Debate Your Issue!
“Debate Your Issue” (DYI), funded by the Erasmus+ programme – starting in February 2020 and ending in autumn 2021 – is the first long-term international project carried out independently by our association! We are very proud of the successful implementation of this project – in cooperation with partners from five other European countries (Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium and Serbia) – through a variety of events and activities, with the common aim being the combating the rising Euroscepticism, disinterest in news and the declining involvement of young people in politics. The DYI-project also sought to teach its participants to understand and accept opposite views and to take responsibility for own opinions. Thus, we believe, we contributed to building a strong and respectful European community.
With the planning of the project’s events already underway since February 2020 – after a partners’ meeting in Prague – we started the active phase of the project in Lithuania, when we invited over 30 young motivated people to the very first remote project meeting in October. By the end of the first year of the project, “Jaunimo debatai” had already organised three workshops for participants in Lithuania, and five by spring 2021, on such topics as the European Union, misinformation, the environment, equity in education, tolerance, socio-political inequality and artificial intelligence. We are very grateful to have had the support of guest speakers such as economist Dr. Prof. Romas Lazutka, diplomat Linas Linkevičius, researcher Dr. Nerijus Maliukevičius, founder of the NGO CRI Tomas Kazulėnas, political scientist Dr. Prof. Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, researcher Dr. Ringailė Kuokšytė, diplomat Arnoldas Pranckevičius and analyst Giedrius Alasevičius, who helped the participants to explore the broad topics of the DYI project! During the meetings with these politicians, academics and public figures, participants not only had the opportunity to deepen their theoretical and practical knowledge, but also to try their hand at moderating the discussions by asking challenging questions.
We also successfully organised other types of workshops: A public speaking training and several debate training sessions, led by highly experienced association members Eglė Karpauskaitė and Bazilė Gancevičiūtė, for example, took place. In addition, we believe that the preparation for the international rounds of the DYI Debate Competition has been helped by the debate demonstration video produced by the project’s organising team in Lithuania – please click on the following link to watch it!
The DYI-project participants also learnt how to create infographics with the help of designer Monika Bučmytė. In addition, there was also a training on article writing, which gave the participants not only the systematic knowledge on how to adjust one’s text to the journalistic genre, but also provided them with courage to publish own thoughts in public! We are therefore very proud of what is probably the most important achievement of the project in Lithuania – the high quality and interesting articles written by the participants on a wide range of topics, covering relevant aspects of the DYI project theme (from presenting the problems of preserving Lithuania’s natural monuments to analysing the main challenges of the Lithuanian education system). We very much celebrate the participants’ thoughts and invite you to read them on www.lrytas.lt (as well as on the international website Jádu).
We are very pleased that the main aspect of this year-long project was the international debate competition, the different stages of which (both live and, partly, remotely) took place not only in Lithuania, but also in Poland (Wroclaw), Serbia (Novi Sad), Latvia (Riga) and the Czech Republic (Prague), while the final was organised in Belgium (Brussels)! The competition saw debates on media freedom, youth engagement, COVID-19 restrictions, historical memory and social media advertising. We are proud that the first round of the debate competition took place in Lithuania on 25-27 June, where, after an intensive preparatory weekend, the participants debated the topic of equal opportunities. This summer weekend in Vilnius was full of educational-cultural activities, which allowed both the participants and the organisers to delve deeper into the debate topic: During a visit to the LGL headquarters, we had the opportunity to discuss the psychological and social problems of LGBT adolescents and adults, and to discuss gender quotas with the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Ieva Valeskaitė, as well as to go to a traditional Roma restaurant.
We are proud that Eigirdas Sabaliauskas and Mantas Vičis, the two Lithuanians who debated so well throughout the international competition, were able to take part in the final round of the DYI project debate competition. During the final round in Brussels, the Lithuanian delegation debated the question “Should political advertising on social media be banned in the EU?”, and performed very well! After the final in Brussels, together with our partners, we organised the final conference of the “Debate Your Issue” project, where we discussed the challenges and successes of the project.
The “Debate Your Issue” project was brought to a close with a final partner meeting in Vilnius. This project has brought wonderful friendships, passionate debates and exciting journeys for both the organising team and the project participants. Thank you to the unique partners of our association and to all the friends who contributed to the success of the project!
Articles in the Lithuanian press written by project participants (in Lithuanian):
The fate of the Punios šilas: The decision on how to preserve a natural value (Eigirdas Sabaliauskas)
Mental illness in Lithuania: Social and institutional discrimination (Greta Asadauskaitė)
Eating, drinking and inhaling microplastics: A huge risk even at home (Aida Bradauskaitė)
Outside the social circle – those who need to be excluded (Valerija Košeleva)
A period of political controversy is on the horizon in the US. Is unity still possible? (Dominykas Ragelis)
Problems caused by bad translation? What is the “social gender” (Kęstutis Grumodas)
The role of AI: Will robots replace us in the labour market? (Gabija Ulinskaitė)
Developing entrepreneurship – the most direct route to a full-fledged education (Mantas Vičius)
Higher education and high pressure: What does the tragic mental health of students reveal? (Kęstutis Grumodas)
Education through the eyes of a young person: Context-free rote learning has lost its meaning (Radvilė Jakštonytė)