EMY (Empowerment of Mobile Youth in the EU) is an EU co-financed project intended to inform young and mobile people in the EU, aged 16 to 29, of their rights as Union citizens, and to encourage them to make better use of their democratic rights and options for political involvement in a unified Europe. It is also drawing up proposals for improving the involvement of these EU citizens in the political and social life of their host countries. The investigations are being carried out in Estonia and Austria.
Aims of the EMY project
- Mobility in the EU includes the right to political involvement at EU and local level. For that reason, the EMY project is designed to raise the awareness of young EU citizens about their democratic rights as “Union citizens”. The project initially focuses on young EU citizens studying and registered as resident in Estonia and Austria.
- EMY examines the extent to which this “mobile youth” is engaged with the political events in their EU host country, and the extent to which they wish, or are able, to exercise their rights as Union citizens. In particular, the study aims to ascertain options for promoting and supporting democratic participation of young Union citizens, to identify barriers to participation, and to propose methods and instruments to support the target group.
- Targeted measures are intended to raise the awareness of young mobile EU citizens about the democratic rights conferred by Union citizenship. A key EMY aim is to initiate a self-sustaining community which addresses the issue of political participation amongst young mobile Europeans and provides this target group with supporting mechanisms.
- Recommendations will be drafted for policymakers, public authorities and stakeholder groups so that they can better meet the expectations, needs and preferences of the target group, enhancing engagement at EU and Member State level.
AIT acts as the consortium leader in this project and contributes its technological expertise in the field of e-participation. Among other things, it is responsible for the conception and creation of a software prototype that supports young mobile people in obtaining the information necessary for their participation in political events, in entering into dialogue with the relevant stakeholders (authorities, interest representatives, etc.) and in facilitating the exchange and discussion of topics and problems with which this target group is confronted.
Information about the project, the project partners and the possibility for active participation can be found at
- Website: www.europeanmobileyouth.eu
- EMY Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/830101974058832/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/europeanmobileyouth
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/europeanmobileyouth/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emy-empowerment-of-mobile-youth-in-the-eu
Facts
- Project start: February 2019
- Project duration: 2 years
- Administrative and technical coordination: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
- Partners: 4 partners from 3 countries
This project is funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014-2020).