Co-production and Design Thinking Workshop in Oviedo
During 18-22 November 2024, EYDR project partners organized the co-production and design thinking workshop in Oviedo. Hosted by Youropia, this workshop brought together 12 participants from the partners from Albania, Montenegro and Serbia to design the Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Programme, the core part of the EYDR project.
First day of the workshop: Reflection & Food for thought
On the first day of the workshop was divided in two parts; reflection session & exploring new contexts. Throughout the first part of the day Jesmina Sengla from SCiDEV and Maja Nikolic from UZOR presented key findings from the Mapping reports conducted in Albania and Montenegro. Throughout their presentations they highlighted cyber hygiene, productive use of social media and tools for digital activism as key areas where youngsters from the Western Balkans need capacity building support. The presentations from the findings were followed by a brainstorming reflection session hosted by Mila Bajic from SHARE Foundation where the participants identified additional youth needs in the digital context.
The second part of the day was dedicated to case studies coming from Spain, where Simone Lucchi from Youropia introduced digital platforms used locally and nationally in Spain, including the challenges of these e-democracy platforms based on first hand experience. The participants also benefited from the presentation hosted by representatives of CODOPA, which engaged the participants of the workshop in exploring challenges that AI poses to democracy. Lastly, the participants had the opportunity to visit the podcast studio of Luar Association where youth in Oviedo can amplify its voice using digital means.
Visit in Luar Association
Second day of the workshop: Drafting the Open Call and evaluation procedures
Based on the findings from the Mapping reports and inspired by the case studies presented during the first day, on the second day of the workshop the participants identified the topics to be covered during the Digital Democracy Workshops, and worked closely in groups to draft the open call, application form and evaluation procedures for the open call.
Working group on Evaluation Procedures
By the end of the second day the participants successfully designed all components of the Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Programme including:
- Topics of Digital Democracy Workshop series
- Key themes for youth mobilities
- Working draft of the open call
- The application form
- Evaluation procedures for the applicants
- National dissemination strategy for the Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Programme.
Third day of the workshop: Informal networking
Under the guidance of Simone Lucchi, the participants closed their co-design workshop experience in style by visiting in Luanco and Penas Cape, the northernmost point on the Iberian Peninsula and Aviles. The group trip strengthened the collaboration and networking between the organizations, a crucial component to ensure the successful delivering of each task of the project.
Next steps ahead
Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Programme will be launched during December 2024 and will engage 40 young people from Albania and Montengro with diverse backgrounds in a 9 month capacity developing programme where they will be provided with the opportunity to explore digital democracy and cyber security throughout training, mobility, research opportunities and hands on experience in designing social media campaigns which promote inclusive digital transformation and youth active participation.
Stay tuned for more information!
