superYOUTH

Spot-on youth for a democratic, informed and more crisis-responsive EU society.

With the proliferation of digital media, access to internet and tech-savvy youth, nowadays online communication is under fire. As the digital environment is widely open and free, orchestrated campaigns are generally causing three types of recognized information-driven malice (UNESCO, 2020): Disinformation, Misinformation, and Malinformation (DMM).

Even more, as observed especially during crises, societal changes and radical innovation deployment (political events, refugee crises, pandemics (COVID-19, introducing 5g technologies, environmental sustainability, etc), the impact of DMM on youth that do not have the proper skills to properly assess online content leads to intristic and deep-rooted challenges that can negatively shape the next generation of European citizens: i.e. sharp rise in the number of deaths during the COVID-19 crisis due to fake news diminishing the gravity of the pandemic and surging people not to follow the rules (SOMA Observatory, 2020), rise in homophobia during democratic voting exercises, inducing fear and rejection against immigrants and refugees (EC, 2020), sharp rise of populism, chauvinism and extremist views (Politico, 2020), limiting youth’s rights and ability to a democratic lifestyle, civic engagement, active citizenship (among others)

Spot-on youth for a democratic, informed and more crisis-responsive EU society

Some efforts already exist to counteract the challenges imposed by DMM on youth, for which a well-founded guide developed by UNESCO (covering trust, information disorder, fact checking, online abuse, social media verification etc), however most of these efforts:

1) adopt a broad journalistic or IT literacy approach without providing a behavioural insight into fighting youth’s pre-existing biases due to DMM;

2) provide open access generic content without a focus on youth workers and trainers (that would enable “train the trainer” efforts); and

3) they are not thematically focused.

Additionally, a training needs analysis performed by the partners revealed further gaps: Country-level & project partner level target group training needs • Youth (18-30 years old) training needs towards fighting DMM: increased tolerance and awareness about migration, ability to distinguish fake news and propaganda, critical thinking, adequate digital and media literacy, proactivity against DMM, social media exposure, ethical competences in digital usage behavior, deep-fake fact checking skills.

Community training centres and programmes for (junior and senior) youth workers do not offer specialized training helping youth workers to boost their abilities to better train youth against DMM. Specific gaps: lack of youth worker qualification frameworks (recognition); lack of mechanisms to inspire youth at being proactive against DMM; lack of skills to handle groups at risk and foster inclusion; lack of skills to support cross-sectoral cooperation in youth work; limited skills in guiding youth to tackle daily challenges and engage in active citizenship and democratic right; limited skills in adopting innovative (and behavioural) training techniques that would help youth to fight already developed biases through past exposure to DMM.

Objectives

superYOUTH aims to develop a transnational youth worker training programme on better training youth to debunk DMM. The programme will contain: a non-formal curriculum (on DMM competence units at EQF level 5 – equivalent for non-formal education) for youth learners; a train the trainers toolkit (based on the DigComp framework) that will enable youth workers to improve the quality and effectiveness of their teaching; an open access platform for young people where they can report fake news and ask for advice (moderated by experts); and lastly, a series of citizen training events (that youth workers will utilise to pilot Results) based on UNESCO’s fake news training toolkit (which will be extended with a behavioural element to fight youth’s pre-existing biases formed through DMM exposure. Additionally, superYOUTH will facilitate certification according to YOUTHPASS (for youth participants) and DigComp (for youth workers).

Results

Fighting disinformation, misinformation and malinformation (DMM) curriculum

Youth worker train the trainer toolkit on DMM

An open access platform for young people where they can report fake news and ask for advice

superYOUTH Alumni Network of Qualified Fake News Experts

superYOUTH will implement the following activities:

Implementation

Fighting disinformation, misinformation and malinformation (DMM) curriculum
4 modular competence units that can be integrated in open MOOCs for non-formal education
Virtual fake news identification simulator (as assessment)
Innovative learning tools.
YOUTHPASS certification
Virtual pilots

Youth worker train the trainer toolkit on DMM DigComp competence units and DigComp certification Innovative teaching & learning mechanisms UNESCO’s fake news training toolkit (which will be extended with a behavioural element to fight youth’s pre-existing biases formed through DMM exposure Storytelling & web-radio techniques

An open access platform for young people where they can report fake news and ask for advice (moderated by experts) and where they can engage in stopping manipulation and propaganda, contributing thus to social inclusion and civic engagement.

With uploaded data for facilitating youth’s practice on fake news identification

Virtual pilots

Quality assurance methodology

Project image and dissemination material

superYOUTH Alumni Network of Qualified Fake News Experts

Information days (Romania – Greece – Cyprus – Italy)

Outcomes

superYOUTH will primarily train youth workers and youth:

100 youth participants in the virtual pilot events (from which 50 will apply for YOUTHPASS certificates, at least 25% will come from groups at risk, and 30% will be interested in further youth studies, 100 youth workers directly involved in the virtual pilot events (from which at least 15 will have DigComp certification).

