FYEG European Elections Campaign 2019CAMPAIGN EVALUATION

Table of Contents

Be Brave! Green Europe! 3TIMELINE 4the campaign team 5About the evaluation 5Campaign Overview 5Internal Coordination 7Working with FYEG MOs 8Young candidates 11ACTIONS 12Events 14Volunteers 15Work with Partners 16Communications 18#Voteforclimate 22Finances 22Conclusion 23

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Be Brave! Green Europe!

When we started to plan the campaign in early 2018 we were aware of the unfortunate amount of space being given to the politics of hate and fearmongering across Europe. Racism and xenophobia in particular were dominating the political agenda. Things took an unexpected turn in autumn 2018 though, when new agenda-setters appeared on everyone’s radar across Europe: the climate strikers! Young people organising school strikes for climate have decisively shaped the political agenda is 2019 and of course also helped support a Green Wave at the European elections.

The people were rising, and as young people took to the streets for climate action, so did women* take to the streets on March 8 to demand an end to harassment and discrimination. Then, during the debates about EU Copyright Directive, young people came together to fight for an internet free of censorship! Young people continued to make their voices heard on many other issues, together in solidarity with refugees and migrants and fiercely against nationalism and hatred! Civil society movements have been instrumental in setting the 2019 political agenda, letting politicians and future politicians know that they are paying attention. We were as always inspired by the energy and drive of hundreds of thousands of young people rising for a Europe that does things differently. More sustainably, more inclusively. As FYEG, through our campaign we wanted to show how it is possible for the people’s demands to be answered also within institutionalised politics, by voting for Green MEPs. With our campaign we aimed to capture the momentum of movements and put our vision for a different Europe into a wider perspective.

This campaign report summarizes the activities and highlights of FYEG’s European elections campaign of 2019 and provides tips, tricks, learning points and ideas for future campaign teams. Being part of FYEG’s campaign is an exciting journey and we hope future generations will find inspiration for their activities in this report. The Campaign Team (Iris, Nils, Chloé , Mina , Zuzana, Sam, Teo, Jan, Kelsey)

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TIMELINENovember First online CT meeting!

December MO Consultation

at SPM.

2017

2018

Development & planning stage

Spring MO Online Questionnaire

May MOs adopt the

Campaign Plan at the GA. July

Campaign narratives imagined by CT at Summer Camp

Implementation

October MO Consultation

at WG meeting

Winter MO Online Questionnaire

October 1st Young Candidates Training

2019 February Campaign Slogan, Visual Identity presented to MOs at the SPM

November Crowdfunder

launched

green Europe!

Evaluation

August Presentation of evaluation at GA

June - July Online evaluation with MOs, YCs, CT

evaluation.

February 2nd Young Candidates

TrainingSpring

Campaign toolkit shared with MOs.

Merchandise. March Campaign Launch in Madrid!April

International Exchanges

EGP Green Wave in Brussels.

April - May Green Team actions

May Get Out the Vote!

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the campaign teamIn 2017 FYEG published a call for campaign team (CT) members to start to work on our campaign for the European Parliament elections in 2019. Representatives from Member Organisations joined representatives of our EC and office to coordinate the campaign. The CT’s aim was to work on different elements of the campaign, including political messaging, branding and actions. CT members brought a wide mix of skills and experience in campaigning, advocacy, non-violent direct actions, working with youth organisation and more. The CT was an evolving group, and some members who joined at the start left in 2018 and were replaced by others. In 2019 the CT was supported by more members of staff and EC. We thank everyone who was involved throughout this process for their contributions to this campaign. From MOs: Iris, Mina, Chloé, Nils, Oriol, Maryan, Dilan. From EC: Zuzana, Sam, Kim, Tariq. From office: Teo, Jan, Kelsey.

About the evaluationThis campaign evaluation is aimed to inform FYEG MOs on the results of the campaign. The campaign was evaluated through online questionnaires with MOs and Young Candidates, results of Key Performance Indicators, online statistics, and a structured evaluation meeting of the CT in July 2019. This evaluation serves as a useful tool for FYEG in preparing for campaigns in the future, with recommendations on how to work in different campaign areas.

Campaign Overview

narrativesEarly on we made the decision to focus energy on developing a clear narrative, messages and stories for the campaign. This narrative-focused approach ensured that we highlighted green messages through clear stories. These stories were also useful for MOs and Young Candidates when preparing their own campaigns or for debates. The three stories were: Sustainable Europe: where fighting the climate crisis is our utmost priority. Welcoming & Inclusive Europe: where everyone is welcome, equal and celebrated as they are. Social Europe: where everyone benefits from high quality of life, free time for personal growth and community.

impact assessmentThe aims of FYEG’s Campaign for the European Parliament, as adopted at the 2018 GA were:• Being a present European Young Green

Movement, both online and on the ground;

• Strengthening all our Member Organisations;

• Supporting Young Candidates to stand in elections and get elected.

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Key performance indicatorsWhen it comes to the KPIs related to the Young Candidates, the results are promising. We wanted 70% of FYEG EU MOs to have a Young Green candidate and to have at least 40% of FYEG EU MOs to have their candidate(s) in the top 10 of their party lists. While neither of these were successful, the KPI to have three new young greens elected was met.

