Democracy Workshop International

As a successful institution of the Austrian Parliament, the Democracy Workshop provides knowledge and understanding of democracy and parliamentarianism to children and young people. The Workshops strengthen democratic awareness, participation and resilience.

The Democracy Workshop has developed into an attractive "export model" in recent years.

Three Democracy Workshops based on the Austrian model have already been successfully established in the national Parliaments of Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania. In four other Parliaments - North Macedonia, Slovakia, Georgia, and Ukraine - cooperation projects are being implemented or preparatory talks are underway.

Implementation is carried out in close cooperation with regional and international partner institutions such as the Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) and USAID.

An important task of parliaments is to raise awareness and interest in parliamentarianism, democratic processes, (political) participation, and civic engagement.

To accompany the lowering of the voting age to 16, the Democracy Workshop was set up in the Austrian Parliament in 2007. With its special didactic concept, it promotes the transfer of knowledge about democracy and parliamentarianism. In terms of capacity building, it serves as an example of best practice in some countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership.

The Austrian Parliament, together with its then-implementation partner IDM and with the support of ERSTE Foundation, launched the Democracy Workshop Forum to strengthen networking and promote closer, transnational cooperation. The Forum took place virtually for the first time in March 2021 and has developed into a regularly-held format. The Forum promotes dialogue within the Democracy Workshop community and provides a platform for the exchange of best practice examples. Since 2023, the Austrian Parliament has organized the Forum as an in-person event, which has so far attracted participants from eight countries.