The Youth Citizenship Programme enables young people to make a positive difference to the world around them. It challenges the negative perception of young people that is often reported in the media and sees them as part of the solution and not part of the problem. It empowers young people to be leaders within their local communities and among their friends.

Citizenship is about more than legal rights and duties; it is about people working together for the common good. It is about creating a better society with greater caring, community spirit and social justice. Young people have a vital role to play in this process and this programme use easy activities and steps to show them how.

The programme follows three simple and effective steps:

Awareness: Study the community or some aspects of it, eg. the needs of the elderly, facilities, environment, employment. Identify one or more things that your group feels needs to changed or be improved on. Make sure to pick something you think you can realistically achieve.

Action: Plan and carry out an action project to bring about selected improvements, eg. visit the elderly, transform a derelict area into an amenity.

Evaluation: Discuss what members learned and what the community gained from the project. You should evaluate your project throughout to ensure it is working and make changes where necessary.

In 2006 permanent tsb committed toIt also seeks the largest corporate sponsorship to youth work in Ireland to assist Foróige in growing the citizenship programme and reaching more young people in more meaningful ways. It also seeks to provide increased recognition at regional and national level for youth groups engaged in citizenship endeavours.

Every youth group carrying out a citizenship programme is eligible to enter the youth citizenship awards. Each group will get a chance to showcase their project at the regional event closest to them and be in with a chance to go forword to the national event in Dublin in the Autumn.

This year the youth citizenship programme is being profiled in a two one hour specials on TV3 entitled Ireland’s Top Teens, which will feature ten groups and their citizenship endeavours.

How to undertake a Citizenship Project

There are three main sections in the Citizenship Programme.

Awareness

 

• Explore your community and identify positive improvements needed. For example: discuss strengths and weaknesses of your community, walk around your area, interview people to get their views, investigate a particular social issue or problem.
• Select one or two improvements for action. Select what is important and achievable from the issues identified.
• Find out more about this improvement. Develop a good understanding of the improvement you selected and of what is required. Decide what you need to know and find this out, e.g. interview people involved, talk to experts.

Action

• Decide what action you will take. Your decision should be based on what you have found out about the improvement needed and what can be achieved. Discuss this and set specific goals accordingly.
• Plan and organise this action. Decide: what specific jobs need to be done? Who will do what? Where? When? Who will help us? Involve everyone in this process.
• Go into action. Follow up on the plan. Review action regularly. Work on problems that arise.

Evaluation

• Evaluate the project Discuss what went well, what could be done better, what was learned and what the community gained. Interview members of the community to get their response. Decide what further awareness / action is needed.
   

Want to get involved?
To get involved in the permanent tsb Foróige Youth Citizenship Programme and Awards simply download the entry form today and tell us all about the work you're doing.
It's easy to get involved. Just follow these steps and click on the links to download the relevant documents.

• Familiarise yourselves with the Youth Citizenship Programme by reading the leaflet and booklet. Click on the links to download resource material.
• Read the guidelines. 
• Download the entry form here and return to the Citizenship Programme office.
• You will be assigned a project identification code and issued with a Citizenship Pack, which includes a project report form. You can also download the report form here.
• Project report forms must be returned by Friday 15h April. You will receive written acknowledgement of your entry within 7 working days.

For further information on how to undertake a Citizenship Project download the Citizenship Programme leaflet and booklet now.

DOWNLOADS
Guidelines
Download your entry form here
Download the report form here