Amongst youth voters, the Greens received the most support in three countries. Our KPI in this section was for this to happen in at least one country. Other KPIs that were met are: that we organized two offline Young Candidates trainings that had high attendance and that at least 20 Young Candidates joined the platform, of whom at least 1⁄3 were non-male. Within the Young Candidates platform, twenty candidates that identified as male, eleven candidates as female, and one candidate as trans. However, there were very few Young Candidates of color involved in the Platform, or on the lists in general. The KPIs that we formulated about the involvement of the Member Organisations, were less successful. Among others, we wanted 40% of FYEG non-EU MOs to join the campaign and 70% of FYEG EU MOs to participate in actions or to make use of the toolkit.

what worked?

what didn’t work?

recommendations

• Emphasis on campaign narrative at the start was good as it functioned as a good base throughout the campaign;

• The campaign narrative and main messages were widely used among MOs and Young Candidates;

• The KPIs gave a structured and clear overview of what our aims and goals were when planning the campaign;

• Through engaging directly with MO activists and representatives through the Green Team, Mails, Social Media, Actions and Events, FYEG was able to provide a learning experience and inspiration to its members.

• We lacked a tool for clear impact assessment and how to measure the impact of the campaign on the KPIs.

• Find ways that enable an impact assessment of more diverse aspects of the campaign;

• Decide early on which elements of the campaign to prioritise in the impact assessment;

• Prioritise time according to the elements in the campaign. Depending on whether they are core elements or more experimental.

• Create a strong campaign narrative/ stories or messages structures.

In addition, we chose specific goals for the following areas:• Visibility and diversity;• Agenda setting;• Capacity Building;• Credibility;• Community;• Electoral results.

Measuring whether we achieved these goals can be complicated and this is why we formulated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), to help measure, to an extent, the success of some campaign elements.

The usage of Key Performance indicators shows us certain aims and the outcomes related to those expectations. However, as they don’t per se show the true impact of the campaign, impact measurement is a topic that should be thought through more in the future.

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Internal CoordinationAs CT we organised our work in different ways according to the stage of the campaign. As we approached the implementation stage we switched from Telegram as our main communication channel to Slack. This allowed us to structure our conversations according to working areas and include only the relevant team members responsible for the area.

In total, CT had more than 40 online meetings, mostly one every other week. It took some time to find a structure for these meetings that everyone was comfortable with, and we often had meetings that dragged on or went unfinished. Additionally, team members also met bilaterally.

Other than joining FYEG’s Strategic Planning Meetings and Working Group Meetings the CT had two live meetings dedicated soley to working on the campaign together. In July 2018 in Selce and in January 2019 in Brussels.

Working with FYEG’s EC and office during the campaign was necessary. Besides the two representatives on the CT, the EC were actively involved in the final sprint (i.e. roughly the last month of campaigning). EC members were able to take on tasks like managing the social media channels and developing content. The office took charge of the visual identity and the website, they made videos, helped out with actions and supported the creation and distribution of merchandise. Contact with the office was very good throughout the campaign, and at least one staff member joined every meeting.

Having in-person meetings is extremely helpful for keeping energy levels in the group. While a clear division of responsibilities helped CT members to keep up with their work and stay motivated towards the final sprint.

what worked?

what didn’t work?

recommendations

• Individual ownership of specific elements of the campaign;

• Contact between the office, EC and CT in general.

• Task division based on multiple parts of the campaign;

• Creative thinking processes with the aim of achieving a clear outcome, e.g. slogan, during online meetings.

• Employ a campaign manager from early on, i.e. the summer before elections;

• Organise a transition meeting between members of the old and new CT;

• Organise workshops for CT members at the beginning of their mandate;

• Be more aware of the capacity of the CT for work, and ensure that goals are achievable and won’t put too much pressure on individuals;

• Allow for clear and flexible decision making structures for when quick decisions need to be made;

• Not everyone has to be present at all meetings, sometimes more targeted meetings with 1 EC member, 1 CT member, 1 member of staff might be more useful;

• Use the in-person meetings to discuss creative processes in the campaign, consider organising hackathons for brainstorming on slogans, the visual identity, website, apps and actions;

• Find creative ways to link with activists inside the MOs, inspiration can be taken from the Green Team and individual activists that worked as multipliers and forwarded news at the local level, which allowed people to be engaged with FYEG campaign directly;

• Recruit volunteers according to tasks;• Allow for CT to evolve and restructure

according to the campaign stage and what skills are most needed, when they are needed, e.g. more action oriented towards final-sprint etc..

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Working with FYEG MOsAs a pan-European federation it was crucial for FYEG to involved MOs in all stages of the campaign.

Campaign PlanningFrom the start MOs were involved most directly by having their representatives on the CT, but also through online and in-person opportunities to consult and give feedback on various campaign elements. Like at the Strategic Planning Meetings and Working Group meetings held throughout the year. At the 2018 GA MOs got to discuss and adopt the campaign implementation plan.

Most MOs praised the campaign narrative and said they would use it as a base for developing their own campaign. This was particularly helpful for MOs who joined the campaign relatively late due to political circumstances (YGEW, Scottish YGs) or who faced difficulties in finding sufficient resources to focus on the European Campaign due to overlapping elections (Irish YGs). Campaign materials were made available for MOs to use via Google Drive. It remains unclear to what extent the materials provided were used by the MOs.

