regional strategy south-west-styria - EU-Regionalmanagement ...

In general, it can be said that a great number of young people already show high attachment to
the region South-West Styria (particularly to the municipality) and enjoy living here. They
speak especially positively about the beauty of the surroundings (nature, calmness, idyll,
safety, pure air, mountains) and also the culture (wine restaurants, events) is regarded as
positive.
Most young people of South-West Styria think that the ideal region would a combination of
urban and rural areas – all advantages of rural life combined with all advantages of urban life
(trams, pubs, leisure facilities, diversity, education and job opportunities). A great number of
young people would even accept to commute to be able to combine these things, mainly
because they do not want to give up their social networks in the region (family, friends).
The perfect region was described by young people of the focus groups in the following way: the
perfect region has a good public transport system, offers a great variety of associations and
organisations, offers enough leisure facilities affordable and adequate for young people,
provides enough education and advanced training opportunities and reaches the information
competence of young people.
Information
It can be seen from the pilot action “future laboratory South-West Styria” that the media and
the methods that inform young people about the region often do not correspond with the
channels young people use. However, valuable information is very important for young people
to be informed about opportunities for mobility, possibilities of participation, job- and education
opportunities, leisure facilities for young people and it also plays an important role when it
comes to increasing the attachment to the region. (comp. YURA report)
Many young people for instance criticize that they are not enough informed about the
opportunities they have after graduating from school. In their opinion, neither schools nor other
institutions provide enough and good information. They especially miss direct and easy access
to information (compare Dax, 2002, p. 150)
For this reason, it is important to work towards information competence. Information
competence refers to the abilities that are necessary to find information and to evaluate and
use it. Especially for young people it is essential to know how to do research properly and to
detect the aspects, which indicate whether information is reliable and relevant as well as the
ability to organize information and to pass it on to third parties in an adequate form. According
to researchers, the development during the last years clearly indicates that the amount of data
and information and the availability of technologies are constantly growing.
The strengthening of information competence and transfer can also be seen in the context of
the European Charta Youth Information, which states that in a complex society and an
integrated Europe entailing a lot a challenges and possibilities, the access to information and
the ability to evaluate and use information is more important than ever for Europeans.
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This project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co -financed by the ERDF