Here it is… the democracy song!!

Democracy, democracy

It all started back in Athens around 508 BC

They were sitting with the king

Someone got up and began to sing

“Democracy is the one for me”

The thing about democracy is

Everyone has a say

Everyone has a voice so they know

Everything is ok

Because of democracy, most of us can vote

And that helps to keep us all afloat!

Chorus

But democracy had problems

Some of them in schools

Some people sat down and tried to fix it

Because they’re all really cool

They came up with a project

Called democracy explored

And it kept us all from being bored

End chorus

One school from Italy

Two schools from Clare

Came together, their knowledge they would share

About their school systems

And the government too

And then we wrote this song for you!

La, la, la, democracy…

Democracy for you and me!!!!!

Currently Fishbowl is workinon a Democracy Project, and for that we partnered with two Italian organisations. Other partners in this project are Scariff Community College, Scariff Youthreach and in Rome Liceo Nomentano, a large secondary school with about 1500 student.

We have been running workshops in all the schools and now we have just returned from our first trip to Italy:

Democracy Explored : The First Exchange.

Democracy Explored is a project in which young people analyse democracy. As part of this project, nine students from Scariff Community College, one student from Youthreach and two young support leaders went on an eight day exchange to Orvieto, near Rome in Italy. They were supported by a teacher from Scariff Community College and a leader from fishbowl Youth.

During the exchange we took part in workshops and presented our work, but we had loads of fun too. We played games, took part in teambuilding activities and had an intercultural evening when we presented our culture in the form of song, dance, DVDs and food. The trip was part of Youth in Action, which is a programme funded by the EU.

It was a fantastic experience which we all enjoyed, and we made great friends who we hope to meet again soon!

This was only the first leg of the international project, as it will run until June 2010, with a final presentation in the first weekend of June.

Four students of the Italian school will come to Ireland from the 18th to the 21st of March. During this visit we will explore and make decisions on how we will edit the documentary and compare the research we have done so far.

We will now continue with the workshops in Scariff, and start our research of how our schools are governed, we will interview all the people involved in our school community and create an overview of the way our school works. Our Italian friends will do the same in Rome, and we will compare the results of our research when we meet again in the next few months.

Fishbowl Youth & The European Youth in Action Programme

This is the  project that we are currently working  on and it is supported by the European Youth in Action Programme. for this project we partnered with two Italian youth organizations Il Monastero and Binario Uno, based in Rome. Together we hope to build on our relationship with a new project focussing on democracy for young people in school and in the way their schools are governed.

Fishbowl Youth developed a partnership with two schools, Scariff Community College and Scariff Youthreach. The Italian youth organizations have partnered with a large school,  Liceo Nomentano, in the city of Rome; it has approximately 1500 Students and about 70 teachers.

An advance-planning trip took place from 7^th to12^th January in preparation for a group of 15 participants to meet in Rome with their Italian counterparts from 15th to 22^nd February.

Workshops on the various aspects of this project have been ongoing in both the Irish and Italian schools since October 2009. In order to focus and document their findings, training in filming and camera use is an integral part of the project and is supported by Fishbowl and its volunteers.

The Democracy Project enables young people to develop their understanding of democracy and to take an active part in civic and democratic life e.g. by supporting young people to talk to decision-makers and experts in the field of youth provision and policy.

Funding: Fishbowl Youth achieved 70% funding for the Democracy Project in their application to Leargas, the National agency for Youth in Action in Ireland.

They look forward to running a number of successful fun and fundraising events to support this worthwhile project

The Youth in Action Programme aims to inspire active European citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among young Europeans and to involve them in shaping the Union’s future.