Campaign ImplementationDuring the campaign implementation it was important to keep in regular contact with the MOs. For this we made use of mailing-list, Slack and check-in calls.

The initial idea was to use Slack as a platform for information exchange. Instead it ended up being used as a one-direction platform for FYEG to send materials and updates. At least one MO was unaware that Slack was being used for internal communicaiton until the late stages of the campaign. At least two common online calls were held. None of the MOs expressed interest in further calls and we therefore refrained from holding any more. During the final stage of the campaign, direct calls with MO representatives proved to be most useful. Several toolkits were distributed to the MOs online, including the Campaign Implementation Plan, the Campaign Toolkit, templates and styleguides.

Online, FYEG shared content from MOs on Twitter and Instagram. Where the focus was on presenting them as part of a European story, images from different places showing how the Greens fight for the same causes across Europe.

SPM, February 2019

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Offline, some MOs made use of the visual identity for their external communications. A package of FYEG merchandise was delivered to the MOs by post or in person. Additional merchandise could be bought online. There was one MO who did not receive the package on time.

Several MOs sent their representatives to our campaign event in Madrid (March 2019), the Democracy Alive Festival in Texel (April 2019) and the Green Wave Campaign event of the European Greens. FYEG also were present at several MO events, including: Jong Groen New Years Reception; Grüne Jugend Bundesskongress in Leipzig; Europe of the Youth event by ViNO; and May 1st Ostra Zielen event.

We faced many difficulties including non-EU MOs or those in the EU not actively campaigning for the EP. Grüne Jugend Dresden and Mladí zelení (who were not campaigning actively in their country) organised international exchanges twice, which allowed Mladí zelení be part of a successful European campaign.

Targeting EU voters in non-EU countries through international exchanges could have been done, but finally there were no capacities for this.

Despite the challenges, it is important to stress that non-EU MOs actively took part in the youth strikes for climate (i.e. Georgian Young Greens). Together with our sister organization CDN we actively looked for ways to further the climate strike movement in these countries. Without a doubt, non-EU MOs have helped us to strengthen the Vote for Climate narrative and have also contributed in this way to the success of FYEG’s campaign.

MOs evaluation of campaignA questionnaire inquiring about the MO satisfaction with the campaign was sent to the MOs after the campaign. In total 19 MOs participated in filling in the questionnaire.

From the feedback received, majority of the MOs have rated the campaign very positively. There were nonetheless 3 MOs who gave a neutral and 3 MOs who gave a negative score on the campaign (positive – neutral – negative ratio: 13-3-3).

In particular, the MOs appreciated FYEG’s online activities during the campaign (14-3-2). The offline activities were viewed rather on the positive to neutral side of the spectrum (12-6-1).

MOs were also satisfied with the overall information flow during the campaign (13-4-3). On the contrary, the MO views were divided as to whether FYEG’s campaign helped to strengthen their local campaign (7-7-5). Additionally, most of MOs were neutral when assessing whether FYEG campaign helped them build additional capacities (3-12-4).

Interestingly, most MOs scored their own campaign lower than FYEG’s campaign (8-8-3) and majority was also neutral to unsatisfied with their own involvement in FYEG campaign (5-6-8).

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what didn’t work?• Unclear how useful Slack is as a tool for

communication during the campaign;• Material was provided too late for

MOs to make use of, or not fir for local context;

• There wasn’t a high presence of MOs at the FYEG campaign event;

• In some countries liasing with persons responsible for the campaign was difficult;

recommendations

what worked?• Most FYEG EU MOs showed interest in

the common campaign;• Most MOs provided positive feedback

on the Campaign Implementation plan and requested a Campaign Toolkit;

• Most MOs gave positive feedback on the slogan, visual identity & narrative;

• Most MOs were satisfied the campaign event in Madrid;

• At least 1 MO made use of FYEG visual identity in their own communications;

• Several MOs took part in banner drops;• Several MOs invited representatives to

their events;• Most MOs were well informed about the

campaign and where to find relevant information.

• Continue to involve MOs in planning from the earliest stages;

• Find a platform for effective communication with MOs during the campaign to allow for real discussion and exchange;

• Engage more closely with MOs on campaign implementation where possible. Coordinating potential work with staff members of MOs working on the campaign along the FYEG office;

• Monitor closely MO activity on social media and highlight these during the campaign;

• Think about efficient ways for merchandising distribution and start distribution early in the campaign, so that lost packages can be re-sent;

• Actively reach out to MOs with an offer for organizing a visit in order to present the campaign and bring the European spirit;

• Think about ways to creatively involve non-EU MOs.

• Motivating MOs for coordinated transnational actions;

• Motivating non-EU MOs to take part.

Campaign Rally in Madrid, March 2019

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Young candidatesThe Green Group in the EP now has 11 MEPs who are under 35. Seven of these were part of FYEG’s Young Candidates Platform which cultivated a supportive community for candidates to share tips, offer camraderie and support, and practical help.

In Summer 2018 we launched the Young Candidates Platform through our MOs who were asked to nominate Young Candidates to join the platform.

