DigiZation: Digital Participation in Youth Organisations Erasmus Project

Project Title

DigiZation: Digital Participation in Youth Organisations

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Project Summary

In a century when the digital realm has overwhelmingly taken over our daily lives and has shaped our learning and working habits, it is of crucial importance to employ the benefits of the digital empire to our work as youth organisations that aim to increase the level of participation of young people in social and political processes. Acknowledging that using digital tools provides young people with easier access to services that cover a wide range of their needs related to entertainment, education, communication, networking, activism, mobility, working and the like creates a space for identifying solutions to challenges such as exclusion, segregation, alienation, unemployment, etc.

For youth organisations that work on supporting youth participation, capacity building in the area of diversifying the range of digital tools used to support participation of youth within their structures is vital; keeping up with new developments require constant investment is developing skills and adapting to new trends. In line with this rationale, the project’s main aim is to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of youth organizations by developing modules that address digital participation and use digital tools to reach a wider target group.

The objectives of the project are the following:
— to develop a common understanding of the concepts related to digital participation of young people, and its connection and impact on citizenship, leadership and social activism;
— to identify and critically review the current digital solutions in practice in the partner organisations and to assess their multiplication capacity;
— to provide capacity building to staff members of the partner organisations;
— to create a virtual community for sharing experiences and good practices using digital tools;
— to support participants in analyzing and further developing their organization’s internal processes and mechanisms in order to encompass digital participation solutions.

The project envisions to fulfill the given objectives by organising the following activities:
— a consultative meeting gathering 12 participants from youth organisations, municipalities, other relevant stakeholders in a process of mapping the good practices that the partners are using in their organisations;
— an experts meeting gathering participants with expert background in digital participation to work on structuring the results of the consultative meeting and on identifying and proposing new digital solutions that are on the market;
— a training for multipliers which will gather 16 participants from youth organisations, municipalities, other relevant stakeholders to improve their capacity to use digital tools and to enrich their organisation’s experience;
— a practical implementation phase where the participants from the training will be supported to pilot several of the identified good practices;
— an evaluation seminar and international conference, gathering 20 participants for seminar and 40 participants for conference, offering space for evaluation and dissemination of the project outcomes.

The main impact of the project thus will be the creation of the links and awareness among the participating youth workers and stakeholders about the potential for quality participation of young people in community and political life on local, national and European level. The biggest impact on participants is enhanced capacity to use digital tools in youth organisations and to put into practice new tools identified in other European contexts. The biggest impact for organisations is enhanced capacity of youth organisations to use digital solutions to bring more young people to participate and have a say in their community, as well as improved ability to support other stakeholders (municipalities, educational institutions) to employ digital tools in their work with young people.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 76750 Eur

Project Coordinator

VEREIN FUR BILDUNG POPEDU & Country: AT

Project Partners

• OUT OF THE BOX INTERNATIONAL
• DYPALL NETWORK: ASSOCIACAO PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DA PARTICIPACAO CIDADA
• CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE ASSOCIATION