Liechtenstein Youth Council
| Youth Council Association in Liechtenstein | |
|---|---|
| purpose | Promotion of political participation in Liechtenstein |
| Chair: | Brian Haas (President), Maximilian Meyer (Vice President) |
| Establishment date: | October, 2012 |
| Number of members: | around 50 |
| Seat : | Schaan, Liechtenstein |
| Website: | www.jugendrat.li |
The Jugendrat in Liechtenstein association ( Liechtenstein Youth Council for short ) sees itself as a platform for young adults between 15 and 28 years of age in Liechtenstein who are interested in and want to get involved in political issues. The youth council was best known for its easyvote project , which was used in the state elections in 2013 and 2017 and in the municipal elections in 2015 and 2019. The Youth Council made a name for itself as an active youth parliament through regular, high-profile projects and work.
history
2011 - the year of the idea
It all began with the Liechtenstein youth participation (JUBEL). Brian Haas and Florian Ramos have been involved in this participation network of Liechtenstein student representatives for several years with their own projects, as moderators, mentors and finally as advisors to the board. At the age of 16, however, they were about to exceed the specified age limit. The desire to continue to actively participate in Liechtenstein’s events and to enable them to have their own peers led the two of them to initial discussions and considerations regarding a new opportunity for young people to participate in politics: the foundation stone for the Liechtenstein Youth Council was laid.
2012 - the year of implementation
The aspired concept of a youth parliament was presented to various representatives from politics, youth and society in February 2012 on the occasion of the JUBEL general assembly. The feedback was consistently positive. For example, the head of government at the time, Klaus Tschütscher, promised to help young people network and implement their ideas.
With the processing of the comprehensive feedback from politics and youth work and the associated specification of the project, Brian Haas and Florian Ramos faced new tasks: It was necessary to find like-minded people, which could be solved quickly thanks to good preparatory work. The founding members include Brian Haas and Florian Ramos, Alissia Casagrande, Caroline Forte, Maximilian Meyer and Orlando Wanner.
With the establishment in October 2012 and the subsequent start financing by the EU program Youth in Action (Youth in Action) of the Youth Council was able to start the first club year.
On Saturday, December 15, 2012, the association presented itself to the public and presented its first project, "easyvote".
2013 to 2015
At the beginning of 2013, the implementation of the “easyvote” project was still in full swing. The “easyvote” evaluation was particularly important. As a further milestone, the Liechtenstein Youth Council was able to record the election of its then Vice-President Florian Ramos to the board of the umbrella association of Swiss Youth Parliaments (DSJ) on March 16, 2013.
The deeper networking with the then 33 Swiss youth parliaments within the DSJ offers a unique opportunity to learn from the experiences of others, to exchange ideas and, last but not least, to get involved in the umbrella organization.
Another highlight followed on October 25, 2013. The Liechtenstein Youth Council was able to present itself successfully at the regional preliminary round of the youth project competition in Ruggell.
His work - and in particular the “easyvote” project - was awarded first place and prize money of 1,100 francs . In St. Gallen, the youth council again presented its projects at the finals of the interregional youth project competition. Result: a third place.
In June 2014, the youth council - together with the Neuraum and EJL associations - officially inaugurated its own roof over one's head. Thanks to the support of the community of Schaan , the clubhouse "Haus am Gleis" can be used for meetings, events and discussions in the future.
In July 2014, the Youth Council went public with a larger project: a school survey on political education.
591 pupils from secondary schools were asked about their knowledge of Liechtenstein politics and the results were presented in the government's media room.
2016 to 2018
In November 2015, the first workshop “Politics you can touch” was held on the training weekend of the Liechtenstein Youth Participation Association (JuBeL). The aim of this workshop is to bring politics closer to young people in a playful way, on the one hand to get them excited about politics, but also to give them basic knowledge of the Liechtenstein political system.
In 2017, the Youth Council welcomed 150 young parliamentarians from 32 different youth parliaments and councils to Liechtenstein on the first weekend in April, who came together on the occasion of the annual delegates' meeting of the umbrella association of Swiss Youth Parliaments (DSJ). The meeting was organized by the Liechtenstein Youth Council in cooperation with the DSJ and took place in the SaL in Schaan. The Youth Council was able to do this because of its good cooperation and contacts with other youth parliaments.
After the delegates' meeting was opened on Saturday by Prime Minister Adrian Hasler, the full-day plenum started. Following the plenum, the young people were offered a varied supporting program in addition to a dinner, which gave them the opportunity to exchange ideas about their projects and activities, make new friends, expand their network and, last but not least, get to know the Principality of Liechtenstein better on Sunday through exciting excursions to learn.
