Research Project: Youth projects in structurally weak and rural areas

Results

In the course of the research project, a comprehensive picture of youth projects in small towns in peripheral areas emerged. This picture reveals that there are groups of young people in many small towns in rural areas who play an active role in the development of their town. It also reveals great diversity and an enormous wealth of ideas in youth participation. Although the approaches, processes and formats – and the individual projects themselves – differ, they have one thing in common: they are finely tuned to local circumstances, they take on board the interests and abilities of the young people involved, those who support them and available resources. In short, they take account of the local context and respond to it appropriately.

The following impact and influencing factors of and on youth projects in small towns were observed:

Impact on the urban structure: the design of places and spaces

Young people's engagement changes urban spaces: they work on, with and in places that are important within the urban structure and shape the face of the town. They acquire some spaces for themselves along with others they believe to be important for all the residents in a town. Many of the projects set themselves the goal of creating meeting places that are primarily intended for young people but are in principle available for everyone. In contrast to large towns and cities, small towns do not have many places for young people to meet and hang out. That makes those places all the more important. When young people get involved with them, they often advocate other people too, thinking about the needs of younger children or senior citizens, for example. By creating and actively engaging with spaces that add value to the town, young people make themselves visible, get noticed and position themselves in society.

Impact on democracy in the local community: becoming part of the urban society

Youth participation creates a sense of loyalty to the town and identification with the community. Associated with that is the opportunity for each young person to gain first-hand experience with democratic processes. They try out and learn different ways in which opinions are formed – ranging from debate and expressing and listening to arguments up to decision-making. In some towns and regions this also helps to establish a clear political position towards extremist tendencies and groups. And last but not least: young people say they enjoyed debating their concerns, winning others over to their point of view, developing projects and being involved in their joint implementation.

Participation culture: exploring possibilities, identifying what is achievable

Vibrant youth participation that goes beyond fulfilling the letter of the law depends on there being an appropriate culture of participation. This cannot be created overnight; it has to evolve and grow. What is important are people’s attitudes to civic engagement and how they work together. In the projects studied, youth participation in small towns was based on what is actually achievable. The young people filtered their project ideas at an early stage and focused on what they thought could actually be achieved. The ideas they pursued further were exclusively based on this. They tried to reach consensus for their ideas and to work closely with their partners to implement them.

Participation formats and organisational structure: context and independent rationale

Age-appropriate formats and structures are among the factors that are often cited as playing a role in the success of participation by children and young people. The projects studied demonstrate what this might look like. That said, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Appropriate solutions are not available off the shelf; they have to be developed on the ground, be appropriate for the group and for the local context. Whether an informal network, a grassroots initiative, an association, or a formal set-up is successful or not depends on whether local stakeholders want it and get actively involved in designing it. In many local authorities young people have engaged intensively with the organisational form of their group, on which they then take a decision.

Supporting youth participation: people, knowledge, structures

Successful youth projects are embedded in an environment that offers support and promotes engagement. Support can take the form of people, financial resources or building up know-how. Supportive people on the ground are needed to ensure continuous and durable processes in youth participation. They give the group stability and build important bridges to the people responsible at the political and administrative level. We observed the following: structures to support work with young people (relating to youth projects) are not embedded in all local authorities and professionals are not available in all towns. Generally speaking, the municipal administration in smaller towns is limited in size and has a less differentiated structure. Furthermore, responsibilities are divided between local and district governments. This deficit is offset by a high degree of personal engagement: in some cases on the part of civil society initiatives, in others by a mayor. In addition to human resources, financial resources are also an important form of support. Funding programmes, local donations and sponsorship help to establish process and project structures. To ensure that they can all be deployed and used locally, sufficient human resources are needed to acquire funding and carry out the project management.

The results of this study show that youth engagement in small towns works on three levels: it changes urban spaces (buildings as well as central squares and open spaces on the outskirts of towns), it contributes to the common good, and it promotes the process of learning democracy among the participants. In this way, it creates a sense of identification with the town and offers great potential for its development. For that reason, many of the young people interviewed for the research project advise that young people like themselves should be involved. They address this message not just to their peers but also to those responsible in the political and administrative sector.