GONG wins 2005 ‘Young Active Citizens’ Award

On January 31, 2006, the Council of Europe’s ‘Young Active Citizens’ Award was presented during the European Conference on ‘Integrated childhood and youth policies in Europe’ by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The award went to five youth projects aimed at creating a sense of belonging and of commitment to democratic society among young people. Created in 2002, this award is aimed at promoting active participation of young people in society, especially at local and regional levels.

GONG

GONG was one of this year’s prizewinners, receiving the award for its ‘I Vote For The First Time’ project. This is a project based on the finding that secondary high school children in Croatia are unaware of their future civil rights, are mistrustful of institutions and are somewhat uninterested in getting actively involved in civil society. GONG has been implementing the project each school year since 2001. It is a large-scale information campaign among pupils doing their finals – new potential voters – about their civil rights and the importance of participating in political and community life.

In the project GONG trainers, mostly students, meet pupils of secondary schools during workshops divided into three parts. The first part taking stock of the students’ knowledge of the civics, the second clarifying the uncertainties, and the third taking case studies (such as an action to defend civil rights when infringed, for instance setting up an internet café). Educational material is being distributed at the end of each workshop. A booklet ‘Finally 18’ in questionnaire form with questions and answers between pupils and GONG on the voting right, types of elections and election process, a booklet ‘Public Advocacy’ on defending civil rights when infringed, and a contraceptive symbolizing the importance of making responsible choices.

Supporters

The Croatian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport encouraged the GONG initiative by way of an official letter of recommendation and grant. Grants were also received from Counties of Zagreb and Primorje-Gorski Kotar and international donors: Balkan Democracy Trust, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Olof Palme International Center.

Statistics

As I write, 800 workshops have been conducted in 195 high schools and have been attended by more then 24,000 high school seniors during this school year alone. Since the project started, around 106,000 high school seniors have taken part in 3704 workshops. Out of the 365 high schools in Croatia, 272 of them have taken part in the project, which comes down to 75%.

Sandra Pernar, GONG, Zagreb
This article was published in Politeia Newsletter 41 - March 2006