Here To Stay

The partnership

The Our Civic Space website is an initiative of the Erasmus+ programme Here To Stay. Together, with five organisations from four different countries (The Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic) we do our very best to reach our mission. 

Why is civic space important?

In Europe, there is a shrinking trend of civic spaces for young people. This has negative consequences for young people. They become less engaged as European citizens  and are limited in their fundamental rights to gather and express themselves freely. Results of these developments are, among others, disengagement of youth in decision-making processes and their social exclusion which prevents young people from becoming agents of social change.

Our mission

Our mission is to counter this trend of  shrinking civic spaces in Europe and increase the engagement of youth through civic spaces. We aim to create an enabling and productive environment for youth work to facilitate the process of involving young people in decision-making processes and use of civic spaces. By contacting and interacting with local youth organisations and learning about their challenges, combined with our own experience in youth work we aim to develop and share practical knowledge that helps local youth organisations, policy makers and youth workers to counter the trend of shrinking civic spaces. Our way to enrich youth work and reach young people and get them to participate actively is by focusing on the social aspects we believe youth like the most: sport, dance, music, and arts.

Our Outputs

02. Virtual Youth Space - Our Civic Space

This is the website where you are right now. Our Civic Space is an interactive website for youth workers which brings together best practices, examples, and case studies from the field and provides the opportunity to exchange thoughts and experiences around civic space. A civic space in the present time is not just a physical place, it can be a virtual one as well. Our Civic Space is such a place. It is a place where you will be informed, inspired, and activated.

05. National multiplier events

Every partner organisation will organise a national multiplier event in which we promote our first three outputs, building capacity of European youth work and ensuring the dissemination of the programme outputs for youth, youth workers and youth work organisations. The events are planned for October 2021. More information about these events will be posted on this website.