade unions active in the two districts mentioned above.

The total number of direct participants is 32, 16 from each of the two districts.

DYI will secure the accommodation for the participants as well as the organizational costs of the training programmes and consulting meetings. However, DYI can�t cover the travel costs and appeals to the involved organizations to contribute to the project through funding of the travel costs of their activists.

The participants will be selected by the DYI Project Team, based on the criteria that will provide for equal gender and regional representation, with respect to the differences in experience, types of organizations and projects in which the potential participants were involved.

Selection Criteria:

18 � 29 years of age;
Activists of political parties� youth organizations, Youth NGOs, students� associations and trade unions from the Krapina-Zagorje and Vukovar-Srijem districts;
Knowledge about the goals and aims of their organizations, as well as support for their participation in the project from their organizations;
Motivation to contribute to the local community with their active participation.

Activities:
If selected for the project, the 32 participants will have the right and obligation to participate in the following project activities:

Trainings (two per disctrict):
Subjects: Assessment of Needs/Assessment of Political Environment/Building Networks and Coalitions
Time frame: November 2004
Location: Krapina-Zagorje and Vukovar-Srijem districts (exact locations to be determined).

Subject: Promotion/Local Action Planning
Time: December 2004/January 2005
Location: Krapina-Zagorje and Vukovar-Srijem districts (exact locations to be determined).

Implementation of Promotional Campaign (one per each district):
Regular meetings with the Project Team � DYI trainers will provide consulting and technical support to the participation in the implementation of the local campaign chosen and developed in the training.
Time: February � May 2004.
Location: Krapina-Zagorje and Vukovar-Srijem districts.