The ACT project underlines that the need to develop democratic citizenship principles and values of active citizenship, freedom, tolerance, and non-discrimination among youth is going to be addressed in and through education utilising the power of emerging technologies so as to share fundamental values and foster young people`s active citizenship between European and Southern Neighbourhood region counties.
Education could play a stronger role in promoting shared values and educating committed, critical-thinking and active citizens through the use of Virtual Exchanges practices between Europe and the Southern Neighbourhood region. It can help young people become active citizens once they understand their role within society and how they can go about improving it.
Promoting youth participation through virtual exchanges from a global citizenship point of view can have a range of positive outcomes for learners as embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals through SDG 4. Each generation needs to learn and have opportunities to exercise democratic principles, values, ideas and underlying concepts of rights and responsibilities. Competencies that can be developed include skills such as thinking critically, teamwork, and communication, and qualities such as confidence and self-esteem, as well as values.
Within this context, the ACT project aims to foster youth participation in democratic life and support social and civic engagement by acquiring international and intercultural competencies via Virtual Exchanges practices and without travelling abroad.
Objectives
The General Objective of the ACT project can be summarized as follows: “Developing values of active citizenship, freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination among young people by connecting students and professors/staff of HEIs of European and Southern Neighbourhood region countries through online formal and non-formal activities”.
to develop interactive open online activities including formal and non-formal activities with a main focus on the elements of active citizenship and intercultural learning to increase access to student mobility opportunities for all students and professors/staff and ensure opportunities for youth participation in democratic life and support social and civic engagement. Formal, non-formal and informal education and access to lifelong learning not only provide knowledge, skills and competencies but should also help learners to develop ethical and civic values and become active, responsible, open-minded members of society;
to train participants on cultural awareness so as to promote ethics, equality and resilience as well as empathy and sensitivity to differences and support the development of interpersonal and intercultural skills based on the framework of global competencies;
to implement online facilitated activities (within formal and non-formal education settings) with students and youth workers on topics of active citizenship and both SDGs and EU values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination, enhancing the common understanding among the two regions and enabling learners to develop the values of an active citizen, such as sense of responsibility, active participation and engagement in the society, environmental protection, resilience, human rights respect.
