Between January 2006 and December 2006, the Dutch Centre for Political Participation (Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek) is co-ordinating the project ‘European Exchange of Good Practices in the Field of Participation and Citizenship of Underrepresented Groups’. The main objective of this program is the exchange of good practices between European organisations dealing with the promotion of active citizenship and democracy. In particular, the exchange project concentrates on ascertaining new methods of bringing underrepresented groups closer to politics. Thus, the project focuses on questions such as: ‘What do participating organizations do to promote involvement of citizens in decision-making processes? What activities do they undertake in voter education and information, in political education of youth and immigrants and in promoting political participation of women?’ A second topic in the project is what these organizations do to draw the attention of politicians towards underrepresented groups and minority issues.
The organisations involved in this project are: TASC (Think Thank for Social Change) and Vincentian Partnership from Ireland, Asociatia Pro Democratia from Romania, the Youth Centre of Dravinja Valley from Slovenia and of course the Dutch Centre for Political Participation.
In April 2006 and May 2006, the group participated in study visits to the Netherlands and Ireland. It should be mentioned that although the participating countries are not in the same stage of economic development, the problems that they identify concerning civic participation and democracy have a lot in common. On the other hand, most illuminating in the project so far is how differences in funding of the organizations, in the national political structures (e.g. voting system, political parties, grades and the nature of political decentralization), in political cultures (e.g. dominant ideas on democracy, the role of the state, gender/youth/immigrants and politics) and in the nature of respective civil societies (e.g. what and how many NGOs are involved in social and political participation, and the role and structure of the educational system) determine themes and methods in the operations of the participating organizations. Still, some methods and ideas presented in this project by an organisation can be used by partner organisations in their countries or at least serve as a source of inspiration.
In September 2006, the group has visited Romania, in order to find out more about the practices concerning the promotion of good citizenship and democracy that Asociatia Pro Democratia (APD) is conducting. The participants visited the head office of APD in Bucharest and received information about some important national projects, such as Money and Politics, the Electoral Code and Model European Union. They also visited offices of Asociatia Pro Democratia’ s branches in Brasov and Focsiani and were informed about regional projects and activities by APD.
In the week of 6th November representatives of the participating organisations will visit Slovenia. The Youth Centre of Dravinja Valley will present several projects and activities especially in the field of youth participation.
Ana-Maria Mosneagu, Asociatia Pro Democratia, Bucharest