Harnessing the power of digital media tools to prevent the radicalisation of vulnerable youth Erasmus Project

Project Title

Harnessing the power of digital media tools to prevent the radicalisation of vulnerable youth

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law); EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Europe faces a real and ongoing threat from violent extremism. A small minority of groups continue to present false arguments and reasoning that seek to justify attacks on innocent civilians. Radical extremists have shown a mastery of global communication networks, using the Internet to disseminate graphic videos and electronic magazines to spread anti-establishment rhetoric and volumes of ‘fake news’ items to attract potential sympathizers. The radicalization of vulnerable youth within Europe is a relatively new issue and the latest one that youth professional and front-line staff are being asked to address. CONCORDIA provides an innovative and comprehensive response to support youth professionals, front-line youth service providers, educators and trainers and migrant support workers. The consortium comprised eight partner organizations: Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Finland, Germany. It included organizations with expertise in front-line youth development work; the design and delivery of education and training materials and programmes; the development and provision of continuous professional development training; digital and social media production training; web development and the design of intuitive e-learning environments. On this basis, following concrete results were achieved: (1) A Summary Research Report – The report identified that while the radicalization threat differs from country to country. But digital and social media are extensively used by subversive and extremist groups in each partner countries to engage vulnerable youth. (2) A Countering Radicalization Continuous Professional Development Training Curriculum – a completely new continuous professional development training curriculum that empowers front-liners to deal with the threat of radicalization. The curriculum was designed as a blended learning training course and comprises a total of 100 hours of study.
(3) Sample Media Content Tool-kit with Tip-sheets – a suite of sample media outputs. These samples were developed as prototypes that the front-line workers according to their requirements can copy or emulate and include a series of short viral videos; 3 short audio files; a sample web-blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram account. (4) The E-Learning-Portal – offers access to all CONCORDIA resources. The portal is optimized for online self-directed learning and for mobile access and works equally well on laptop, tablet or smartphone devices. (5) An On-line Observatory of Best Practice – include projects, methodologies, tools and resources. The observatory provides instant access to a library of tools and resources that support the fight against radicalization and extremism. (6) A Policy Paper “Countering the Radicalization of Vulnerable Youth – A Front-line Approach” – The key issue that the policy paper addresses is the essential role that appropriate continuous professional development plays in supporting front-line youth professionals to achieve quality outcomes in social and educational terms especially when faced with issues like the radicalization of vulnerable youth where specific skill sets are essential. All training resources can be accessed through the project website www.concordia.website where there is a link provided to the e-learning portal which has been developed. All resources developed are available in English, German, French, Czech, Greek, Finnish and Romanian. There is also a link to the project Facebook page where front-line youth workers can connect with like-minded individual throughout Europe.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 264901 Eur

Project Coordinator

Jugendförderverein Parchim/Lübz e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Die Kärntner Volkshochschulen
• Etudes Et Chantiers Corsica
• SYNTHESIS CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION LIMITED
• INNOVENTUM OY
• Asociatia pentru Educatie si Dezvoltare Durabila
• FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE LIMITED
• Centrum Inspirace, z.u.