Menu Close

Democracy and Games – Analog and Digital Game-Based-Learning Tools for Youth Work

In the fall of 2019, the Intercultural Institute, in partnership with GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies STIFTUNG (coordinator), Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe (Belgium), Demokrative – Initiative für politische Bildung (Switzerland), Asociación cultural Da2 Trucados (Spain) and Culture Goes Europe (CGE) – Soziokulturelle Initiative ERFURT EV (Germany), started the implementation of the project Democracy and Games: Analog and Digital Game-Based-Learning Tools for Youth Work (DEMOGAMES), financed through the Erasmus + Program, KA205 – Strategic Partnerships for Youth. 

The project DEMOGAMES is based on the didactic approach of game-based learning and applies it to teaching young citizens on democracy. Mediated knowledge on democratic processes, norms and values often remains abstract. In contrast, highly complex facts can be conveyed in an activating, participative and engaging manner through game based learning. With this project, several game based learning tools will be designed and later on applied in promoting democracy education in youth work and non-formal education with the main purpose to engage, connect and empower young people.

DEMOGAMES will advance democracy education with respect to learning about, through and for democracy. The objectives of the project are to introduce young citizens to the topic of democracy in an engaging and participative way by playing analog and digital games. The active participation in playful units awakens young citizens’ interest in the subject and promotes experiential learning. The project includes several activities for young people and practitioners in youth work and non-formal education to engage in discussions on democracy related topics beyond their local, regional or national experience.

Building on the “Reference Framework of Competencies for Democratic Culture” (RFCDC), from the Council of Europe, the educational methods will be particularly designed to include different perspectives on democracy, highlight the benefits of cultural diversity for social and political life, and aim to increase social inclusion by fostering beneficial dispositions towards democracy and the EU.

The main outcome of DEMOGAMES will be a comprehensive “democracy game box” (D-BOX), which will include a set of analogue and digital democracy games that practitioners (youth workers, trainers, and teachers) can use to teach democracy from different perspectives and to engage young people in a participatory way. Moreover, the box will be accompanied by easy and understandable training materials for practitioners with examples and exercises to use our democracy games.

The project will last for 36 months, between September 2019 and August 2022.