The web and social media offer interactive ways to get involved and provide easy access to participation initiatives. E-participation is therefore a direct and creative way for young people to get involved. Although Austria does not yet have a comprehensive national strategy for youth e-participation, several projects have been carried out to collect ideas and provide guidelines for broader participation formats. Additionally, e-participation projects for young people at local and municipal levels provide online opportunities. A selection of some projects and tools is presented below.

‘Insight’ (‘Einblick’)

‘Einblick’ is an e-participation tool developed by the Centre of Competence for Open Youth Work (bOJA) with support from the Federal Chancellery. It enables youth workers to survey young people on a wide range of topics, designed specifically for use in group settings typical for open and associational youth work. 

EU Youth Dialogue (Jugenddialog)

On a regional, national, and European level, the EU Youth Dialogue asks young people for their views, interests and needs in order to integrate them into politics. It combines on- and offline participation methods and has resulted in the EU Youth Goals. New rounds, related to specific youth goals, are continuously organised by different EU Member States in a rotating system. The participation of Austrian youth is encouraged by jugenddialog.at.

Student Budget (Schüler*innenhaushalt)

The Schüler*innenhaushalt is a cost-effective, standardised tool for involving students in decision-making, successfully piloted over 50 times in Germany and Austria. In a multi-stage process, students propose and discuss improvements funded by a municipal budget. An online platform displays all ideas, their supporters, and budget feasibility to inform voting. Students then vote formally (often using municipal polling booths and ballot boxes), and winning projects are implemented with school and local authorities. 

Online surveys on the Austrian Youth Portal (Österreichisches Jugendportal)

The Austrian Youth Portal regularly conducts online surveys on a wide variety of youth policy topics. Each survey is completed by around 300 to 500 young people. The results are published on the portal. These surveys form part of the structured dialogue, the results of which influence the development of the Youth Strategy and the Austrian position on youth policy issues in Europe. Topics include work, education and health. 

Jugendbeteiligung.at

On jugendbeteiligung.at (German only) the Austrian Participation Working Group (ARGE Partizipation) provides further material and guidelines on how to conduct and evaluate different forms of youth participation, e.g. for cities and municipalities. 

Former e-participation projects

‘Coronabusters’ (in German) (2021)

The ‘Coronabusters’ project empowered young people in Austria to play an active role in tackling the effects of the pandemic and make their voices heard. Through creative projects developed by and for young people in open youth work, participants acted as peer ambassadors, sharing their knowledge and experiences. Their messages and initiatives were widely promoted on social media using the hashtag #zusammendiekurvekriegen (‘turning the corner together’), inspiring and informing young people across the country. 

Get Active Project (in German) (2017-2021)

From 2017 to 2021, the Get Active participation project was run by the Austrian Youth Information Centres on behalf of the Family and Youth Section of the Federal Chancellery. The project centred on a ‘Youth Participation Pool’ of 25 young people aged 16-24 from across Austria who actively shaped youth-focused initiatives. The project involved this group in evaluating ministry-led efforts and implementing new measures with various organisations to better reach young people. It also enabled direct collaboration between youth and policymakers, allowing young voices to influence projects while helping authorities adapt to the real-life needs and realities of young people. 

Barcamp E-Participation (2012)

The e-Participation BarCamp, held in 2012, marked the beginning of a more in-depth exploration of online youth participation in Austria. Organised by the Department for Families and Youth at the Federal Chancellery within the framework of the Austrian Youth Strategy, and in cooperation with the international Youthpart project, it brought together around 90 participants to assess the state of e-participation and develop future guidelines. Key recommendations included providing participants with comprehensive information, using creative digital tools such as video platforms to increase accessibility, adapting existing stronger links between online and offline participation projects to reach a wider range of young people.