Together As One in International Collaboration Cyprus 2016

Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era (UNDEF) in Cyprus

Dr.Yiannis Laouris Facilitator in action

Together As One (NGO) for promoting peace and empowering women through education was presented in International Co-Laboratory of Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era 2016 in Cyprus by its Founder Fofana O Kerfala. The aim was to reinvent a new system of governance by proposing new and innovative actions. The initiative aims to engage youth in both physical and virtual meetings with the first physical meeting taking place in Cyprus in 8-12 February 2016.The 100 young change makers from across the globe who will design new and innovative systems of governance Future Worlds Center is inviting youth from all over Europe and the tasks of participants are as follows:

Able to identify 10 participants that will virtually contribute with their ideas to the objectives of the project through social media and ICT-based technologies; Participate in the structured dialogue co-Laboratory in Cyprus; Participate in 3 regional webinars and two global webinars; Contribute ideas for a global e-book; Contribute ideas for the Manifesto for 21st Century Democracy; Contribute ideas using social media, ICT-based technologies.

Overall Objectives

Overall development goal

Empowerment and active participation of young people at all levels of governance around theworld.

Project objective

Communication and collaboration among youth across the world is strengthened using structured dialogue, new innovative ICT-based solutions and tools to find common ground for increased participation.

Fofana O.Kerfala President & Founder of Together As One during the event

The Vision of the Project

Brief Description Was to face with a number of major challenges, ranging from increasing inequality, which leaves large parts of society without access to basic needs; wars and security threats; a food system in crisis and the carrying capacity of our planet being at its tipping point. The Millennium Development Goals are reaching their end date in a year’s time from now, and a new global framework is currently being negotiated among the world leaders. One of the key questions, however, is how democratic and participatory is this and other democratic processes when youth are not being included?

Young people between 15 and 25 years old represent a fifth of the world’s population, yet they remain largely absent from or underrepresented in political decision-making processes. Today’s young people will be the leaders of tomorrow, and it is imperative they start developing a feeling of ownership through meaningful participation in democratic processes. Achieving meaningful participation of young people in democratic governance and decision-making processes is hence the key challenge addressed by this project.

Global Approach

The reason for choosing different regions was to be able to engage young people from all over the world in global deliberations and integrate their ideas, visions, and aspirations into a comprehensive set of clearly expressed text- and video products. The global character of the project will give them the opportunity to express their thoughts more freely, without any constraints related to religion, gender, or any other factor. Over the years, FWC has collaborated with a number of organizations in many International and European projects and/or was invited to work for the development of several other programs. FWC has secured the commitment of implementing partners in relevant regions together with whom further organizations truly interested and capable in identifying the best possible delegates and co-organizing the envisaged activities will be identified. The detailed work plan of regional partners including promotion and dissemination of the activities will be developed when the network is in place. The project will conclude with a manifesto or think piece, which will collate all the outcomes of the five co-Laboratories. It shall be disseminated primarily through the participating organizations’ own networks and online networks, as well as through the links that Future Worlds Center has established with the global Beyond2015 campaign, CIVICUS and the International Forum of National Platforms.

Structured Democratic Dialogue Process (SDDP)

The project was based predominantly on the Structured Democratic Dialogue Process (SDDP). They chose this particular methodology because of its uniqueness in mobilizing participants. In addition, the SDDP methodology is based on scientific laws, which have been repeatedly validated, empirically and scientifically, in the arena of practice. Taking all this into consideration, the co-Laboratories of Democracy will be implemented using the methodology of structured democratic dialogue. This methodology supports groups of diverse stakeholders with conflicting opinions and interests to effectively discuss a matter of joint concern, integrate their knowledge, and democratically redesign their socio-organizational systems and practices reaching consensus agreement for effective collaborative action. Using this approach, the 100 youth and citizens’ representatives will develop a common language, a shared understanding of the problematic situation in which they are embedded, and will be better equipped to formulate their ideas, suggestions, and strategies with clarity. The interaction will empower youth to take follow-up actions and thus ensuring their strong commitment to the project.

Participants of the co-Laboratories will design and develop concrete ideas for action and will have the space and support to build their own action plans around them. The facilitating team will assist the participants in identifying ways to promote their ideas, engage with political decision-makers, as well as mobilize members of the community. A manifesto, jointly drafted, will be used to engage the media encouraging them to host live debates between project participants and national or international policy makers thus connecting them with youth and citizen pioneers.

It is note that Laboratory was facilitated by Dr. Yiannis Laouris pioneered in the application of the science of structured dialogic design in the Cyprus and Middle East peace movement and in many pan-European networks

Maria Georgiou project Coordinator

Nicolina Project Assistant

Leslie Project Cameraman and recorder

Eleni Philippou technical assistant

Andrea technical assistant

By Fofana O Kerfala

President Founder of

Together As One