Informative Meeting: T.A.K.E Part project 

In the first meeting held on 18 March 2019, between European Movement in Albania (EMA) and the youngsters selected to be part of the activity, which will take place in Napoli, in the framework of Erasmus+ project, TAKE part (10-15 June 2019) some relevant information was provided: i) on the sending organization  EMA, its experiences with the youth and other engaging opportunities; ii) impressions and suggestions from the participants of the last year in the youth exchange in Naples; iii) information about the agenda of the activity and other thematic and logistic details.

Ms. Mona Xhexhaj, Programme Director of EMA , started the event by making a quick introduction on European Movement Albania, focusing on the youth projects and youth engagements. Knowing the role and the potential of the youth, stimulates initiatives that aim the strengthening of youth capacities, by implementing projects, which promote participating democracy and the role of youth in this direction.

Later on there was an introduction of the youngsters participating in the meeting. From around 150 applications, only 25 of them were elected, among them 16 girls and 9 boys and the average age of the group was 24 years old. The participants came from different fields of studies or work experiences, mentioning Political and Social Science, Law, Informatics, Engineering. This in order to create a group with  different backgrounds that will give them the opportunity to exchange their own ideas and experiences. When asked to share their expectations, the participants said they wanted to: gain a new experience and learn about methods that would contribute to the development of online democracy in Albania; create an online international platform focusing on the regional process of decision-making; getting to know the new European practices related to online decision-making; they intend to implement new platforms in Albania and their concrete application; increase cooperation and exchange ides among youth. Afterwards, two other guests, Olta Qejvani and Resul Resulaj, as participants of the  previous group in another similar project “Youth Committee for the Future 2018” implemented by Institute for the Future and EMA, shared their own  experiences and stimulated the participants to be fully engaged in this project.

Mr. Resul Resulaj mentioned that participating to this project is a great opportunity to get in touch with European Union policies and to engage in youth activities. Speeches and lectures form European experts and Italian officers, Simulation of European Parliament, team work, trips to Napoli and Pompei, are those kind of elements that make this  an unforgettable experience.

Second guest, Ms. Olta Qejvani, Lecturer at the Aleksander Mosiu University, participant at the 2018th project, stressed out two additional advantages from being a participant in this kind of projects: 1) Creating a network and exchanging experiences, 2) Coming up with new ideas ready to be implemented in Albania. During her speech, Olta tried to explain that participation in such activities must be seen not only as a one week experience, but also as an opportunity to start launching new ideas and creating networks with other organizations.

Ms. Nirvana Deli, Coordinator of T.A.K.E Part project, brought a lot of detailed information to the participants concerning the Italian hosting organization Institute for the Future and other partner institutes in Italy like: Naples municipality, Europe Direct Centre and Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies in Napoli, which will also be host  institutions for the activity. During the 4 days of the activity they are expected to be part of: 1) Lectures from Italian and foreign experts on e-democracy, the successful methods that have been used so far, their advantages, but also the challenges they face during implementation and 2) World Cafes, where the main focus of the discussion will be the young participants. During the afternoons, the participants will have the chance to discover the city of Napoli and enjoy its beauty. On the last day of the activity, the participants will have to prepare for YouthPass awarding ceremony and after that for the intercultural night (which means that they have to introduce and promote their cuntry by bringing traditional drinks or food, dancing traditional dance or even presenting their most touristic places in their country. At the end of her presentation, Nirvana shortly presented the topics of the discussion: E-democracy and different digital methods to enable the engagement in decision-making; experiences from both municipalities or even European institutions when using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; creating platforms for online consultation or discussion (e-consultations or e-delibaration), online petitions (e-petitions), online voting  (e-voting) etc.