I Vote for the First Time and European Class Workshops

In 2008 GONG plans to implement another season of 'I Vote for the First Time' and 'European Class workshops'. European Class workshops will be conducted in high-schools during the spring term and I Vote for the First Time workshops in fall.

I Vote for the First Time project was developed in 2001 when two regional GONG offices realized that there was a need for additional education of first-time voters, high-school graduates in Croatia. The aim of these interactive workshops was to inform students about elections, the election system, the right to vote and other connected issues. Students, as well as teachers and headmasters, found the workshops extremely interesting due to the topic and the way they were conducted.

Encouraged by the success of this pilot project, we decided to launch a national project and systematically inform young people and encourage them to take a more active part in the political life and democratic processes, which is also in line with one of GONG’s fundamental aims - to inform citizens about the election process.

An interactive workshop was developed which deals with the issues regarding the political system, the rights and duties of citizens over the age of 18, election legislation and election process. The workshop supplemented the existing curriculum and due to the use of informal methods of transmitting information and positive evaluation of high school students, the project was a great success. The first season of I Vote for the First Time project on national level was launched late in 2001, after which the project has been implemented every year.

The topic and the content of the workshop have for the most part remained the same over the years, with just minor adjustments (for instance, during last season stress was given on Parliamentary elections since they were held in November last year). The first part of the workshop starts with a conversation between the trainer and students about the rights and obligations of the citizens who are of age, which serves as an introduction to the topic of the workshop and shows that the workshop will not be reduced to an ex-cathedra lecture. After that, a discussion on active and passive right to vote, types of elections, election process and voters’ lists would ensue. Following that, a conversation is initiated with students on how they can influence the local decision making process in between elections. The intention is to stress out that citizens’ influence on the decision making process does not merely consist of voting every four years. It is also a fitting transition to the next part of the workshop which deals with civic initiatives. In order to explain the term civic initiative to students, the trainers/lecturers would use examples which students can relate to. For example: how one could have an internet café or youth centre opened in one’s town. The process of launching an action, and the course leading to the expected results of a civic action, together with advocating the media, the public, and government institutions, is illustrated. All of this leads to the conclusion that a responsible citizen is an active citizen.

In the seven years of the project implementation in all parts of Croatia 150.000 high school seniors took part in 5.304 workshops. Out of 350 high schools in Croatia, 288 high schools took part in the project, which comes to 80% of the total number of high schools in Croatia.

During last several seasons of GONG’s I Vote for the First Time project, high school teachers who participated in the project have proposed developing similar workshop about European Union for additional education of first-time voters, high school seniors in Croatia. Similar questions and proposals also came from high school seniors who participated in I Vote for the First Time workshops and who were unsatisfied with the quantity and quality of information they receive about European Union.

According to that, in cooperation with Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, GONG has developed a new project based on the methodology of I Vote for the First Time project, that is, workshops about the European Union for the high school seniors in Croatia during the second semester of the school year.

The goal of this new project is to give students appropriate information about the European Union and the accession process. Project aims to bring EU and its values closer to Croatian youth in order to overcome current prejudices and lack of understanding about what the EU membership brings and how it will affect Croatian citizens, specifically Croatian youth. Indirectly, the project contributes to higher awareness among Croatian citizens about the EU, resulting in development of rational views on Croatian membership in the European Union.

During February 2007, we launched the European Class project in high schools in all Croatian counties. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration officially recommended the project. Altogether 601 European Class workshops were conducted in 143 high schools. Twenty specially educated trainers conducted the workshops that were attended by more than 16 000 high school seniors.

This article was published in Politeia Newsletter 48 - February 2008