The ‘EU Democracy in Action’ toolkit has been developed by the European Commission to help educators introduce students to basic concepts about democratic participation in the EU; they can also organise activities allowing students to develop the required skills, using the framework of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). 

To become active citizens, young people need to understand how democracy works and what their rights and responsibilities are. The ‘EU Democracy in Action’ toolkit introduces pupils to the European Citizens’ Initiative and encourages them to get ready to take an active role as EU citizens.  

Through instruction, research, debate, project work, and role play, pupils will learn how laws are made in the EU, how these laws affect their everyday lives, and, most importantly, how the European Citizens' Initiative allows EU citizens to join with others to shape EU policy on issues that they care about. 

The webinar will be hosted by ECI team members who will be joined by Małgorzata Malczyk, one of the teachers that piloted the module in Poland. Małgorzata is a teacher of English as a foreign language and coordinator of international (Erasmus+) projects at the Juliusz Słowacki High School No. 7 in Warsaw, Poland. She has also been a member of the European Commission’s Teachers’ Testing Panel since 2017.  

You can find the ECI educational toolkit in English here. The ECI educational toolkit will be available in all official EU languages by the end of May 2023.