"<< Objectives >>In Bulgaria and Spain, 32% and 28% of people, respectively, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, whereas 22% in Portugal face a similar situation. At the same time, the European Commission states that ""Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an immediate impact on food security for millions of people around the world."" We want to create an education card game to inform participants about what is food security and what they can do to increase food security in the places where they live<< Implementation >>To learn about food security and how participants can foster it locally using environmental sustainability principles, this consortium will create an educational game of cards that will also be available in a digital form in the project's Toolkit. The game will allow participants to explore topics related to food security in a fun, informal, and engaging way. The online version of the game will also allow participants to interact with others remotely and increase their knowledge on these topics.<< Results >>At the end of the project, partners will have created four sets of cards in English, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Spanish using sustainable materials such as seeded paper and sustainable inks as well as an online Toolkit that will allow other participants to play the game remotely and interact with one another. Partners will also have run a workshop in Bulgaria, Portugal, and Spain where participants will have made a plan to start initiatives and projects to foster food security locally."

"<< Objectives >>The partnership of 3 youth organisations from Romania, Bulgaria and Portugal during 1 year seeks to:- Equip young people (especially those with fewer opportunities) with competencies required for working remotely and start an online career;- Promote inclusiveness create conditions for more young people with fewer opportunities to enter the online workforce; - Update competencies (including digital) of youth workers in helping young people become more employable in online job market.<< Implementation >>3 Living Library events: real stories of people who work online shared to youngsters with fewer opportunities3 2-days events Peer Learning ""Teach Me in 1 Hour"" per country: young people learn practical skills needed for online employment3 Speed Dating events: pairing employers with young people who look for jobs1 international mobility for youth workersDeveloping a methodology for supporting online employment of youngstersDissemination<< Results >>Young people with economical, educational and geographical obstacles become more competent in obtaining a job online, improve digital skills (360 people directly + others via dissemination);Youth workers become online career coaches and improve digital competencies (3 orgs directly + more via dissemination);A methodology on supporting online employment of young people with fewer opportunities – disseminated at the local, national and European level. New partnerships."

Young people today are the first generation for which the internet is a given, at the same time reported mental health problems within this group have risen steeply (Nuffield Trust, 2018). Many have found these phenomena to be linked; research by the Royal Society for Public Health found that social media use across a range of popular channels led to increased feelings of anxiety, depression, poor body image and loneliness (RSPH, 2017). Internet addiction is also becoming more prevalent within society; some individuals are spending more than 15 hours a day online (BBC, 2014) and the WHO has officially classified gaming addiction as a disorder. Increasingly, it is recognised that internet reliance is having negative impacts on people’s personal and working lives (Ofcom, 2016). The gap between the real and online world has also created other issues. Unrealistic or selective content prevalent on social media has led to many, especially young women, reporting struggles with self-esteem and body image (Makwana et al., 2018, Davis & Hyman, 2018). Similarly, the proliferation of misinformation online has increasingly become a concern for European society. The EU’s Digital Single Market strategy recognises the need for digital media literacy amongst citizen for them to be able to responsibly navigate online content (European Commission, 2018). At the same time the internet provides opportunities for people across Europe to connect, learn and engage. Particularly, the EU’s strategy for a ‘Digital Single Market’ promotes a new horizon for digital inclusion and integration across Europe for mutual benefit. This recognises the avenues the internet opens for more accessible and innovative learning opportunities. New employment prospects, technological development and economic growth, fuelled by the digital revolution, are also bringing benefits to young people across Europe (IMF, 2018). Research has shown the social benefits of the internet, including promoting civic engagement amongst disenfranchised young people (Banji & Buckingham, 2010) and addressing mental health problems by connecting people with virtual support networks and a space for self-expression (Marchant et al, 2018). For young people to be able to fully benefit from the new opportunities provided by technological developments they also need the skills to protect themselves against the parallel dangers. Thus, DigitFit aims to work with young people, and especially those who have a problematic relationship with the internet, to raise awareness about the different beneficial ways it can be used. It also works to foster a more responsible use of the internet by this group, enabling them to find a better balance between their online and offline lives and more reflexively engage with the information and images they consume online. The project objectives are to: - Develop a DigitFit E-Learning Platform for young people- Create and deliver a Training Programme and Mentoring CirclesTM for skill and knowledge development around digital health for young people. - Increase young people’s skills, awareness and abilities for more responsible and beneficial internet use.- Increase Trainer’s ability to deal with this issue To achieve this there will be three intellectual outputs carried out as part of the DigitFit project: - IO1 – Training Programme The Training Programme will engage participants with the topic of digital health through the combined use of both a Training Programme and Mentoring CirclesTM. The Training Programme will educate them about the potential benefits and harms of the internet for young people and equip them with skills to find balance between their online and offline lives. The Mentoring CirclesTM will work with participants to increase their self-awareness and self-efficacy about their use of the digital world to foster more responsible engagement with it. - IO2 – Guide for Facilitators A Facilitator’s Pack will be developed to train both partner staff, at a one-day workshop, and external personnel working with young people who will take part in a programme delivered by partners. This will ensure innovative and excellent training both within the project and more widely to increase impact. - IO3 – E-Learning Platform The E-Learning Platform will host highly interactive and innovative tools and materials to develop young people’s competencies for engaging responsibly and positively with the digital world. This project will serve as a tool to raise awareness about the potential harms of internet and social media use for young people. It will also teach about the far-reaching benefits of the internet for young people including employment opportunities, support networks and as a cite of learning. Ultimately, it will combine this with training to foster the skills and knowledge needed for young people to safely navigate the digital world and truly benefit from it.