At the first training in October candidates shared experiences of how to plan for a campaign, worked on self-confidence in delivering a intro message to camera, and discussed strategies for setting boundaries and their own self-care during the campaign. A second training was organised in February 2019, where more candidates attended as most lists had been confirmed by then. In this training there was a focus on how to prepare for interviews, debating and being familiar with campaign messages.

Throughout the campaign candidates had the opportunity to attend debates on behalf of FYEG, speak at the event in Madrid, and reach out to the CT for more direct support.

The platform was really useful for us young candidates... Knowing that there are so many other young people fighting for the same cause is really great. Also, the European spirit is all around given that the platform enables us to see how the challenges vary from one country to another, but solutions can be found across borders.

“

”Erik Marquardt, Terry Reintke, Magid Magid, Kim van Sparrentak, Michael Bloss, Marie Toussaint, Rasmus Andresen - 7 of the young MEPs in the Green Group in the EP.

Given that the young greens in our country have been very active in the last years, the party agreed that half of the green list would be young candidates, and the results showed that this was a good decision. We therefore think that also in the future young greens will have a say in the decisions taken in and by the mother party.

“

”

“Power to the people!” - Young Candidates singing at the end of the campaign rally in Madrid.

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ACTIONSTogether with MOs we developed an action toolkit. We had three action days, each one dedicated to one of the campaign stories. We also supported other MO actions, participation in demonstrations and actions of partners, and several coordinated banner drops.

Common Action Days15th of April: Extinction Rebellion (XR) Parade for a sustainable Europe. During XR’s International Rebellion Week, Green activists performed a parade of the beauties of our world that are endangered to go extinct: Elephants, Leopards, apes, humans etc. FYEG provided digital templates for artistic DIY animal masks and instructions. An online seminar by the artist for the building of the masks was also offered.

1st of May: Free Money action for a SOcial Europe. On Labour Day, activists were handing out “free money” in public to people passing by. Passengers were asked what they would do if they you had a universal basic income? FYEG provided templates for the money bill flyers and inspiration for conversation starters.

9th of May: No One is Illegal action for a welcoming and inclusive Europe. On Europe Day, The action was to build an artificial border or barrier in a public place to symbolise those that are still hindered by borders and are lacking the basic right of freedom of movement. Passengers were involved in discussions and freedom of movement for all was promoted.

Participation of groups was rather low, despite dates and materials being available early on. Reasons might be because of the effort needed (XR Parade), or how the action fit in the loal context. Groups might have already planned other events or actions for the same days. There were good actions in Dresden, Brussels and Tbilisi.

what worked?• The Young Candidate Platform, a

community for peer to peer sharing and support;

• Advocating for young candidates and supporting their campaigns to be on party lists;

• In person trainings and opportunities to practice public speaking;

• High profile media opportunities: Kim van Sparrentak speaking on several stages including at the EGP event, Tanja Duprez at the education debate at YoFest!, Mina Tolu at a debate organised by the European Youth Forum;

• Young Candidates given a platform to speak and share ideas at the campaign event in Madrid;

• Sharing policy and media briefings, EGP materials for Young Candidates to make use of;

• Ad-hoc support calls for strategising around individual campaigns.

What didn’t work?• Online trainings had least engagement;• Website highlighting the candidate

profiles took too long to organise;• Organising the main campaign event

in a place which did not necessarily benefit directly from the increased green presence for their local campaigning.

Recommendations• FYEG should take a longer term

approach to trainings for potential young candidates;

• Create opportunities for shadowing MEPs;

• Mentoring or buddy systems with previous young candidates.

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Other ActionsGrüne Jugend performed the action “Your hand for a social Europe” with our support, where a banner was sent to Italy, Czech Republic, UK and Belgium, people on the street could leave their hand print and demands on it and then the banner was sent back and was given to the lead candidates at an event. During the whole campaign, many MOs were very actively canvassing, organizing events and performing actions.

Apart from the coordinated common actions, a range of MOs conducted their own actions on various topics. FYEG Office and EC members present in Brussels undertook a number of small actions in the last two weeks leading to the elections. These included stickering, stenciling, chalk drawing in front of the EP, putting up vote for climate banners on people’s balconies or staging a milkshake bar in front of the EP in response to Nigel Farage being milkshaked. The activities were conducted with the aim of gaining additional visibility on social media while providing tips and tricks for home-made campaigning activities people could follow.

FYEG activists were encouraged to participate in demonstrations, events and actions of partners. Like Climate Strikes and the #OccupyForClimate direct actions, #RepubliqueDesPollueurs, Women’s Day etc.

Banner DropsStarting with a banner drop in Madrid, and continuing with the big Be Brave Banner Drops in Brussels, Dresden, Rome, Mannheim, Bolzano and Sofia. This was followed by the Vote For Climate Banner Action in Brussels, Leipzig and Helsinki. These were coordinated actions in several European Countries, at the same time. Which motivated our activists and gathered social media attention.

what worked?

recommendations

• The Banner Drops;• Participating in and reporting on

partner actions;• Provocative pictures on online trending

topics.

• The action days.

• Communication planning of and information about actions more in advance;

• Provide ideas for more flexible actions (time, group size etc.);

• Develop small scale actions for volunteer groups on trending topics.

what didn’t work?

Banner drops in Madrid, Brussels and Dresden.

