<< Background >>This Project stems from several contemporary issues:•Media and information literacy deficit: the ubiquitous presence of fake news, disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, manipulation and demagogy in today’s media (traditional as well as digital media - social media, e-mails, discussions on news portals etc.) and the lack of skills of information consumers to verify their sources, to debunk misinformation or to fight disinformation.•The COVID-19 pandemic: forcing physical education to move into the digital realm created unforeseen challenges caused by the overuse of digital, virtual and augmented methods. This crisis clearly showed the need for designing innovative blended methods of working with the youth.•Inadequate capacity of the Consortium for hybrid working practices with the youth which take the best from both physical and digital methods while eliminating their drawbacks.•Disenchantment of the youth with political development, their mistrust in democratic processes, erosion of European values and rising perception of the European Union as something “external”.A recent UNESCO survey from 2018 has found that a very low percentage of the youth are able to recognize and appropriately handle hate speech on the internet. The EU Strategy of Youth states that media and information literacy of the youth needs to be improved. Research done by Eurobarometer (2020) has also found that only 7 % of all respondents were willing to discuss the future of the EU with NGOs. These studies show that action needs to be taken if we want to keep debate about our European future and values alive, honest, polite and informed. We need to act fast.In the Project, we identify three major target groups whose needs we address:•The Consortium will benefit directly from developing new hybrid working methods. Partner staff will actively learn how to produce high quality educational materials and how to test their workability through organised interaction with the youth.•Youth participants will take part in workshops where produced Project outputs will be tested, discussed, and validated. Through subsequent active independent work with peers, young participants will validate and disseminate the developed methodologies.•Stakeholders not directly participating in the Project (NGOs, activists, educational institutions interested in promoting critical thinking, media literacy and resilience to information overload).<< Objectives >>Our Project aims to:•Increase the capacity of the Consortium to plan, produce and implement hybrid methodologies in youth work, enabling us to react to situations like the COVID-19 pandemic and work through times when mobility of people is limited.•Create and field-test practical methodologies to work with youth participants on the topic of fake news, misinformation, disinformation, populism, demagogy, manipulation and hate speech; these methodologies will form a compact toolkit. This toolkit, advancing critical thinking and basic project management skills, will be shared with external stakeholders and the youth to be used in their direct work with peers and school curricula. Finally, the toolkit will serve as inspiration for the youth to get involved in developing the European civic society and find ways to “be heard”.•Increase media literacy of our participants and target groups in Project countries and educate the youth on techniques used for the dissemination of fake news and hate speech. We intend to reach out beyond our Consortium and in other European countries by using the potential of natural multipliers (active youth interested in current issues, teaching and training), the Project's effects will have the potential to spread organically, even long after its activities will have ended. Finally, including disadvantaged youth will be a step towards better equality of non-formal education among diverse groups.•Elevate the debate on European values amongst the youth and through their influence in the whole society. We want to contribute to the European society’s ability to discuss controversial topics in a calm and informed manner, using critical thinking skills instead of argumentation based mainly on emotions, bias or uninformed opinions.<< Implementation >>During the first phase, the Consortium will develop a set of tools as one Project result:1. Toolkit: •Contemporary best-practice methods of working with the youth•Methods of supporting media and information literacy•Methods of information recognition and validation•Basic project and event management skills (to empower the youth to organise physical meetings with their peers)•Basic project results evaluation methods (to support independent work of the youth)2.Toolkit:•Examples of misinformation, fallacies, manipulations and hate speech•Analysis of chosen examples and their classification as falsehoods, lies, manipulations, and/or hate speech•Presentation of speculative argumentation on how misinformation etc. might be influencing global development and how, why and by whom it might have been created3.Toolkit:•Videos and podcasts showcasing applications of the methods described in the 1st Toolkit, used on examples from the 2nd toolkit4.Toolkit:•Virtual space where participants can organise and schedule a debate, meeting, virtual training among themselves or with their tutors based on the knowledge and skills acquired in the previous three toolkits.•Place for debate competitions where participants present their argumentation on a chosen topic and test the skills they attained from toolkits 1-3 (should physical meetings be impossible).All toolkits will be accessible in a virtual space through both VR equipment and standard web browsers.During the second testing phase of the Project, all methods and toolkits will be put to test in direct interactions (four-days long workshops) with groups of youth from each Project country. The youth will provide feedback through focus groups and interviews. Another layer of feedback will be given by youth participants when they take the developed methods and use them at workshops they organize in their hometowns (the Consortium staff will not be present). This multi-layered testing approach will thoroughly examine the tools in regards of their efficiency and practical workability as well assess their effect on stimulating the youth to become active citizens of Europe.<< Results >>Project results/outcomes will be:•At least 18 interactive object- and hypertext based educational materials on the topics of oContemporary best-practice methods of working with the youth oMethods of supporting media and information literacy oMethods of information recognition and validation oBasic project management methods (to empower the youth to organise physical meetings for their peers) oBasic project evaluation methods (to support independent work of the youth)•At least twelve podcasts and videos•At least four blended learning toolkits•At least six debate methodologies•Four international youth meetings testing the developed methodologies•At least 24 standalone independent activities organised by youth participants in their immediate social environment•Reports from youth participants on the workability of used methodsAll of this will be merged in to a single environment, accessible through standard web browsers or via VR means.