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Supported by Erasmus + Programme

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Open Digital Europe

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Out of the Box International develops a tailor made open data model and policies based on open digital environment which is transparent, accountable and secured.

Social Businesses

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Out of the Box International works with already existing hubs, various local and national stakeholders and social entrepreneurs in order to further develop and promote successful social entrepreneurship policies and practices.

Solidarity Europe

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Out of the Box International delivers expertise in the field of cohesive policies by using cross-sectorial approach and non-formal  education, in a global perspective.

European Project

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Out of the Box International  works further to enhance current cooperation in South East Europe region and actively supports the integration of all European countries in common European project.

Y-FED, a cutting-edge project to test the efficiency of a brand new federal European Union

 

The project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” aims to bring the EU closer to its young citizens by developing a proposal for an improved institutional framework of the Union in line with the European Youth Goals. The initiative, supported by an Erasmus+ “European Youth Together” grant, has implemented a series of capacity-building training courses, public policy hackathons, a large-scale simulation of a reformed EU and advocacy actions.

The project partners comprise 18 civil society organisations as well as 2 networks of European and regional decision-makers: Young European Federalists (JEF Europe), Youth of European Nationalities (YEN), Les Jeunes Européens – France (JEF France) , Assembly of European Regions (AER), Out of the Box International (OTB), Union of European Federalists (UEF), Spinelli Group, Global Challenges Foundation, JEF Belgium, JEF Croatia, JEF Latvia, JEF Italy, Balkans Beyond Borders (Greece), JEF Bulgaria, JEF Finland, JEF Germany, JEF Malta, JEF North Macedonia, JEF Slovenia, JEF Spain, Europe4Youth (Poland).

The project has two main aims with specific objectives: Aim 1 seeks to bring the EU closer to its citizens by raising awareness of the EU institutional framework and advocate for its reform based on young people’s recommendations. For its part, Aim 2 intends to raise awareness of the European Youth Goals (EYGs) and support their implementation by embedding them in the reformed EU institutional model and bringing them from the European to the local level.

The Y-Fed recently held a six-day simulation of a hypothetical and unique federal European Union, following the original plan of the Founding Fathers. It is the continuation of the European Youth Convention (more info here), where youth from 38 countries discussed the future of Europe.

In order to create a federal EU, the European institutions were redesigned and adapted to the reality of a federal system. The brand new branches had the common goal of efficiently managing a migration crisis under this new political organization with the aim to test whether a federal EU could manage the crisis in a more efficient way.

These novel institutions were: New European Parliament (formed by the European House of Citizens and the European Senate), European Government (composed by a Prime Minister, Ministers and a Spokesperson), European Court of Justice, and Civil Society (composed of journalists and lobbyists).

Image 1: New institutions of a theoretical federal European Union

Source: Y-FED

The participants of the Y-FED simulation were divided into four groups: deputies, senators, lobbyists (NGOs or private companies) and journalists. Subsequently they were provided guidelines on what and how to defend their roles. The participants attended the Y-FED simulation online, with the option of participating in person in Strasbourg (France) and in Ortenberg (Germany).

The functioning of the simulation consisted of two parts: participants were first explained the functioning of the new institutions; and second, they later on had to handle a migration crisis in Europe by debating, negotiating and taking actions, taking into account the new inner mechanisms of the federal European Union.

SOURCES

https://web.facebook.com/JEStrasbourg

https://y-fed.eu/simulation/

Why Out of the Box International

The seemingly ever-lasting depression of European economies has shaken the very foundations of many European societies. The shear rate of unemployment in Europe and the omnipresent environmental crisis coupled with the often frustratingly slow process of decision making in the EU, are calling for civil society actors to step in and fill the void.

In the aftermath of the 2008. economic crisis, the apprehension of falling under the spell of apathy of economic depression across the continent has not been easy to shake off. However, pinpointing the culprits for the current state of affairs on any particular EU decision maker is not the answer. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the current approach to the economic and environmental crisis hasn’t yet shown the affected citizens the light at the end of the tunnel.

As representatives of the civil society we feel the need to make our voice heard in the midst of the current debate on economic crisis. Being a social enterprise we offer new and feasible ideas in education and community work, creative cross-sectorial cooperation among different actors and strong networking coalitions to turn these dire economic challenges into possibilities through social entrepreneurship initiatives which aim at benefiting wide range of citizens, particularly vulnerable groups and those affected by the economic crisis.

Social entrepreneurship is a simple concept that has been put into practice by civil society actors for the benefit of a specific social group or people, and this is precisely what we want: to create projects and initiatives with fresh ideas in different policies, educational programs or tools, support businesses, empower cultural initiatives and offer different solutions to individuals, corporate bodies, everybody who believe that we can have more Creative, Innovative and Cohesive Europe.

 

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