In our aim to advocate for a fair and inclusive society, we work with vulnerable and marginalized communities, channeling their grievances and voices to make sure they are heard. Through advocacy and awareness-raising activities, we highlight discriminatory practice and policies as well as the tools and mechanisms available to confront these.
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Amplifying Migrant Voices in Europe (VotebyVote)
The Challenge
Across many European Member States, democratic participation is under strain. Voter turnout has declined steadily in both national and EU elections, and civic engagement among youth and marginalized communities remains low. For migrants and refugees, the barriers are often more fundamental: limited voting rights as well as knowledge of the host country’s electoral systems, language barriers, and experiences of exclusion from public and political life mean that their voices are frequently absent from the conversations that shape the societies they live in.
At the same time, young people across Europe are increasingly disengaged from formal democratic processes, not because they lack concerns, but because they lack accessible pathways to participation and feel that their perspectives are not reflected in political narratives. Closing these gaps requires deliberate, community-led efforts that connect migrant and youth voices with the broader public, and that equip people with both the knowledge and the confidence to participate.
What VotebyVote Sets Out to Do
Implemented across Greece, Cyprus, and Croatia by a migrant led consortium, VotebyVote seeks to promote the active democratic participation of citizens and long-term residents by closing knowledge gaps, raising awareness, and facilitating dialogue across societal groups. The project strengthens understanding of voting rights and barriers, improves civic readiness among youth, and enhances the visibility of migrant voices, ultimately contributing to more inclusive democratic narratives and increased voter participation ahead of upcoming national and EU elections.
Specific Objectives
- To amplify the voices of migrants and refugees regarding their themes of concern among the general voting public.
- To increase voter turnout in national and EU-level elections by raising awareness of the significance of democratic participation and exercising the right to vote, including the challenges in accessing these.
- To create sustainable tools and resources for fostering democratic participation among partner countries and the wider EU.
Key Activities
- Implementation of a two-day Democratic Participation Forum in Zagreb, Croatia, bringing together stakeholders and experts on youth and migrant political participation, alongside the development of a shared research toolkit.
- Participatory research with national surveys and dialogue sessions involving youth and migrant communities across all three countries, exploring lived realities, concerns, and barriers to democratic and civic participation.
- Co-creation of national awareness campaigns highlighting barriers to participation and shared concerns of migrants and young voters, aimed at increasing civic engagement and voter turnout.
- Civic education workshops in high schools and universities across Greece, Cyprus, and Croatia, providing young people with practical knowledge about democratic rights and how to exercise them.
- A White Paper and final transnational conference bringing together findings, lessons, and policy recommendations from across the three partner countries.
Who Benefits
VotebyVote directly engages two groups: migrants and refugees whose democratic concerns and lived experiences are mapped and amplified through research and awareness campaigns, and young people in formal education settings who receive civic education through workshops in schools and universities. Both groups are positioned not only as beneficiaries but as active contributors to the project’s outputs.
The project’s national awareness campaigns and publicly available tools and resources will reach broader audiences beyond direct participants, supporting longer-term civic engagement in Greece, Cyprus, and Croatia.
Partners
- Generation 2.0 for Rights, Equality and Diversity (Coordinator) – Greece
- Generation for Change CY – Cyprus
- Centre for Peace Studies – Croatia
Project Details
Duration: January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027
Funding Program:
VotebyVote is co-funded by the European Union through the CERV-2025-CITIZENS-CIV program.
