As part of the activities around the European Youth Week 2015, the European Commission is launching a new "crowd-sourcing" initiative, allowing young people to express their proposals for action: "Ideas Labs". Groups of young people will have the opportunity to meet together and create proposals that they feel are worth sharing with policy-makers, and put these to the test with their peers across Europe through the European Youth Portal. The proposals will also be presented to decision-makers at a special event in Brussels.
The labs will give a platform for young people’s original ideas and new ways of looking at existing problems. They seek to showcase how young people’s open and forward-looking minds can trigger a paradigm shift, spot new societal trends and contribute to economic, social and democratic change. They are not meant to suggest how to prioritise topics on the agenda of politicians, nor to lobby to do more for young people; they are meant to generate concrete proposals for action.
To ensure the efficient and effective facilitation of these online and offline discussions, the European Commission together with the National Agencies intends to recruit one facilitator for each Ideas Lab group in order to match the language requirements of the groups.
At the session, facilitators are expected to:
*Provoke constructive ideas for action based on the given themes
*Allow young people the flexibility to participate on their terms, so they can adopt and take ownership of the idea they will propose
*Aim to showcase young people’s ability to propose original and innovative ideas as an added value in policy-making
*Support the creation of one concrete proposal for activity per Idea Lab of 300 words, and encourage the use of other digital communication materials as the young people see fit
The facilitators who will be invited to get involved in Labs will be paid a daily fee of 250 euros for 1 and a half day (for the 1 day Ideas Labs meeting plus half a day of preparatory work). Any travel and subsistence costs for the facilitator to attend the physical meeting will also be covered.
You can find all the background, practical information and apply online here. Deadline is 11th of February.
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