The aim of the project is to raise awareness about democracy, corruption and empower youth through Participatory Budgeting (PB) to have a say in democratic processes and be an active citizen. With this project we hope to further empower young people, giving them an opportunity to extend their ideas beyond the confines of their schools and engage with the broader local community. In order to do that, TI Estonia and Estonian Cooperation Assembly will help implement PB in schools, involving the young individuals from the outset. We expect at least 540 students, aged 13-30, to take part in the project activities. PB is necessary in order to support the democratic values of young people and provide them with a real experience and habit of participation, which later supports civic courage and activism. Civic courage and activism in turn are integral parts of fighting corruption, which thrives on passivity and people turning a blind eye to it.
We expect to increase the number of students actively involved in school life, but also catalyse meaningful youth participation on local municipality level. Through this we expect our project to empower young people to have a greater say in their communities and to actively make their voices heard, thus paving the way for more democratic and transparent communities as well.
