At the end of August, 30 teachers from five institutions in four countries gathered at the Vienna Adult Education Centre (vhs Wien). As part of the Erasmus+ project "Empower Democracy: Building Competencies for Active Citizenship in Europe," they took part in a summer school and tested a newly developed curriculum for democracy education with young adults for the first time.
How can young adults be empowered to play an active role in a democratic society? And how can adult learning and education institutions develop suitable, interactive educational programmes to achieve this? These are the questions at the heart of the Erasmus+ project "Empower Democracy: Building Competencies for Active Citizenship in Europe." Under the coordination of the Mannheim Evening Academy, partner organisations from Germany, Austria, Romania and Moldova are working together to teach democratic skills in a practical way and to train course leaders to pass these skills on to young adults.
Following the project's launch at the end of 2025, the initial focus was on project management and establishing joint structures. By early 2026, the project had taken concrete shape, with a key milestone being the development of new, practical educational modules for young adults. This required not only good ideas but, above all, people able to contribute their professional and pedagogical expertise – so particular emphasis was placed on finding suitable trainers. A team of four trainers, representing all participating partner countries, was selected and worked together from February to June 2026 to develop a comprehensive curriculum. Through four modules, young adults are encouraged to reflect on their own role in society and to become actively involved in social initiatives. The curriculum not only conveys theoretical knowledge about democracy education but, above all, offers practical methods and approaches for fostering democratic competences in educational work with young adults.
From curriculum development to shared practice
At the end of August, the project moved into its practical phase: from 24 to 28 August, a summer school took place at the Adult Education Centre Vienna, bringing together a total of 30 teachers from five institutions across the participating partner countries. This group of teachers was introduced to the newly developed curriculum and prepared to put it into practice during the upcoming pilot phase. The summer school thus marked an important transition from theoretical development to practical application.
For the project team, the summer school was a significant milestone. After months of planning, coordination and intensive curriculum development, the international partners came together in one place – and the curriculum was put into practice for the first time with the very people who will later use it in their educational work.
The next step will be to deliver and test the newly developed learning programmes at the partner institutions. This practical experience will make it possible to adapt and further develop the curriculum for real-world use, since the long-term aim is for all four modules to be available for use by other institutions as well. In this way, the joint project work is intended to give rise to sustainable educational initiatives – and to help empower young people to participate actively in democracy.
The project is funded under the Erasmus+ programme and runs from November 2025 to October 2028.