Youth - Young people building Europe


Council of Europe Award “Young Active Citizens” 2003

PROJECTS AWARDED IN 2003


Theme: “Participation of young women in political life”

For the second year running, the Council of Europe organised the “Young active citizens” Award with a view to rewarding outstanding projects aiming to promote the participation of young people in society. This year, the theme of the Award was “Participation of young women in political life”.

 


In accordance with the Rules for Entry, priority was given to projects focusing on one or several of the following objectives:

  • to empower girls and young women to actively participate in political institutions and processes;
  • to promote innovative educational methods aiming to increase young women’s awareness about participation in political life;
  • to involve young people, men and women, in raising public awareness on the importance of participation of young women in political life;
  • to enable young women from disadvantaged backgrounds or from minorities to participate in political life;
  • to promote equal opportunities for young men and young women to participate in political life;
  • to influence political actors and institutions, with a view to increasing young women’s participation in political institutions and processes;
  • to produce examples of good practice as regards overcoming obstacles to real participation of young women in political life;
  • to develop youth leader training models and/or methods to increase active involvement and participation of young women in political life.

Whether the projects were carried out on the initiative of young people, youth organisations/networks or on the initiative of other structures (public authorities, institutions, for example), they had to actively involve young people in their formulation and implementation. Projects also had to comply with the principles, values and philosophy of the Council of Europe’s youth sector, both in terms of content and approach.


The competition was open to youth organisations and networks (including, in particular, political youth organisations) and to other non-governmental structures involved in youth issues of relevance to the youth sector’s work; and to public authorities (local, regional, national or European), which were carrying out a project with young people. The competition was also open to projects carried out with the support of the European Youth Foundation.

The competition was open to the 48 States Parties to the European Cultural Convention.

The Jury was composed of four members of the Programming Committee on Youth, the decision-making body on the European Youth Centres’ and European Youth Foundation’s programmes, one representative of the European Steering Committee on Equality between Women and Men (CDEG), and a representative of the Youth and Sport Directorate. It met on 24 June 2003 in order to select the most outstanding projects.

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1st Prize

“Mentoring – from woman to woman”, a project implemented by the Swiss Council for Youth Activities (CSAJ), and the Federal Committee for Women’s Issues (CFQF) – SWITZERLAND

“Development of the young women networking and lobbying skills”, a project implemented by the organisation “Young women’s lobby”, from UKRAINE

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2nd Prize

“Empowering young women for active participation in rural areas”, a project implemented by the “AZERBAIJAN Democratic Student and Youth Organisation”

“Pink Labour Day”, a project implemented by a female network consisting of female members from the social democratic youth of DENMARK

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Prize for initiative, in recognition of initiatives taken to overcome causes that can prevent young women from taking the opportunity to engage themselves in political life and civil society

“Bridging the gap between elected representatives and voters”, a project implemented by the organisation “Women’s Alliance for Development”, from BULGARIA

“UASCOR: Understanding, Activation, Support, Co-operation and Respect”, a project implemented by the organisation “Fundatia Judeteana Pentru Tineret Constanta”, form ROMANIA

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