Political participation projects in youth work
St. Pölten (OTS/NLK) – As young people in all walks of life are confronted with global issues, from climate justice to the treatment of refugees and the phasing out of fossil fuels, and are often the main victims of policy decisions, Südwind Niederösterreich is committed – especially in the European Year of Youth – to give them a voice and the possibility of political participation.
In view of tomorrow’s International Youth Day, the association for development policy and global justice refers to a survey by SOS Children’s Villages, according to which 88% of all 11-18 year olds in Austria are of the opinion that action must be taken now to protect the climate and the environment, before it is too late, and 72% say that young people have to pay for the mistakes of the older generation.
Südwind is therefore committed to projects that open up opportunities for young people to participate and remedy the situation – for example with the EU project “YUPAD – Youth PARticipatory budgets empowering young people using big data”: together with partners from eight countries ( Belgium, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Greece and Cyprus), Südwind deals with participatory budgeting for young people. “Young people have many ideas for a better and more livable world. But who listens to them and where do they get the money to implement their ideas? Many cities and states allocate a participatory budget to youth – that is, a pot of money with which they can implement their project ideas. We support the authorities in creating participatory youth budgets and young people in using the budgets”, says Julia Weber, project manager at Südwind.
Südwind Niederösterreich has also been involved in youth projects for many years, especially in the fair trade region Bucklige Welt Wechselland, where various youth conferences, holiday games and workshops have taken place and in the coming months other projects will be carried out by generations under the motto ” Generationen FAIRverbindungen “. “Fair and sustainable regional developments are only possible with comprehensive education and youth work”, emphasizes Dr. Ingrid Black.
For more information, contact Südwind Niederösterreich at 02622/24832, Mag. Jana Teynor, email [email protected] and www.suedwind.at/niederoesterreich.
Questions and contact:
Lower Austria provincial government office
State Directorate/Public Relations
Mag. Rainer Hirschkorn
02742/9005-12175
[email protected]
www.noe.gv.at/presse