This November saw Oldham Council as a local authority take part in the first meeting for the “Inter-cultural Dimension for European Active Citizenship” (IDEA-C). IDEA-C is a response to the low voting turnout rate in EU elections, suggesting some European countries may face or soon face a democratic deficit. The project aims to restore electoral faith among EU citizens and chose 13 organisations/institutions each from different EU countries to take part. Throughout the project, participants will address the two main causes for low electoral participation found in collaboration with the project:
• A lack of interest and of knowledge of the democratic workings of the EU
• Mistrust towards EU institutions – lack of sense of belonging to Europe
IDEA-C will consist of 13 local workshops organised from each partner organization and 4 International events. One of these was in November in Geraci Siculo, Sicily. The meeting hosted in Geraci Siculo was an introductory session allowing the 13 partner organisations to develop a better understanding of the aims of the project as well as how each partner will contribute effectively for the common cause of engaging European citizens. Oldham Council was able to share their best practices around a cooperative borough, and local democracy. Oldham Youth Council was used as an example of how local democracy can and will engage young people to be active citizens. We are looking forward to organising and delivering an event for Oldham’s young people that will focus on reviving young people’s participation in democracy.
Update 11/12/16
We now have the evaluation report for the full Idea-C programme. Please download a copy by clicking here.
