Vorwort zu einem Projektbericht von 4 Schülerinnen der HAK Liezen: Die Diskussion mit EU-Parlamentariern im Rahmen von “EU - (k)Ein Ungeheuer”
It has been 20 years now that NIKE uses the slogan “Just do it!” to encourage people to take action (and buy their shoes). I don´t know whether our four local heroes bought any Nike-shoes – but they definitely took action!
A few words about how I happened to get in contact with the courages team: As project-manager of “EU – (k)Ein Ungeheuer” I organized workshops and discussions in the months ahead of the EU parliamentary elections in June 2009. These workshops took place in Graz – and in order to let persons beyond sensible distance take part we organized videostream and the possibility to ask questions. To encourage young people we asked teachers to step into the program. Therefore we organized a meeting at the beginning. What we didn´t expect: In addition to some teachers 4 courageous ladies sat there, announcing their interest to take part and offering to organize an extra discussion in Liezen!
I must confess: At the beginning I was not sure if they really knew what they were asking for: Hours of sitting together and making difficult decisions, hours of calling people to support and calling them again to do what they promised, hours of trying to sleep at night while questions and worries plague your mind.
But as we all know: It developed great! As far as I know this discussion on the 18th of June 2009 had the most guests and the most active Members of Parliament (MEP) in this pre-election-time in Styria!
We know that many pages have been written about “Active Citizenship” and “Participation of young people”, in and outside the EU. And many of us have experienced well-intentioned projects, initiated by professional youth- and social-workers. But rarely have I seen an initiative that combined professional project management and “just do it” like this project: Chapeau!