The project lasts 24 months (March 2021-February 2023) and involves 5 partners from 5 European countries: ARCS Arci Culture Solidali-Italia, CYCLISISIS- Greece, PFE-Bulgaria, Arrabal-AID-Spain, DRPDNM- Slovenia. ARCS (Coordinator, responsible for M&V); CYCLISIS (Leader of O1-YOU reSTART! and responsible for Communication), DRPDNM (responsible for Dissemination); PFE, Arrabal-AID. YOU reSTART! is a result of a shared feeling amongst youth and cultural workers coming from Italy, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece and Spain who, during last year, have been committed in guaranteeing spaces of aggregation, entertainment, promotion of cultural and artistic initiatives for people attending youth and cultural centres. In various contexts, the role played by digital technologies has been fundamental, allowing new opportunities for participation, generating creative content and cultural and artistic initiatives capable of overcoming the frustration caused by the interruption of the planned activity. YOU reSTART! aims to:strengthen the interaction between youth workers involved in the field of culture, art and creativity, through a platform facilitating the exchange of experiences and methodologies;create a heritage of shared skills and practices for the development of entrepreneurial initiatives in the field of culture and art including an innovative use of digital technology. The project involves 40 youth workers with experience in artistic, cultural and creative activities, who participate in partner organizations’ actions, either voluntarily or professionally. The project foresees the following actions: creation of the O1 YOU reSTART! Platform, which increases interaction, sharing and exchange of experiences and methodologies among youth workers involved in the fields of culture, art and creativity; creation of an LTT where youth workers meet and deepen issues related to the development of entrepreneurial and digital skills to promote artistic, cultural and creative activities; realization of a survey and a focus on conducted in partner countries and useful to widen knowledge and discussion with stakeholders on project’s issues. The platform co-created by the partners provides effective tools to facilitate interaction and exchange (both synchronous and asynchronous) among youth workers. The project foresees the realization of 5 multiplier events. These will be occasions for participants to meet and deepen the topics covered by the project and to present the O1.At least 200 participants are expected among young people, local organizations, stakeholders, policy makers and interested citizens. The project is expected to achieve:- The strengthening of youth workers’ skills involved in cultural, artistic and creative activities promoting the inclusion and creativity of young people;- The enhancing and/or increasing of digital skills (No. 3 of Digicomp) and entrepreneurial skills (Area 1 and 2) of youth workers especially in the field of art, culture and creativity;- The increase of youth workers’ sharing and exchange opportunities at European level;- The strengthening of youth workers’ network involved in art, culture and creativity themes and activities;- The creation of a toolkit of methodologies and good practices related to cultural and artistic entrepreneurship, both live and online, for youth workers. The short, medium and long term impact assessment is carried out in respect of the general and specific objectives and in relation to the following targets: organizations, youth workers and stakeholders. The project sustainability is measured according to a variety of parameters: social, organizational, technical, professional and economic sustainability. The project aims to be a pro-active response to the emergency crisis caused by the COVID19, by organizations and youth workers daily engaged in activities promoting culture, art, creativity and inclusion of young people.

