Enhancing Local Readiness for Co-creating with Youth (ReCoCreaYOUTH)

ReCoCreaYOUTH is an international project involving eight partners and coordinated by Karlstad University under the leadership of Dr Magnus Lindh, Senior Lecturer in Political Science. The project explores how local governments work with democratic participatory methods aimed at broader groups of young people in order to enhance the relevance of municipal services and create public value around local issues of shared concern.

ReCoCreaYOUTH builds upon the insights and networks developed through the seed money project CoCreaYOUTH, financed by the Swedish Institute. The seed project laid the foundation for the current partnership by exploring the potential for structured co-creation between municipalities and young people in a Baltic Sea regional context. The experiences and lessons learned during CoCreaYOUTH have directly informed the design, methodology, and collaborative framework of ReCoCreaYOUTH.

The project supports participating municipalities in organising participatory pilot initiatives with different groups of young people. The objective is to strengthen local readiness to co-create public value together with young residents. This is achieved by testing and developing new methods, tools, and platforms for more direct, dialogue-based, and inclusive youth participation, and by piloting these approaches in collaboration with young people.

The project consortium is structured according to a triple helix model, bringing together researchers, municipal professionals, and NGOs. All partners are active in the field of democratic participation and share the ambition to learn from one another by combining theoretical, practical, and methodological knowledge.

The consortium includes three universities — Karlstad University, Åbo Akademi University, and Tallinn University — as well as six municipalities. Three municipalities participate as full partners: Alvesta (Sweden), Vaasa (Finland), and Nykarleby (Finland). In addition, three Estonian municipalities — Viljandi, Kuusalu, and Võru — participate in pilot activities. The project also includes two NGOs: Coompanion Kronoberg (Sweden) and GTL Lab (Estonia).

The project runs from 1 January 2024 for 36 months, ending in November 2026. It is funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ KA220 programme (Cooperation Partnerships in Youth). The total budget amounts to EUR 400,000.

Planned Outputs

  1. Active outreach to and engagement of target groups of young people in five local co-creation pilot processes, using contextually adapted tools and including an evaluation of their implementation.
  2. Guidelines for mid-sized and smaller municipalities and NGOs facing similar challenges but lacking experience in co-creation, aimed at facilitating democratic innovation and youth empowerment.
  3. Multiplier events and training sessions to disseminate the compiled set of co-creation tools.

 

Contact

Project Leader: Dr Magnus Lindh
Email: magnus.lindh@kau.se.