project result

KA210-YOU - Small-scale partnerships in youth Safe Social Media: Counteracting violence and revealing potential threats on the Internet

The direct goal of the project is to find, develop and disseminate good practices and useful guidelines for the safe use of social media and the Internet by young people.

Through research and exchange of good practices, we want to prepare project results that can be used both by young people themselves and by teachers and educators working with the youth, in the process of acquiring new digital and technological skills, as well as in improving and updating the competences they already have. The virtual world is changing dynamically, which is why we want to simultaneously teach current methods and techniques for safe use of the Internet, as well as pass on universal rules that will allow young people to be safe online.

The specific objectives of the project are:

to exchange best practices between organisations active in teaching digital critical skills focusing on methodologies, conditions and content of digital literacy in youth education;
to exchange best practices regarding developing and implementing educational prevention programs against harmful content on the web;
to contribute to efforts in increasing competencies of low-skilled youth on digital skills’ literacy, that is, providing them with accessible training on how to improve their competences in the matter;
identifying and developing a strategy around future European funding and new opportunities to develop an international, standardised program improving critical skills in the use of digital technologies by the youth;
to promote collaboration of project consortium with other stakeholders such as local municipalities, corporations, youth organisations, etc. and increase their impact on the beneficiaries.

All partners involved in the project have already developed some level of education and training programs around digital literacy and want to further broaden their competences.

They also have knowledge in cyberspace dangers and significance of educational prevention towards the youth. This versatility is possible due to combined efforts of experienced members of the teams and the young staff, staying up to date with the latest online threats. It is also closely related to the goal of exchanging best practices, as it allows for a broad look at the problem and finding innovative solutions.

The conversations conducted within the project work will also initiate thoughts around a basic framework for educating the youth and youth workers in digital critical skills and combating harmful content at a transnational level. For this purpose, we will select, analyse, and comment on the best practices and methodologies around digital critical skills literacy and harmful content. Throughout the development and implementation of the project, we will remain in constant cooperation with our beneficiaries and youth educators to ensure that our activities meet their needs and requirements.

The main target group of this project is the European youth with special focus on the low-skilled youth from marginalised regions who are the most vulnerable to hurtful content and online hate.

Data released by Eurostat states that 95% of young people make daily use of the Internet. It is more than any other age range. The youngest generations were born in times when technology was accessible enough to become a part of their everyday lives. Mobile phones and personal computers were an integral element of growing up for most people born after the year of 1995. For this reason it would seem that the youth should be prepared to keep up with the constant changes in digital technology, but in reality they are the group most vulnerable to various online dangers.

Our special focus is directed towards methods of defence against online hate and violence, as well as harmful impact of unsafe social media interactions. A report “How children (10-18) experienced online risks during the Covid-19 lockdown – Spring 2020” published by the European Commission differentiate four types of cyberbullying situations: (1) nasty or hurtful messages were sent to me; (2) nasty of hurtful messages about me were passed around or posted where other could see; (3) I was left out or excluded from a group activity on the Internet; (4) I was threatened on the Internet. The report states that 26% of children were victims of at least one of these types of bullying and 24% of children suffered every one of these negative behaviours. Taking that into consideration, we want to address our project to young people who often may feel helpless against various kinds of online violence or hateful content.

Exceptional attention will be directed towards low-skilled youth, NEETs, internally displaced people, and those at risk of social exclusion.

They have less access to reliable technological knowledge and are less likely to be involved in social life that could provide them with appropriate defence strategies against hurtful content. They are also the most vulnerable to attacks by cyberbullies.

We would also like to reach out to youth and social workers, educators, who need useful and accessible courses and materials for developing digital critical skills among young people. Indirectly, we are also going to address our activities towards organisations providing educational services for youth. They need new tools to improve the quality of their services – a set of best practices tailored to the needs of the youth. We aim to help them by delivering knowledge about building resistance to online threats.

Moreover, as part of the project, we also want to improve the digital competences of our team members. We care about enhancing our ability to provide quality educational products to youth, and improving staff skills through collaboration and exchange of experience at international level.

By improving the competences of young people and our employees, we want to have a positive impact in the long term.

All partner organisations implement projects using modern technologies, and their beneficiaries also include young people. Thanks to comprehensive preparation for communicating via the Internet, we can ensure future fruitful cooperation in other areas, such as ecology, social participation and life-long education.