Furthermore, at least 300 youth and youth workers from outside of the project will receive the results of superYOUTH. The number of additional target groups (regulators, policy makers, NGOs, Media outlets, etc) engaged in the online platform will reach at least 600.

The number of other types of training institutions (beyond youth) that will incorporate superYOUTH’s outputs will be at least 30.

Furthermore, at least 200 people will participate in the four multiplier events and an overall number of 9500 people will be reached throughout the dissemination campaigns.

Consortium

C.I.P. Citizens In Power (CIP) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization. CIP constitutes one of the leading organizations in Cyprus in the fields of global education, social innovation, entrepreneurship, STEM, and sustainable growth. CIP team designs and implements cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approaches, as a response to fundamental social, educational and environmental challenges and policy gaps, mainly by employing technology transfer and operationalizing the research findings. Humanity faces unprecedented socio-economic and environmental challenges. CIP has been striving to satisfy the needs of citizens without compromising the potential of future generations. Correspondingly, CIP values guarantee actions and promote methodological approaches which are able to bring about social, economic and environmental prosperity.

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DCN Global's mission is to create a lasting impact through empowering a new generation of global voices and ideas in the digital communication space. To achieve our mission, we serve as an open space for communication, creativity and connectivity with the purpose of promoting democratic and resilient societies by being a catalyst for credible information and democratic norms and behaviors. DCN Global's foundational premise is that, in the complex new information space, only digitally empowered coalitions of different professionals can identify creative and sustainable solutions to today's and future challenges. Our premise makes DCN Global a unique voice in training, research, publishing, and content and production creation for the 21st century.

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The DPO CC Team is made up of specialists from leading international Management Consulting, Telecommunications and Legal Firms, with proven experience in every market area, both national, international and digital. The team is led by Diego and Luigi Padovan, from whose experiences, heterogeneous but absolutely complementary in terms of privacy, the DPOCC project was born.

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FGB is a network of change-makers. Our mission is to create real social impact and positive socio-economic progress across nations and cities. Empowered by a strong 50-year history and an unwavering belief in human potential, we strive to transform ideas into policy that paves the way towards better living for all. To do this, we publish research and content with an aim to inform policy across Italy and Europe. We build programs for stakeholders, businesses, entrepreneurs and students to advance their ideas for innovation and progress. We bring our political, economic and social expertise to support institutions in their vision for development. And through it all, we are committed to starting new conversations about what it means to live inclusively in these challenging times. We believe there is a way to create more opportunities for everyone, regardless of any gender, race, culture, belief or nationality. And it starts with knowledge.

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HELIXCONNECT EUROPE emerged in 2020 as a need for a better hands-on approach to facilitating innovation, helping organisations grow and enabling a proper integration among innovators, NGOs, industry and government. Our vision is to link Romania, Eastern Europe and Western Balkans with the global innovation systems and enable national knowledge and technology transfer. With the up-rise of modern technologies and organisational performance frameworks, massive shifts and business model innovations are required in order to transform organisations to stay competitive while ensuring that they reach their intended impact in a fair and responsible manner. As such, HELIXCONNECT EUROPE works under an international advisory board composed of leading influencers from industry, innovation and policy making sectors in order to devise tailored and applied solutions for organisations.

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YET (Youth | Entrepreneurship | Education | Technology) is a registered NGO based in Thessaloniki, Greece. It aims to support young and future entrepreneurs, foster innovation, entrepreneurship and bring positive and impactful change for Greece, South Easter Europe and the EU. YET firmly aims to help its dynamic audience (college students, young professionals, start-ups, future and current entrepreneurs) to improve their managerial, networking and leadership skills. To achieve this, YET has organized throughout the years of its activities a series of informative and training seminars, workshops, open events, conferences, with a variety of guest speakers and hundreds of participants. YET is also a proud Member of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.

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Università Telematica Internazionale UNINETTUNO is a trusted distance-learning University structured in six faculties: Engineering, Economics, Cultural Heritage, Psychology, Communication Sciences and Law. It provides open and flexible higher education, postgraduate programmes and master courses in six languages (Italian, English, French, Arabic, Greek and Polish) to 15.000 students from 170 different countries. The key to its success are an innovative teaching methodology and a unique e-learning platform: a knowledge network where teachers and students based all over the world produce, deliver and receive educational contents through the internet, without space or time boundaries. Moreover, UNINETTUNO offers vocational courses and up to 220 MOOC courses, making it one of the largest MOOC providers in Europe. Founded in 1985, its headquarters are based in Rome, Italy.

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Contact

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme, Agreement No 2021-1-IT03-KA220-YOU-000028493
The contents of this website reflect the views of the superYOUTH project. The views expressed in the website do not necessarily reflect the views of the EC

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