In November 2016, the Youth Council held the first Liechtenstein youth session. 17 young people and young adults met in the state parliament in Vaduz and discussed the issues of vocational training and paternity leave. 6 motions could be worked out, which were approved by the young parliamentarians and then handed over to the President of the State Parliament, Albert Frick.
Due to the evaluation of the first youth session and the numerous positive feedback, the board of the youth council decided to continue the project in the future. This is why youth sessions were held in the state parliament building in Vaduz in November 2017 and November 2018.
The youth session offers all youths and young adults the opportunity to put themselves in the role of a member of the state parliament and to exchange ideas on current topics in a team with other youths and experts. Through the youth session it is possible for the youth council to obtain the opinion of the youth and young adults and to pass it on to politics. In this way he wants to ensure that the opinion of the youth is also heard.
Purpose / activities
The Liechtenstein Youth Council formulates the following purpose in its statutes:
- To improve the participation of adolescents and young adults in the political process in Liechtenstein
- Promotion of political education
- Promote the opinion of adolescents and young adults
- Preparing young people for elections and voting
- To get young adults to vote
It fulfills its purpose through the following activities:
- Carries out an active youth policy and promotes participation among young people and young adults on a national and local level
- Cooperation with the young parties of Liechtenstein
- Support projects that are in the subject areas of the youth council
- Promotion of exchange between the generations (young people - politics)
- Contact person with regard to youth issues
structure
Members
The general assembly annually elects the three to six-member board and works in working groups.
Board
The areas of responsibility of the board of directors are divided into departments, with each board member heading one of them as head and deputy.
Board members who have performed extraordinary services for the association are proposed as honorary members after their work by the board and can be confirmed by the assembly.
Working groups
The working groups are set up by the board of directors. Every member can become part of a working group and thus get involved in the association.
Advisory Board
The advisory board fulfills an advisory function. He is called in for advice on important strategic decisions or at the request of the Executive Board.
Projects
Easyvote Liechtenstein voting aid
easyvote provides young people with politically neutral information about elections. Those who are not yet entitled to vote should be able to understand what is being determined at the political level.
Responsible young people are encouraged to use their opportunity to go to the polls. The brochure is short, informative and is intended to encourage reading.
So far there have been four “easyvote” election brochures, namely on the state elections in 2013 and 2017 and on the municipal elections in 2015 and 2019. Each time, over 3,000 young people between 17 and 30 years of age were reached in Liechtenstein.
School Political Poll
In March 2014, the Liechtenstein Youth Council carried out a survey on political education in cooperation with the Education Authority of the Principality of Liechtenstein. 591 schoolchildren with an average age of 16.5 years were asked about their political knowledge.
The youth council came to the following conclusion:
- A third of those questioned refused to go to politics.
- The basic knowledge of Liechtenstein's students is well developed.
- There is a lot of catching up to do in terms of detailed knowledge.
- A majority of the young people deal with referendums.
- Without the high school grades 5 to 7, the results drop by 3 to 7 percent.
Youth session
The youth session is a project of the Liechtenstein Youth Council. Its purpose is to gather the opinion of young people and young adults and pass them on to politics. All interested young people and young adults from the state come together in the state assembly room to discuss current issues and to formulate possible solutions.
At the end of the youth session, these demands and possible solutions are passed on to politicians. These already took place in 2016, 2017 and 2018. A youth session is also planned for 2019.
See also
Web links
- Internet presence of the Liechtenstein Youth Council
- Easyvote Liechtenstein website
- Internet presence of Youth Information Liechtenstein (aha)
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of easyvote. Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Press report Young voters have received the easyvote brochure. (PDF 836 kB) In: Volksblatt. January 17, 2017, p. 8 , accessed January 29, 2017 .
- ↑ Press report Bipartisan voice of the youth. (PDF) Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Press report Presentation to the public at the JUBEL General Assembly. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 18, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Press report presentation to the public. (PDF) Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Press report of the easyvote evaluation event. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 14, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Press report election of Florian Ramos in DSJ board easyvote. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 17, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Youth project competition 2013. Accessed on January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Press report youth project competition. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 17, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Radio report opening club house. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 18, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Press report youth and politics: The interest is there. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 18, 2016 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Statutes of the youth council. (PDF) Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ^ Statutes of the youth council. (PDF) Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Division of work for the youth council. Retrieved January 12, 2016 .
- ↑ easyvote. Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Report easyvote. Retrieved January 12, 2016 .
- ↑ School survey on political education. Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
