Title: JuniorXpress: A youth-led civic coaching driver for enhanced child-owned local governance.

ACRONYM : JuniorXpress

Partnership: 10 partners

Lead Partner:
• HELLENIC AGENCY FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (Greece)
Partners:
• ACTIONAID HELLAS ASTIKI MI KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIRIA (Greece)
• UNIVERSITY OF WEST ATTICA (Greece)
• TO HAMOGELO TOU PAIDIOU (Greece)
• MUNICIPALITY OF LARISSA (Greece)
• Municipality of Paggaio (Greece)
• Municipality of Kavala (Greece)
• Municipality of Thermi (Greece)
• COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE OF THESSALONIKI (Greece)
• Municipality of Volvi (Greece)

The JuniorXpress project rests on the assumption that, in order to ensure substantive child participation in political and democraticlife, child-owned governance should be in place, while institutional processes and discourses should be regenerated, voicing and valuing children as adults’ equal partners in decision-making processes. On that basis, targeting youth as a catalyst of meaningful child participation in a shared democracy at a city level, the project seeks to engage 15 Greek Municipalities in an effort to promote child-owned local governance, as follows:
- Develop a grounded roadmap for the operation of a youth-led civic engagement mechanism for enhanced child participation in local decision-making;
- Build youth civic coaches, capitalizing on the potential of the Municipal Youth Councils that operate across the country, following public-action-learning principles (use society as a classroom);
- Pilot test a youth-led civic coaching ecosystem, creating safe space for inspired and empowered student and vulnerable girls and boys to perform, explore and foster their civic identity as local government’s shareholders, through regular consultation, p2p mentoring, role modeling and child-driven civic projects;
- Challenge Greek municipalities from a child-rights and inclusive perspective promoting youth-led structured dialogue with local authorities on child-friendly local government through inter-municipal exploitation workshops;
- Assess impact with a focus on the acquired competences and skills provided to built youth civic coaches and minor coachees, as means for promoting child-friendly local government and prerequisites of a model for child-owned local governance;
- Engage youth on online discussions as enablers of child civic engagement;
- Enhance awareness on child substantive participation in local civic and political life for democratic and sustainable local societies.

Duration: 24 months
Total Budget: 415.554,83 €
Budget of Municipality of Larissa: 15.204,70 €