Young people are very committed when they are given the chance to shape their own living environment.

In order for this to happen, youth organisations, schools, local authorities, associations, etc. must be involved. However, this is not so easy. Which topic is actually suitable for discussion and how can the question be formulated in such a way that it is motivated and comprehensible? Is it enough to let the young people vote or should they be able to discuss the alternatives beforehand? Should this happen online or offline? Will there be enough young people who participate? These and other uncertainties prevent many organisations from opening their decisions to young people.

To help organisations involve young people in discussions and decisions, a special digital platform called OPIN has been developed. Together with young people, youth organisations and municipalities as well as participation experts from all over Europe, technical and conceptual requirements for such a participation platform were formulated and implemented with the help of support from the European Union.

Since March 2018, the platform has been ready and can be used free of charge – which more than 70 organisations are already doing. Click here for the platform for digital youth participation OPIN.

Duration: 03/2015 – 02/2018
Client: European Commission, Horizon 2020 Research Framework Programme
Team: Kerstin Franzl (Project manager), Nicolas Bach, Dr. Carina Brumme, Eva Shepherd
Project partner: Missions Publiques, France Liquid Democracy e. V., Germany IJAB-Department for International Youth Work of the Federal Republic of Germany e. V. Fonden Teknologiraadet, Denmark Alfstore SAS, France Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), Sweden Istituto di Studi per L’Integrazione dei Sistemi SC (ISIS), Italy Razvojni Center SRCA Slovenije D.o.o, Slovenia Association des Etats Generaux des Etudiants de L’Europe (AEGEE), Belgium Agence Europeenne pour L’Information et le Conseil des jeunes ASBL Eryica, Luxembourg