Training for Political Participation
Key issue
Several issues have resulted in a lack of political participation. First of all, the current educational system, which is mainly focused on formal education, does not promote critical thinking. Therefore, we inevitably walk towards a society of citizens that does not understand the political processes and therefore is not actively taking part in them. Moreover, the limited knowledge does not only result in a lack of interest, but also in a constant feeling that they do not have the capacity to intervene in the decision-making process that often presents itself as a field for the elite.
Response
Active participation is scarce in a certain stratum of society and there is a clear need to improve the political engagement and the trust in the political institutions and respective representatives. In order to achieve better results for these challenges, we believe in the creation of a mentorship programme, which is not targeted to a specific group, but everyone weighing interest and diversity. Therefore, there should be a special focus on groups that have been excluded from the decision-making process, such as minorities, among which, first and second-generation migrants, LGBTQIAP+, and economically disadvantaged populations are included.
This mentorship programme allows mentees to be followed by mentors from different fields, which could be local politicians, relevant stakeholders and professionals in the area of interests for each participant. Overall, role models are important, and trust is at the centre of this scheme. Since there is often some stigma regarding the lack of understanding about political processes and also lack of opportunities to learn about it, these mentors would allow each mentee to expose questions, learn and put into practice concrete ideas and projects.
The mentorship programme is inspired by the best practices which are already implemented in different countries, such as local climate councils in Denmark, which gather groups of interested youngsters who write proposals to the mayor’s office. This programme allows it to conclude it is easily replicable in different contexts and there are multiple opportunities to receive funding for its implementation, such as local, national or European funds.
Furthermore, since this is just one example out of many, further research on efficient ways of participation, inclusion and trust-building are needed in order to get a broader and substantiated overview. First knowledge is already provided in Jonathan Geib’s ongoing research overview which concerns experiences from various examples of participatory measures taken to activate “mini-publics”.
Result
The scheme of mentorships programme is not limited to a specific time frame, since there is the constant need to reach different target groups, increase trust and raise awareness about political participation. This is the only way to have a society that lives up to its potential.
It is important to highlight that the project aims to start on a local level, due to the fact that when citizens feel that their voice is not being heard or promoting change on the closer scale, it becomes harder to involve people in national politics and European politics. At first, the multiple locations where the project is implemented would experience impact in different levels, such as increased understanding of the decision-making context, increased representation and active participation.
As referred to previously, people with higher levels of education tend to be more politically active. Therefore, education through a non-formal education context would have a longer impact when it comes to involvement in national and international politics. This would therefore contribute to an increased representation and engagement on larger scales, contributing to more inclusive policymaking.
Overall, we can conclude that the mentorship programme positively drives policymaking on a local, national, European and international level among all scopes of society.