The objective of “YOU Monitor – Empowering YOUth to build MONITORial communities against corruption” is to develop an innovative, transversal educational method, based on the use of non-formal techniques, in order to involve, and give responsibility to, young people in the civil fight against corruption at the European level.

With this in mind, together with the project’s partners coming from Germany, France and Italy, in-depth materials and specific kits on the fight against corruption and the development of tools and methods will be made for young workers in order to promote the development of a monitoring community.

The composition of the partnership will guarantee a dual result: on one hand, the possibility to involve young people in all three countries thanks to the presence of the associations who work with the target youths; on the other hand, the development of thematic, structural details as a result of the specific skills regarding the fight against the corruption felt by the realities at hand. In the arc of the project’s two year duration, the union will succeed in creating a “common knowledge” in the three countries, enriched not only by elaborated content, but from the comparison and exchange of good practices between the 7 involved partners.

Finally, in line with the 2019-2027 European Union Strategy for the youth, the project promotes the protections granted by active citizenship and offers the opportunity for young people to participate in public life within the political areas that are relevant to their lives, with an innovative form of democratic participation aimed at facing corruption with a bottom-up approach. Moreover, the project responds to the provisions of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption regarding Civil Society Organizations in promoting educational programs on the fight against corruption and public participation in decision-making processes.  It is because of this that the project symbolically kicks off on December 9th, in congruence with the International Day Against Corruption in the United Nations.

Results to achieve

• Increase the capacity of young workers to explain, take responsibility for, and enable other young people in the management of power relationships, positively managing conflicts of interest and utilizing their right to know.
• Increase the capacity of young workers to train other young people on themes regarding the fight against corruption and civic monitoring, with particular attention to three aspects: the identification of power relationships; the recognition of the conditions of a “conflict of interest”; the awareness of the right to access public information as a key tool for the expression of European citizenship.
• Support and incentivize the young people involved in the activation of monitoring initiatives within their own communities.
• Share the acquired skills and key tools for civic monitoring activities within communities; promote the central role of the active citizen against corruption in all of Europe and, in particular, in the partner countries.

Proposed activities

• Elaboration and realization of the YOU Monitor toolkit: specifically,  3 thematic guides and 3 educative proposals aimed at developing monitoring communities in the 3 involved countries (Germany, France and Italy) will be produced.
• The meetings and events brought about by the project will see the use of different methods of involvement with the partner associations, in line with the objective of the meeting, from the implementation of informational meetings to workshops/experiential theater laboratories, role-playing games, insights on the techniques of communication, the development of awareness-raising campaigns, etc.

Impact

The partner associations will have new tools to raise awareness, train, and empowerthe youth in the fight against civic corruption, which will be able to be used directly on the local, national, and community level. The partners will expand an international network of subjects interested in using the results of the project, both through young workers and public authorities. Finally, young people will be offered the necessary opportunities and tools to become anti-corruption activists and leaders, promoting anti-corruption campaigns and a culture of integrity at a local/national/EU level.