<< Background >>“#DigitSafe-Boosting digital safe spaces and resilience” Project following the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2017 and in line with the EU Youth Goal 6 “Information & Constructive Dialogue”, aims at empowering young people to become resilient and safe digital citizens, enabling them to address some of the challenges and negative impacts of the digital era. The results of the DigitFIT project, in which 3 members of this Consortium have participated, pointed out the difficulties young people find when looking for compiled information and for knowledge on how to act when their digital privacy and security is undermined or when they face cyberbullying and hate speech.To implement #DigitSafe, the joint work of the five European partners that composed this Consortium, will be required: CONEXX-EU (Belgium) as coordinator, CESUR (Spain), Inova Aspire (The Netherlands), Radio Alma (Belgium) and PFE (Bulgaria). In the field of digital safety and resilience among young people (18-30 y.o), project’s target, a number of needs that will be addressed by #DigitSafe are highlighted by the Consortium:Digital risks are rarely addressed effectively through formal education while ICTs are becoming increasingly embedded in young people's lives,due to technological advances as well as the accelerated European digital transition during Covid-19 pandemic.It is crucial to enhance the nonformal education offer and open access information on privacy and security to create new tools where harmonized information reaches young people.They, especially those in vulnerable situations,often lack the necessary knowledge and skills for a safe digital usage.They might be digital natives but not necessarily digitally savvyWorldwide, young people get a huge amount of new knowledge through small bits of information, through the content creation tools social media platforms make available to all users,that gives the option to dig deeper in any theme if the user wants to but makes the key messages more visual and straightforward. The project will meet its target audience using their social media language and disseminate its outputs basing its strategy in the researched best practices on awareness campaigns on social media and through influencing channels they daily use as TikTok with 100 million active monthly users in Europe or radio podcasts, Instagram reels or Twitch, with a high percentage of young users. The need of making trustworthy and quality available information regarding legal, psychological, learning issues to become more resilient and savvy in the digital space regarding Cyber Bullying,Hate Speech and user Security and Privacy easily reachable and structured into one single source will also be addressed for later, translating it into the needed narrative digital practices that will effectively reach young people. This strikes directly the lack of formal education within the topics,the dissonance between the available resources and the actual formats in which youth consumes this kind of information, as well as communicative problems as the huge amount of information on one same topic spread all over multiple platforms and sources and the difficulty to discern and pick up the user encounters.Likewise, multilingual needs will also be considered because although the younger generations are mostly used to consuming global content in English, there is no specific data to assume that our target group, young people and those belonging to vulnerable groups,will engage all our intended information if it is entirely in English.Therefore,the project will use a multilingual approach with content not just in English but also in French,Spanish,Dutch and Bulgarian.Finally, Consortium needs are also going to be addressed through raising awareness, strengthening partners capacities in the mentioned topics for future youth actions and for their overall youth work, empowering their own digital resilience.<< Objectives >>#DigitSafe whole project will be aimed at fostering a wider and deeper knowledge amongst young people on the two key topics of Cybersecurity & Hate Speech and Security & Privacy, in particular amongst the most vulnerable groups of young people, building safer digital common spaces and practices as well as boosting their capacities in terms of digital resilience. By collecting indispensable information on these issues in the legal, psychological and social framework, as well as compiling it to make it accessible for young people, in ways that truly reach the youth through their most used social media channels, #DigitSafe Project also wants to achieve the following three specific main objectives:-To promote digital citizenship among young people in the participating countries by, in accordance with the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027, empowering them with practical and compiled information about Security & Privacy, Hate Speech & Cyberbullying.-To provide young people, especially the ones with fewer opportunities who often lack information and data literacy, with the necessary competences to enhance their digital resilience.-To develop an innovative methodology that translates the compiled relevant information in a single handbook into a multichannel public awareness campaign, utilising the most common audiovisual communication practices and language, tools and trends amongst young people.A multimedia and multichannel strategy that exploits the current content creation vaste amount of possibilities accessible to every user offered by the current social media landscape, aimed at strengthening the ability of the youth to make rational choices, knowing their digital rights.