Virtual Hyde Park “Youth’s voice”is a practical program to stimulate the direct participation of young people in public policy-making. It will provide a platform for those who have what to say. They often feel age-discriminated and hence their mistrust of institutions. The project will change that.We will use the social media to guide the youth from aimless communication with friends or "doing nothing" to actively participating in creating their own social environment.

Burgas, Southeastern Bulgaria, Southern Black Sea Coast

Burgas region is a developed tourist and industrial center. There are two universities and dozens of high schools. Of the 410,000 people living here permanently, about 20% are young people between the ages of 15 and 35. A youth strategy has been developed in the district, which includes their civic activity and dialogue with local authorities. However, growing distrust of the institutions makes this dialogue increasingly difficult to implement. Many of the youth problems remain unresolved, become chronic and reproduce in society. The distance from politics is growing; the motivation to participate in it is low. Young people do not recognize politics as a way to defend their interests. Many of them even refuse to use their right to vote.

The target group is all young people from Burgas region from 15 to 35 years old. A pilot group of young men and women with interests in public life will be especially encouraged to be actively involved in the civic processes of society, to acquire new knowledge about their rights and opportunities, to share them with their coevals and to involve them in the idea of youth civic activity.

The Virtual Hyde Park “Youth’s voice”will be held online in six sessions over 1 year. Each of the sessions will last 60 minutes and will allow young people to openly share the issues that concern them and the reasons for not resolving them. Mediators and an IT specialist will be involved. The "coherence" will be made through a pre-announced link in specially created pages of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, through invitations to various youth groups.
MENTORING PROGRAM:3 pilot groups of 5 young people /15 in total/ will be formed and divided by age and interests: high-school students between 16 and 18 years old, university students between 19 and 25 years old and working young people from 19 to 35 years old. Each of the groups will have its own mentor-journalist. The groups will work for 5 months. 2 webinars and 1 live seminar will be organized for their training. Young people will be trained to create their own tools for expression - blogs, pages and podcasts. Each group will prepare 5 podcasts of 30 minutes on current issues, discussed in the Virtual Hyde Park, with the participation of representatives of involved institutions. The podcasts will be recorded in the office of Association with Non-profit aim “Horizonti” and broadcast via YouTube channel and the project's social media pages.
FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE will present the project results.

-Building a community of young people who will become ambassadors of the idea of "awakening" the youth
-Creating a digital space for free sharing of youth problems and ways to solve them
-15 young people trained - future podcasters and bloggers
- Increased awareness among young people about the opportunities they have for active civic engagement
-Creating self-confidence and significance for society, incentive to participate in civic processes and local policies
-Building a community that can express itself confidently and freely and realize various social causes
- Uniting the diverse youth communities and channeling their interests towards civil society
-Overcoming the passive consumption of media content, acquisition of new digital media competencies, teamwork skills

The project will highlight the huge role and importance of youth policy for the development and creation of active and competent young people needed for constructive civic processes. Young people will make direct contact with local institutions and to seek their solution together. They will realize that the quality of their future life is their responsibility now. Confidence in their own abilities will help them to begin to actively participate in public and social life. Representatives of local and state authorities will be involved in the project activities with the help of the mentors. They will participate in the podcasts, will acquaint young people with their rights and civic responsibilities and will offer a solution to youth’s problems.

The team behind this project has successfully implemented a number of projects aimed at the integration and inclusion of various social groups in public life. It maintains close contact with the media and local authorities. The affirmation of good practices in the development of civil society is among the main goals of “Horizonti”.In recent years we have witnessed a growing distancing of young people from social problems. Through new technologies, they are involved in the process of globalization, but mainly at the level of "consumption". Their integration into public values is deficient, and this puts the future of society at risk. The passivity of young people is worrying. They are intelligent and have potential. The next step remains to be taken-to instill confidence their own strength.

Expenses For: Project management staff -manager, financial management, IT specialist, and organizers -8,000 euros
Mentoring program -3 mentors, creation of audio-visual teaching aids /webinars/, rent of a hall for live training -6500 euros
Technical equipment -computer, microphones, headphones, mixing console, software-9,000 euros
Creation and sponsorship of digital tools, fees-pages and social media groups, fees are hosting, streaming, YouTube, hosting networks- 5,000 euros
PR -2000 euros

We would be very happy to receive proposals for innovative strategies for motivating, activating and involving young people in the management of local communities. Any advice that could improve our idea would be useful.