In co-operation with young people and an expert team, the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" developed and published the visual tool "Stars. Stars. Les Étoiles." for the education and training of young people and professional communities on human rights, democracy, non-formal education, youth participation, environmental protection, cultural heritage, artificial intelligence, anti-discrimination and social cohesion.
It can be used by both those who are starting to conduct educational activities and those who have been working in this field for a long time, for participants of any age and language of communication. The use of this tool can create a favorable space for individual and group reflection, feedback and open dialogue in the group, as well as solve the issue of starting acquaintances and exercises, as well as holding discussions.
The idea of creating this tool arose in 2023 during trainings for young people and professional communities in Ukraine organised by the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine. A working group was established after the presentation of the idea on 22 March 2024 for young people participating in a training seminar on participatory youth policy, which lasted from 18 to 22 March 2024 in Lviv, Ukraine.
The group began its work by analysing the visual metaphorical tools that already exist and defined the criteria for the development of this tool: one simple image for one illustration, comprehensibility of the image for people from different member states of the Council of Europe, ensuring the accessibility of the tool, in particular ease of printing, creating contrasting and black-and-white images, audio descriptions of illustrations.
After mapping the themes and possible ideas for each of the themes, illustrator Iryna Vale created the first versions of the illustrations. During May – June 2024, they were used during the activities of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for young people and professional communities. Feedback from different countries was also provided by members of the pool of trainers of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, staff of the Council of Europe.
The tool is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe. Based on the results of the piloting and the comments received, the final version of "Stars. Stars. Les Étoiles." contains 90 illustrations, instead of 75.
The uniqueness of the illustrations allows it to be used in a variety of ways to work with audiences of different ages, languages of communication, and the number of participants.
To download the tool "Stars. Stars. Les Étoiles." in different formats please follow the link: https://mycloud.coe.int/s/TecXtgpoQx77cgm
The project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III" was launched within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2023-2026. The project builds on the results and experience of the Council of Europe project "Youth for Democracy in Ukraine" in 2020-2022 and expands the systematic impact by strengthening youth policies based on participatory approaches and strengthening youth work during the war and in the post-war context, taking into account the specific needs of young people.
In March 2024 the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase III” began discussing young people’s proposals for the Concept of the State Targeted Social Programme “Youth of Ukraine” for 2026-2030. This became possible thanks to 5-day training seminars on participatory youth policy, youth participation and civic participation in the decision-making process in March and June for young people from 18 regions of Ukraine. These activities were organised by the Project in co-operation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Association of Youth Councils.
News, Council of Europe resources in the field of youth and open announcements for participation in project activities can be found here.