<< Implementation >>#DigitSafe Project will be implemented during 24 months through two Intellectual Outputs composed of nine activities that will generate a similar and balanced workload between all partners:IO1: #DigitSafe Digital Resilience Handbook on Cyberbullying, Hate Speech, Security & Privacy, led by Professional Forum for EducationIO2: #DigitSafe Public Awareness Campaign through Social Media & Open Access platform, led by CONEXX-EUROPEThe Consortium’s purpose with IO1 is to raise awareness on the overall opportunities young people have to deal with digital threats and challenges to become empowered and resilient digital citizens. Five activities will implemented within IO1 between M1-M10:ACTIVITY1:Research and collection of information on educational, legal, psychological and social resources available, regarding the two modules thematic to a multilevel contextACTIVITY2:Drafting of the #DigitSafe Handbook. Analysing and organising the information for drafting the modules structureACTIVITY3:Translations.The handbook, as well as in English, will be available in all partner languages: French, Spanish, Bulgarian and DutchACTIVITY4: Handbook Assessment. Development of 15 surveys per partner translated into the project languages that will reach 75 young people from the target group to verify the usefulness of the produced materialACTIVITY5: Design & Layout of the Handbook which will be presented in the most engaging and efficient way since it will remain available to access it online for freeThe project will proceed with the four IO2 activities to be implemented from M11 to M24 once IO1 is completed:ACTIVITY1:Development of the #DigitSafe Multimedia Strategy”. An internal document containing the multichannel, multilingual and multi format strategy to be executed through various social media and the project’s open access platform.ACTIVITY2:Creation of the www.digitsafe.com Open Access platform and social media profiles in order to contain all the necessary sections for when the campaign starts (IO2.A4). ACTIVITY3:Focus Group. 4 virtual focus groups and one designed as a radio programme in Belgium will be conducted, reaching 7-10 per partner(representative of the target group) to test the Content Strategy in execution and deliver a national report.ACTIVITY4: #Digitsafe Public Awareness Campaign. An 8 months multichannel, multiformat and multilingual dissemination of knowledge campaign under the #DigitSafe name, will be executed. IO2 milestone will fulfil the project's objectives of promoting youth digital citizenship to face digital challenges, providing them the necessary competences to enhance their digital resilience and strengthening their ability to preserve their rights in the digital field.In addition to IO’s activities, the following will also be carried out:-5 MULTIPLIER EVENTS, one per partner, engaging a total of 150 participants to disseminate the final results-4 TRANSNATIONAL MEETINGS, to be held in Belgium and Bulgaria as well as two virtual-1 DISSEMINATION & COMMUNICATION PLAN-1 EVALUATION & QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN-1 SUSTAINABILITY PLAN-INTERIM AND FINAL REPORTS-VIRTUAL MEETINGS every 3 months, often if needed.<< Results >>#DigitSafe - Boosting digital safe spaces and resilience project expects 2 complementary main outcomes, resulting from each of the 2 Intellectual Outputs that shape the project:IO1: #DigitSafe Digital Resilience Handbook on Cyberbullying, Hate Speech, Security & Privacy: Composed of 2 complementary modules (Cyberbullying & Hate Speech, and Security & Privacy) it will offer in a comprehensive and unified way, guidance, practical information (legal resources, psychological resources, tips, open learning resources and other training resources) and key recommendations on different issues for youth to acquire a more in depth knowledge of their rights, digital risks and threats in the context of these topics. It will raise awareness on the opportunities and resources available to build skills for dealing with issues arising from young people’s current digital lives (e.g. how to protect oneself from cyberbullying in a job seeking process or how to better manage one self's published contents when accepting terms and conditions on the apps). It will empower youth to become engaged digital citizens and foster a safer digital world. It will curate a vast amount of information, unifying it in a more useful and comprehensive way. It will be available for free for everyone through the project’s platform in 5 European languages (English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Bulgarian).IO2: #DigitSafe Public Awareness Campaign through Social Media & Open Access platform.It will disseminate the knowledge contained in the IO1's handbook’s information by translating the handbook into multimedia and multilingual contents, published through its various social media profiles and www.digitsafe.com platform. A Multimedia Strategy will be drafted, containing all the needed elements for planning a campaign of these characteristics, the platform and social media profiles will be created and the campaign will run for 8 months. It will produce multiple audiovisual contents using different social media tools and trends, strategically disseminated through a multi channel strategy (expected to be at least Instagram, TikTok, SoundCloud, Youtube and Twitch).These results will impact the consortium, target audience and wider public to several levels. Inside the partnership, knowledge will increase around the researched topics, providing new tools to become digitally resilients and perform their professional activity in a digitally safer way. Through the public awareness campaign, they will develop new capacities on the current social media landscape, maximizing their capacity to communicate with youth. Externally, a large number of European youth(comprising a high percentage of youngsters in vulnerable situations), and other stakeholders(as youth workers engaged in the project’s topics) will be impacted. In the handbook they will find a comprehensive tool to refer to when looking for a unified set of resources to learn and develop training for youth on these topics, and through the campaign they will be impacted by its messages and gain knowledge and capacities through the same digital languages and spaces they use in their daily life.The impact will be regional, national and European. The handbook and a large number multimedia contents will be made available in the mentioned 5 languages, and young people from the consortium’s communities will be carefully selected to take part in the evaluation phases of the IOs, bringing a local/national approach to the results. The Dissemination Communication and Visibility Plan of the project itself will take a multilevel geographical and sociological approach. Via the project’s open access platform, everyone will have full access to its results, which are thought to be sustained in time, due to its transferability and its potential to be reshared and reappropriated by the audience on social media, remaining also available for young people facing issues on Cyberbullying, Hate Speech, Security and Privacy.