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EventsWe kicked of the campaign with a series of actions at the Madrid launch organised together with the EGP in March. Over 60 Green activists and Young Candidates took part in the event which involved training on campaign skills, a banner drop and preparing for common actions, and a campaign rally.

We organised a common bus for some participants to travel together to Madrid from Brussels. Due to train delays to Brussels from other cities, the bus arrived with a delay of 10 hours. This meant that participants had to be given improvised training onboard instead of in Madrid.

At the campaign rally young candidates had the opportunity to present themselves and their political ideas, through speeches or FYEG Instagram takeovers. The topics were varied and reflected different campaign narratives, i.e. social, sustainable, welcoming and inclusive Europe. We also had speakers from climate, social justice and anti-racist movements, and the Greens/EFA group in the EP and the EGP. Another highlight of the event was an artistic dance performance opening questions about race and belonging in Spain today.

Both the banner drop and campaign rally were live-streamed on Facebook with help from a professional live-streamer.

Partner events• Democracy Alive Festival; From 11th

to 13th April we participated at the European Movement International (EMI) Democracy Festival in Texel. An event to discuss Europe and engage with young people. We co-organised the European Greens pavilion, hosting workshops on activism and climate strikes, and a meet-up with Green lead candidate Bas Eickhout. We supported the participation of a number of young Green activists from our MOs.

• European Youth Forum (YFJ) event with Spitzenkandidaten, 13th April in Brussels. FYEG helped to plan this event together with YFJ and EGP. It was live-streamed and the two Green lead candidates answered questions on human rights, social justice and climate which were prepared by activists and organisations.

• EGP Green Wave, 1000 people from all over Europe attended EGP’s main rally in Brussels. The event consisted of speeches by different Green actors, civil society representatives, and Green candidates. Kim van Sparrentak, candidate of GroenLinks in the Netherlands and member of the FYEG Young Candidates Platform, gave a passionate speech on the fight for climate justice that younger generations are undertaking. The speech can be watched here. FYEG had a stand at the event, where we distributed merchandise to MOs and to other interested people. The t-shirts were a very popular item. The event was a good occasion to talk with a variety of Green actors about the FYEG campaign and about what Young Greens are doing all over Europe. Young Greens who joined us at Democracy Alive travelled together to be at the YFJ and EGP events in Brussels.

• YoFest!, on 29th and 30th April YFJ organised its annual YO!Fest, a gathering of youth organisations and young people. FYEG had a stand at the event to promote FYEG’s and EGP’s campaigns. This was an opportunity to reach a large number of young people from all EU member states in a short amount of time. In addition to a stand where we distributed material, FYEG organise a workshop on climate strikes and different climate movements in Europe and in the world. Young Candidate Tanja Duprez (from déi jonk gréng) took part in a debate that was a part of the YO!Fest programme.

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VolunteersWe aimed to establish a way for individuals to become FYEG Campaign Volunteers and to contribute to a European-wide campaign. Our objective was to have volunteers engaging actively in the campaign and a platform to receive information and have possibilities to be active. So we set up the Green Team and included Live Volunteers into our work.

Several volunteers joined the campaign in addition to the online volunteers of the Green Team, in particular during the final sprint. The volunteers helped with a variety of tasks, from preparing tweets to painting banners to finding video clips for our campaign video. One volunteer reached out to us in April and helped online with different tasks throughout the campaign, in addition to joining us in the office for a few days during the final sprint. Several other volunteers came for specific tasks, usually in the evenings. The volunteers were close to Green circles in Brussels and this is how we got in contact. The EGP was also running its own volunteer platform and some of the EGP volunteers expressed an interest to support the FYEG campaign, which they did. It was a unique learning experience for the volunteers and for FYEG. Volunteering for FYEG is something that can be further developed, possibly as a part of the Green Team.

Green TeamWe set up two channels for communication with the Green Team. These were on Telegram and WhatsApp. By the end of the campaign 275 people were engaged through the platform on Telegram and 85 on WhatsApp. Through the Green Team channel we communicated in an engaging, motivating and inclusive style to encourage people to take part in FYEG campaign actions both online and offline. According to an evaluation questionnaire about the Green Team, some answers indicated that the Green Team channel was mostly used by people that are active in FYEGs MOs, it was well liked, motivated people to be active in the campaign and gave the feeling to belong to a pan-european movement. All respondents are in favour of continuing the Green Team.

what worked?

recommendations

• Madrid: organising actions & giving platform to young candidates;

• Ensuring strong young green presence at partner events, especially EGP.

• Using the Green Team platform to promote young candidates;

• Challenges around online privacy/ security.

• Continue to use the Green Team channel to engage with activists and coordinate actions outside of elections;

• Use the Green Team to gain individual volunteers for specific tasks, eg write a political statement or organize an action;

• Make the Green Team more participatory and allow members to give feedback and create own content for sharing with others.

• Promote the Green Team at all FYEG and MO events to reach out to more individuals.

what didn’t work?

What didn’t work?• Logistics related to using a number of

different venues for different parts of the event in Madrid.

Recommendations• Choose more central location for a big

launch if you expect people to be able to reach via train and bus.

• Mobilisation of Green Team for events, online actions and banner drops;

• Involving volunteers in the campaign was of crucial support during the most intense campaign phase.

what worked?

