Civic.Pathway: Pathway to Civic Participation

About the project

Civic.Pathway: Pathway to Civic Participation is a long-term Erasmus+ Capacity Building project in the field of youth, coordinated by the Arab Organisation of Diplomacy (AOD) in Austria with EMOTiC as a partner. Running from January 2024 to December 2025 with partner organisations from Austria, Algeria and Libya, it set out to strengthen youth organisations in civic education and to help young people develop the social and life skills they need to take part meaningfully in civil society.

Young people in North Africa face substantial barriers to civic participation, rooted in economic, social and educational challenges. A needs analysis with 135 young people from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya found a lack of civic and transversal skills and of motivation for democratic engagement. Fewer than 20% of respondents prioritised democracy and civil society, citing lack of time, insufficient skills and the complexity of the issues, and more than half saw little benefit in taking part in civic life.

The project grew out of a long study, started in 2020, on how rapid international change, globalisation and the pandemic affect young people in North Africa. It aims to bridge the gap between the European Union's development policies and the actual needs of young people in the Arab Mediterranean region, through a civic empowerment programme that responds to local needs and drives positive change in areas such as democracy, climate change, justice and human rights.

Two methods are at its core. The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) is a learner-centred method of mutual dialogue, inspired by Socratic questioning, in which facilitator and participants learn from each other. It is used for self-analysis interviews with young people. The Structured Democratic Dialogue Process (SDDP) is a carefully managed conversation that makes sure all voices are heard among groups with differing views, much like a Model United Nations or a Model European Parliament committee. The project also uses LifeComp, the European framework for personal, social and learning-to-learn competences, to map gaps in transversal skills.

The pathway started with training of trainers in RMA and SDDP for youth workers. Trained youth workers then run self-analysis workshops designed to involve more than 160 young people, while an online SDDP forum aims to engage more than 300 users in structured civic dialogue. Youth multipliers go on to deliver an eight-week local civic empowerment programme for 150 young people, followed by a youth policymaking conference that simulates real decision-making and a final summit, the Youth Civic Pathway, to showcase outcomes and plan future engagement.

The project targets young people aged 16 to 28 who need stronger civic and transversal competences to act as agents of change, and youth educators who reach young people with fewer opportunities. Through a participatory, bottom-up approach, it aims to benefit more than 900 learners and over 50 youth educators and actors.