Challenges for Participation and Empowerment. Six Youth Dialogue Projects in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

AbstractYouth work aimed at empowering people to be active citizens is demanding in organisational and didactic terms, and because of diverse contexts and EU perceptions which have to be respected. This chapter compares the practical challenges encountered by organisers of six youth dialogue projects in post-socialist regions of the European Union funded by Erasmus+ in 2019. It identifies typical challenges, including varying attitudes toward the EU and EU citizenship, a low interest in politics, challenging living conditions, underdeveloped youth work opportunities in remote rural areas, the difficulties in reaching a target group, the unstable motivation of young people, a lack of prior knowledge, no systematic consideration of the youth dialogue results by decision-makers, the unclear long-term effects of the projects and problems with funding. It also discusses the findings in light of previous studies on youth work and European citizenship that did not specifically focus on our region of interest.