Your Opinion Matters: Civic engagement of young adults

The project will promote civil participation and democracy/civic education, and center libraries as places of democracy and debate in Bulgaria. It aims to promote the active participation of young adults in community life through participation in activities related to issues of common interest in Bulgaria by positioning public libraries as centers for the local community, place for public debate, and house of community and democracy.  On the base of concept of the Libraries as a “third place” after the tome and work/school the project will boost the activities of libraries and enhance participatory democracy and civic activity in Bulgarian society.

Librarians from ten pilot libraries will be trained to develop and implement a model for meeting local-community needs for civic information and education in their libraries, with a focus on the electoral process. Libraries will conduct voter outreach activities in their communities, focusing on young adults. They will provide key voter information on their websites and hold events to encourage participation in the electoral process and increase civic, information, and media literacy. More specifically, the model programs will inform participants how to vote and to evaluate political party programs, and explore why it is important to take part in the democratic process. At the end of the project, the pilot libraries will present their experiences to the library community to encourage other libraries to become more active in providing information and services related to citizen participation in the electoral process.

Partner – Libraries, cooperating for the achievement of the project goals

• Regional libraries with American Corners: in Sofia, Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo;
• Regional libraries with American Shelves: in Haskovo, Smolyan, Russe, Vidin, Pleven and Silistra.

These libraries will be the centers for the research portion of the program, and also host the opening and final project meetings and training of trainers.

context

Despite the presence of many non-governmental organizations and experts on the subject of “civil society and civil participation”, large groups of people remain unreached by their activities and initiatives. As institutions that communicate with large numbers of ‘awake citizens’, libraries could play a key role in informing and activating civil society. Since the turn of the 21st Century, public libraries have expanded to include a variety of community services in their institutional missions, and are generally trusted as reliable providers of information. They also have the geographical reach to implement projects on a universal scale. Public Libraries play a crucial role in sustaining democracy and addressing equity in a time of widespread threats to democratic values and freedoms by invoking the strength of libraries as champions of equity, trusted sources of accurate information, and convenors for civic engagement. We believe that libraries are well-situated to play a pivotal role in promoting voting and democracy education and, in turn, contribute to an improved democratic culture in Bulgaria. To fulfill this role it is necessary for librarians to be trained with the best tools and approaches to involve citizens in public debates and initiatives.

Goals

1. Enhance youth engagement in the democratic process and elections
2. Position Bulgarian public libraries as local centers for civic participation and public debate, which provide true and reliable democracy-related information

Objectives

1. Educate and train library specialists in the fields of citizen-engagement in the democratic process, elections and voting, and also how to offer information, services and programs to engage youth citizens.
2. Establish partnerships with stakeholders that work in the field of civic participation and public debate, youth engagement with voting and the democratic process, and providing citizens with true and reliable information.
3. Empowering and involving young people in the democratic process and civic participation by conducting a variety of library activities.

number of expected direct beneficiaries

20 regional librarians with American corners and American shelves
200 librarians from public libraries in Bulgaria
200 young people
20 teachers