What is an Active Citizen? Active Citizenship Summit 2013

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What is an Active Citizen? Active Citizenship Summit 2013

Posted By admin |04 Apr 2013
What is an Active Citizen? Active Citizenship Summit 2013

By Ling Jin

Ling JinI have always been passionate about making a difference in local communities, sowhen I got to know about Active Citizenship Summit, I was immediately drawn by theidea of bridging local government and local communities, by working collaboratively,to make a bigger and better difference.

I was very curious about those 'behind the scene' stories, so I got in touch withSoraya, one of the event initiators, to find out more about her thoughts.

1. To start with, how would you define active citizenship?

Active Citizens are young, empowered leaders who bring positive change in their communities through constructive social action.

2. What does active citizenship mean to you?

As a JCI member the answer above sums what active citizenship means to me. However you don't have to be a leader to be an active citizen and you don't need a title. It's about us as individuals living in communities across the global taking responsibility about the issues in our local communities.

I recently came across this saying the other day which I feel fits well "The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. Above all the world needs dreamers who do".

3. If you can only use one sentence to summarize this event, how would you describe it?

I feel one word would not describe this event. I feel our slogan for the year for JCI UK - Inspiring Action - encompasses what our members will get from attending this event; that they willbe 'Inspired to action' in their local communities.

4. What do you try to achieve with this event?

To help our members have a better understanding of how to get involved in the public discourse in the UK. There are a number of issues that are affecting youngpeople today. Top of the agenda is unemployment. We already have Chambers working on local projects to tackle this issue but we need to feed back our results and solutions into what is happening at local government level.

5. What would make you feel that it is a successful event?

After the event we decide to set a resolution to take action on a particular issue in our local communities.

To learn more about Active Citizenship Summit 2013, please visit: http://www.activecitizenshipsummit.org.uk/
To register, please visit: http://www.activecitizenshipsummit.org.uk/register/
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