To address persistent shortfalls in European citizenship education, DEMOCREATE will implement a 3-year initiative across 5 countries (UK, Netherlands, Finland, Czechia, Poland) embedding democratic practice in educational institutions. Targeting youth 15–29, with focus on disadvantaged groups facing intersecting inequalities, the project works across secondary, TVET, higher and non-formal education settings to create “democracy-in-action” environments.

Through participatory research, DEMOCREATE scales the validated Community-Led Research and Action (CLRA) methodology from its HORIZON YOUROPE foundations. Grounded in Prefigurative Democratic Praxis, CLRA enables students, educators and community partners to cocreate democratic learning through cycles of inquiry and action. Democracy becomes lived practice rather than abstract knowledge with citizenship developed through immediate participation.

The project will have impact at individual (competence), relational (culture), and institutional (structural) levels, engaging 50 institutions through a phased expansion model: 25 pilot sites scaling to 50 through twinning partnerships. This reaches 5500 students through 220 CLRA cycles (44 per country) involving 220 educators and 200 professionals from NGOs and communities, establishing 25 formal partnerships between educational institutions and non-formal actors.

Using coordinated work packages, mixed-methods evaluation will generate evidence including a DEMOCITIZENSHIP survey measuring citizenship competences and civic/political efficacy; Collaborative ethnography will document lived experiences; Key Transformative Indicator scans will track institutional change. Professional learning communities will co-develop implementation toolkits, 50 CLRA-integrated syllabi and sustainability frameworks.

Outputs will include national roadmaps, teacher-education micro-credentials and accreditation recommendations for democratic pedagogy integration across European education systems.