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Work with PartnersEUropean Green PARty (EGP)FYEG is the official youth wing of the EGP and we worked closely with EGP as one of our primary partners during the campaign. We were well represented within various EGP structures relating to their campaign, this includes in the Editorial and Manifesto Working Group which developed the European Elections Manifesto and 12 Key Priorities of the EGP, as well as the EGP Campaign Working Group. Not all our demands were taken on board but the process delivered a Manifesto which was ambitious, visionary and inclusive of youth.

FYEG also submitted a motion on unpaid internships to the EGP Council which committed EGP member parties to change their internal internship policy in order not to employ any unpaid or poorly paid interns from the start of the campaign, at last. This motion was adopted unanimously, nonetheless it remained unclear to what extent it was implemented by the individual member parties in practice.

Young Candidates were featured in EGP’s campaign, given speaking opportunity at the EGP Green Wave rally, and being featured in EGP videos. These opportunities enhanced the prospects of these young candidates and ensure that the EGP campaign was putting youth at the forefront.

We actively coordinated on events, including the Green Wave rally, Democracy Alive Festival, and FYEG’s campaign event.

One of the most fruitful exchanges of this partnership was the cooperation between staff of FYEG and EGP. We provided feedback to each other, and EGP staff also attended events with MOs, Young Candidates and CT planning sessions to share their input and expertise on campaign strategies and tactics.

Greens/efa Group in the EP (GGEP)As the GGEP was not conducting its own campaign, this cooperation mainly focused around content and communications. The GGEP developed a range of information materials on various Green policies which were extremely useful to Young Candidates when preparing for debates. GGEP staff joined us on a podcast for MOs to share Green successes and the ways to message around them.

Last but not least, we attended the Group’s meeting and celebration in the EP when the election results were announced, allowing us to be in the centre of things, to network, and report on our social media from on the spot.

European youth forum (YFJ)Another key partner for FYEG during the European elections campaign was the European Youth Forum. The YFJ was carrying out its own campaign under the title “Change is Coming.” It was very beneficial that the Youth Forum’s campaign and their key demands topically overlapped with many of the policies already advocated for by FYEG and advanced by FYEG towards EGP. Inviting experts from YFJ secretariat to provide input on the EGP Manifesto has helped to strengthen these links. Our cooperation with the YFJ during the campaign focussed mainly on various events and political cooperation. Before our respective campaigns kicked off, YFJ facilitated the process of writing a joint statement among party-political youth organisations on the European elections, which can be found here.YFJ, organised the Maastricht debate with Politico Europe and University of Maastricht, which was focused particularly on youth. We provided a briefing for the Greens lead candidate whose performance was overall very high rated by young people, he ended up gathering the second highest amount of support votes.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

MovementsWe have been following youth strikes for climates since the early start and showed our solidarity by taking part in these strikes when our presence was welcomed. We logistically supported the #OccupyforClimate occupation of the EP. While members from our MOs were involved in the Climate Strike movement on different levels. Movements like Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion and the anti-coal movement, contributed to making climate action one of the main topics in the lead candidate debates and the public debate in several countries. Climate movements have resulted in a record turnout among young voters and record results for Greens among youth.

recommendations

• Despite clear pledges by EGP member parties, the work with Green Parties across Europe did not always result in young people being placed on strategic positions on their candidates lists. In some Green Parties, young people still need to fight for being recognized as valuable partners;

• There is still a tendency among Green Parties to confine youth issues primarily to questions like education, to the detriment of a broader perspective;

• Sometimes requests from our partners exceeded our own capacities, FYEG has more limited capacities than it’s partners and hence, expectations management is crucial to avoid misunderstandings.

• Strive to have representatives in the different EGP and Greens/EFA bodies relating to the preparation of the campaign from an early start.;

• Work with EGP member parties on raising the awareness of the importance of youth candidates for gaining young people’s votes.;

• Strive to offer and be ready to provide feedback on young people’s perspectives for the communications of our partners;

• Develop good working relationships between FYEG staff and the staff of EGP and Greens/EFA.

what didn’t work?

• Overall cooperation with EGP and Greens/EFA staff and FYEG’s inclusion in EGP’s campaign;

• Being involved in EGP Manifesto process and bringing a strong youth perspective in there;

• Profiting from the know-how and resources of EGP and Greens/EFA;

• Additional visibility for Young Green candidates, enabling EGP to “youth-up” their own campaign;

• Providing feedback on communications relating to young people and their interests;

• Online and offline support for Fridays for Future;

• Giving and gaining visibility to and through movements;

• Having Young Candidates present during YFJ campaign events.

what worked?

#OccupyForClimate - Occupying EP in Brussels.

Reporting live from the Greens/EFA election night in the European Parliament.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

CommunicationsCampaign Brand IdentityAfter a long process we decided on the campaign slogan Be Brave. Green Europe!The process of developing the slogan and visual identity was not smooth and started too late. This created some delays in developing other communications tools.

Young candidate Mina Tolu wearing the campaign t-shirt at a YFJ debate.

Distributing merchandise at the EGP Green Wave.

MerchandiseThe main merchandise produced were black t-shirts with the campaign logo and slogan. They were popular among our MOs and activists from civil society. Young candidates also wore them during debates and campaign activities.

