The EU Crash Course: Understanding Europe EYP-UKRAINE The EU Crash Course: Understanding Europe is a workshop which introduces the EU in an interactive way. It works with the peer-to-peer principle trainer teams come to make the course happen. “Understanding Europe” is the name for EU Crash Courses offered by European Youth Parliament’s umbrella organisation, the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe in Germany since 2009. With the support of the European Youth Parliament the EU-Crash Courses is offered also in other EU member states: Italy, Lithuania, Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Belgium and Ukraine. Methodology The concept of the courses is based on the Peer-Education-Approach. Young, trained, seminar moderators are coming as trainer-tandems to the school. As multipliers for European ideas, they are at the same time mediators of the process. The EU-Crash Course serves at providing space for questions of the pupils concerning the context of the European integration and to impart and visualize basic knowledge about European politics. Goals As Ukraine has signed the political part of the Association Agreement, we feel the necessity to increase the role of high school students in the EU integration process of Ukraine by raising awareness on EU basics. Hence, we aim to: o Make people get acquainted with the structure of the EU through non-formal
approach; o Increase pupils’ interest in the EU-related issues and encourage them to
participate; o Offer a platform for pupils’ questions and offer them room for dealing with
controversies. Content The course focuses on three main topics: o Why does the EU exist? – Milestones of European history o Who is the EU? – Actors of the EU
o What does the EU do? – Relevance of the EU and its competencies
In addition, the course offers not only the theory in general but the opportunity to use all knowledge gained during proposed workshops. As well, we encourage our participants to have open group discussion to share their opinions on EU-related issues or any topic chosen by students, and then have a chance to take part in the European Youth Parliament’s activities. European Youth Parliament (EYP) was founded in 1987 as a pan-European project, which spreads and promotes the idea of united Europe and European citizenship. Over the past 27 years, the organisation has been undergoing the processes of expansion and enlargement; now it functions in 38 European countries. It successfully operates in the EU member states, and also in the neighbouring countries. EYP National Committees conduct more than 120 of national and regional sessions and forums on an annual basis. EYP conducts 3 international sessions annually, which are attended by over 300 young people, aged 16-22, from all over Europe along with the teachers who come together not only to support the delegations but also to discuss and to learn from each other’s experiences and practices. International Youth NGO “European Youth Parliament – Ukraine” (EYP-Ukraine) represents one of 38 National Committees of the European Youth Parliament. Registered with the Government of Ukraine on February 18, 2002, it is a full-fledged participant of civil society development process in Ukraine. De facto, EYP Ukraine has been successfully operating in Ukraine since 2000, involving young Ukrainians in activities of one of the largest European platforms for debate, intercultural encounters, educational work and exchange of ideas among young Europeans. During its lifetime, EYP-Ukraine has acquired professional expertise and valuable experience in organizing different kinds of youth events: regional and international sessions, national conferences, trainings and workshops etc. Moreover, EYP-Ukraine has been a key partner in organization of UN Youth Summits on Millennium Development Goals in Ukraine. Experienced and talented young people ready to volunteer their time and efforts to implement interesting projects is the most valuable resource we possess. The official web-site of the “European Youth Parliament – Ukraine” is www.eyp-ua.org.