Stickers with key messages which reflected our narratives were very popular, feminist messages in particular resonated with people. Stickers included: Nobody is Illegal, Saving Lives is Not a Crime, Riots not Diets, Abortion is Human Right, Education is not a Commodity, Basic Income for Everyone, Polluters Out People In, Burn Borders not Coal etc. Green badges with the campaign logo and beer coasters with the text “Save beer, vote Green!” were also produced.

A standardized merchandising package was delivered to the MOs during various events as well as via post. Additionally, FYEG launched an online shop through which additional T-Shirts, as well items outside of the standardized package could be purchased, such as hoodies or tote-bags. In total, 10 T-Shirts, 2 hoodies and 1 tote-bag were purchased during the campaign.

All the merchandising was purchased with environmentally-friendly and ethical producers. The reactions to how the merchandising turned out were positive. However, as there was a delay in the Visual Identity design, the merchandise production delayed and fewer items could be produced. Any items which remain can continue to be used as the messages are universal.

Campaign sticker, somewhere on a street in Europe.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

online communicationsTwitter We used Twitter on a daily basis throughout the campaign, to react quickly to emerging developments, ampligy the activities of Young Candidates and MOs, and share policy sharepics. Twitter was an incredibly useful tool to amplify green voices during the two Global Climate Strikes and the the three major European election debates. Our top three tweets in both March and May were about the Climate Strikes!

InstagramWe used Instagram and Instagram Stories continously during the campaign to report from actions, activities and events we were organising. During the last two weeks of the campaign Young Candidates took over to share a day in their campaign.Rather than share policy-related or text-based share pics, we chose to share beautiful photos from MO activities. The stories worked particularly well, generating reactions from our followers especially when we introduced bold policy proposals. Creating good stories is time-consuming and requires a lot of balance. Over time the average number of people watching our stories was dropping, possibly due to too much content.

FYEG’s Instagram during the campaign.

FacebookDuring the campaign we used Facebook to publish sharepics which highlighted the policies we fight for, share statements, present young candidates and as a platform for our two main campaign videos. In the final sprint we also focused on the Vote For Climate event.

During the last two weeks we organised a Young Green Final Campaigning Marathon event, which together with a map highlighted all the final campaign events of our MOs, events of Young Candidates, as well as events organised by civil society partners in which Young Greens were participating. We did this to create and show the momentum of all who are fighting for change and motivate others to join local activities. By the end of the last campaigning week we had 131 entries under MO events, 29 entries under Young Candidate events and 250 entries under other civil society events.

Video: top campaign post on Facebook. 2.6k unique views.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

TelegramFYEG’s Telegram channel, and group were useful in keeping MOs and individual activists engaged and informed about the campaign. In particular ,about specific discussions around national issues and to gather support videos or online actions for Young Candidates.

RedditIn the final two weeks, we reached out to climate activist groups on Reddit with our #VoteForClimate campaign. This turned out to be quite successful, with 129 positive interactions for our messages in 5 different climate activist boards.

NewslettersNewsletters were not a priority tool during the campaign. However they were used to send updates about FYEG’s campaign in general. Our newsletter about the campaign was opened twice as much as the previous newsletter.

pressAlthough outreach to press was not a priority during the campaign, our actions were visible in various online newspapers, including: 21.01.2019, Denik Referndum (CZ)04.04.2019, Cuartopder (ES) 12.04.2019, EU Observer27.05.2019, France 2428.05.2019, AFP BB News (Japan)29.05.2019, Denik Referendum (CZ)

We also supported Young Candidates preparing for interviews when requested.

Debates Apart from Young Candidates participating in debates, EC members also took part in debates relating to the European elections. Co-spokesperson Zuzana took part in a debate among representatives of political party youth organizations organised by Politico. Watch it here.

VideosCrowdfunding video: we launched the crowdfunding campaign with a video that explains what we stand for, what we wanted to achieve, and MEPs explaining their focus and what they fight for.

General campaign video: had a clear contrast between the Europe we didn’t like and the Europe we wish for in the future.

Madrid banner drop video: a live video during our event in Madrid, and had a focus on getting visibility plus giving the necessary context for our action. It was the first time we announced the “Be Brave. Green Europe!” slogan.

Get out the vote video: this was our clear call to vote Green! It is possible to change Europe with a vote for the Greens. A young powerful woman was the main focus of this video.

Impact in videos of EGP: in various moments during the campaign, FYEG was visible in the campaign material of EGP. Most notably (including logo and clear reference) during the first climate strikes, before and during debates, and the Green Wave video.

WebsiteThe website www.bravegreen.eu was the campaign overview platform. It included information about our Young Candidates, the Political Priorities and served as a place for individuals to get involved in the Green Team and actions. The process to develop the website started too late because of delays in developing the visual identity. Providing a multilingual website provided technically challenging. Content relating to young candidates took too long to compile. Average visitors to the website was only 1523 per month. In the future we would recommend to integrate the visual identity of the campaign in the regular website instead of building a new one entirely from scratch.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

ONLINE ACTIONSMaastricht, Florence, and Eurovision Debate: We actively prepared to campaign online during all three of the big European debates among the leading candidates. Our aim was to support the Green lead candidates on Twitter, preparing by researching past voting behaviour of the political opponents and preparing tweets from before hand. This was coordinated with EGP staff.

The Eurovision debate turned out to be a major success for the Greens in terms of Twitter engagements. #GreenWave and #VoteForClime were amongst the trending hashtags during the debate.

Global Climate Strikes, 15 March and 24 May and #OccupyforClimateOne of the main ways we supported climate strikers was by amplifying their messages through our social media. In particular during the Global Climate Strikes. On both days we started Twitter threads to report on strikes taking place across the world. Highlighting the global nature of the movement and the more recent emerging strikes in Southern and Eastern Europe. We used Instagram and Instagram Stories to live-stream the strikes and share live updates. Our Twitter content and content by FYEG EC members was shared by Greta Thunberg on at least three occasions, which we dare to call a success. Reporting in real time from Twitter allowed us also to gain additional visibility and enter traditional media. We adopted the same strategy when climate strikers occupied the square in front of the European Parliament in Brussels on the weekend before the elections. We strived to offer a good quality lifestream from the occupation, but faced technical difficulties. Nevertheless, a tweet by one of our Co-Spokesperson breaking the news about the occupation was among the most popular tweets from FYEG during the campaign, allowing us to reach wide audiences in the last hours before closing the polls.

recommendations

• The website took too long to launch;• Internal processes around the visual

identity and campaign slogan took too long and delayed other processes;

• Merchandise distribution, at least one MO did not receive merchandise in time.

• Start process for visual identity sooner and not online;

• Create online actions around trending topics when relevant (e.g. milkshake photos worked really well.);

• Make universal merchandise that can be used beyond the campaign.

what didn’t work?

• The merchandise, in particular the t-shirts and stickers were very popular;

• Using social media to reach out for volunteers;

• Mobilising around climate, amplifying the voices of youth climate strikers across Europe on Twitter and Instagram;

• Mobilising support for the Green Spitzenkandidaten online during debates, especially on Twitter.

what worked?

Tweeting about the climate strikes, 2.3k likes and 537 retweets.

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fEDERATION OF yOUNG eUROPEAN gREENS campaign evaluation

FinancesThe funding for our campaign came from various sources depending on the kind of expenses. Several campaign-related expenses are not part of the campaign budget as we have mutualised these costs with other projects. This is the case for most meetings of the CT or for the Young Candidates Trainings that were organised in parallel with other FYEG events. This allowed us to reduce costs and they have not been accounted in the campaign budget.

Inside our campaign budget, the main spending budget lines were the organisation of FYEG campaign rally in Madrid, the recruitment of a campaign and events assistant, the production costs of the campaign material (t-shirts, beer coasters, stickers, badges), the costs related to the visual identity, and the website.By the time this report is being drafted, exact numbers are not available yet but the total campaign expenses are close to 60,000€, excluding the Young Candidates trainings and some of the CT meetings. Several elements of the campaign were considered as joint projects of the European Green Party and FYEG. This means that the EGP directly paid for some of these costs (around half of the campaign budget).

The other main sources of funding are our crowdfunding campaign organised which brought us 2000€ and our General budget (Membership fees of Member Organisations, donations, EGP grant, etc.)We have been able to fund this campaign also by cutting expenses in 2018 and transfer those resources to 2019.

This might not be possible every election year. We therefore advise FYEG to start constitute a campaign fund, putting aside at least 5000€ per year in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to allow us to have at least 20,000€ ready for the campaign in 2024.

#VoteforclimateIn the final phase of the campaign, we decided to try out a minor campaign element that would focus on the importance of the European elections with regard to fighting the climate crisis. This became the #VoteForClimate campaign. Inspired by similar small campaigns that are not strictly party-political (such as “Vota por favor” in the general election in Spain in April 2019), we developed a narrative and an aesthetic for a campaign calling for people to vote for climate in the European elections. We were supported by a volunteer who created the visual identity. The campaign had an online presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with one of the main elements being a Facebook event that ended up reaching nearly 35000 people and 1500 responses.

#VoteForClimate was set up in a fairly short amount of time with low resources. It took some work to coordinate the accounts and the content, but overall it was a campaign element that brought an added value in emphasising that these were climate elections. The concept can certainly be built upon and further improved in the future, either as #VoteForClimate or as something else.

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ConclusionWith the urgency of the climate crisis being brought to the forefront of the political agenda, the European elections campaign of 2019 was a campaign like no other. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament increased from 52 to 75 MEPs, providing the Green European family with new opportunities for organizing and pushing for change.

Conducting a European campaign is not always easy, as campaigning often highly depends on local political contexts. With FYEG’s campaign, we were able to establish a common ground for campaigning, providing a good basis for potential future campaigns around transnational lists. While it is impossible to establish a clear correlation between FYEG’s campaign and the number of MEPs elected, we can say that FYEG’s campaign contributed positively in bringing about the Green Wave.

Our campaign was particularly strong in the way it centered around three key stories, whose narratives were repeated consistently. At the same time, we remained flexible, experimented with new formats and engaged in activism online and on the streets.

Out of all the components of the campaign, the Young Candidates Platform proved to be a particularly useful tool, allowing for recruitment, preparation and support for candidates throughout their campaign trail. It is also thanks to our campaign activities that now 11 Young Green MEPs will sit in the European Parliament and bring the Green Wave further.

We want to thank everyone who was brave with us. The fight for a Green Europe continues.

Be Brave. Green Europe!