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Digital Youth Work: From Reactive to Strategic
Digital Youth Work: From Reactive to Strategic
Inhalt
This activity challenges youth work leaders, youth workers, and young people to make a crucial transition: from simply reacting to online trends to proactively developing a powerful digital strategy. By building on the developmental needs of young people and learning from proven methods, you can create a lasting online impact. This is your chance to grow your digital presence from scattered content to a purposeful, strategic approach.
The Challenge
Young people's online world is complex and changes quickly. Many organisations are active online but lack a clear strategy that addresses the profound needs of young people. The challenge is to bridge the gap between traditional methods and young people's hybrid online world. This often leaves young people who are "invisible" offline—such as those who are lonely, find it difficult to connect, or are housebound—unreached. With this activity, you'll learn to shift to a thoughtful, strategic online voice aimed at reaching and supporting these young people in particular.
The Three Methodologies: Your Online Compass
Youth work is wherever young people are, and that's increasingly online. To build a meaningful and sustainable presence, you can use an approach based on three core methodologies. These methods will help you seamlessly integrate young people's online and offline worlds.
- Online as a point of contact: Become discoverable and accessible to young people online. This is your chance to reach new target groups you might not see offline. Engage with them directly on the channels they use, such as DMs or Snapchat, and make sure you respond quickly and with a low barrier to entry.
- Online observation: Learn to "read" young people’s online expressions and pick up on cues about their needs and problems, from loneliness to cyberbullying. By comparing this information with offline observations, you can play a key preventative role and build a bridge to other professionals, such as the local council or police.
- Online guidance: Offer repeated support through the online channels young people already use. The anonymity of online contact can lower the barrier for them to talk about sensitive topics. This guidance is most effective when you combine it with face-to-face contact to build a deeper relationship.
In Practice in Ede: The Story of Youth Worker Robin van Wonderen
Robin van Wonderen, a youth worker at Malkander in the municipality of Ede, shares how he integrates digital youth work into his daily routine. He developed a strategy based on his graduation research and uses platforms like Snapchat for one-on-one contact and TikTok and Instagram to promote physical activities. Robin emphasises the importance of a tailored approach by talking to young people about their interests. For example, he noticed a clear difference in interests between young people in the city of Ede and those in its surrounding villages. He encourages involving young people in content creation so they feel a sense of ownership while also using their digital skills. This makes the work not only more effective but also more sustainable for the team.
The Opportunity
Youth workers and leaders play a crucial role in putting these insights into practice. By strengthening your skills in strategy and methodology, you can:
- Observe young people: Identify young people's needs in the online world by carefully observing and responding to their online behaviour.
- Work as a point of contact: Use the online space as a place to reach young people who would otherwise remain unseen.
- Guide young people online: Coach young people on the challenges and opportunities of the online world, such as self-image, relationships, and safety.
- Connect strategically: Seamlessly integrate the online and offline worlds into your work to provide a consistent and safe environmen
Get Started: Activities for Different Roles
Explore the following role-specific badges to improve your digital youth work within the organisation. Each badge contains a series of clear, practical tasks tailored to your role, inspired by the six developmental needs and the three methodologies.
Youth work leaders can earn the Strategic Innovator badge to develop a sustainable approach to digital youth work within the organisation.
Youth workers can earn the Online Guide badge to gain practical experience in coaching young people on the challenges and opportunities of the online world.
Young people can earn the Digital Pioneer badge to build their own skills and self-confidence and create a positive impact within their online community.
Your Mission: Become a Digital Impact Maker
Get inspired by real-world practice! Watch the video where youth worker Robin van Wonderen of Malkander shares his experiences and valuable tips. He shows how a proactive attitude, team collaboration, and the right tools can create a successful digital approach. His story and insights directly align with the principles of this activity and give you a concrete example of how to start.
Who Created This Resource? This approach is based on the research 'Jongerenwerk in de online leefwereld van jongeren' (Youth Work in the Online World of Young People) from Lectoraat Youth Spot – Jongerenwerk (HvA) and was funded by the Innovation Alliance Foundation (RAAK-Publiek) and 14 collaborating organisations. The authors are Dr. Willeke Manders & Dejan Todorovic, MSc. Robin van Wonderen of Malkander youth work was interviewed about their digital youth work. This activity was created through Digital Systemic, a project subsidised by the European Union.
Next Steps: Apply this approach in your own youth work setting. Start by earning the badges in this activity.
Erhalte einen Badge für diese Aktivität
The Strategic Innovator (for Leaders) Erhalte diesen Badge
You've developed a strategic plan for digital youth work and successfully implemented it, inspired by the practice of Robin van Wonderen from Malkander and the three methodologies: online as a point of contact, for observation, and for guidance. You've paved the way by defining the right resources, involving collaborative partners, and supporting your team in their professional development. You understand that a strong online presence begins with a clear vision and strategic leadership.
By earning this badge, the leader demonstrates not only the strategic vision but also the skills to implement, monitor, and integrate it within the organisation.
Delivered Competency Areas and Indicators. This badge aligns with the following competency areas and indicators from the Digital Capacity Framework for Youth Work Organisations:
- Leadership of the digital transition: You demonstrate that you can steer and manage the digitalisation of the organisation.
- Planning for digital youth work: You've developed a vision document and a collaboration strategy, ensuring a proactive and planned approach to digital youth work.
- Mainstreaming of digitalisation: You've created a Team Plan to enhance your team's digital skills, integrating digital methods into daily practice.
- Broad-minded and transformative work culture: You've created an open, collaborative, and flexible organisational culture that embraces digital change.
- Ability to network and collaborate: You've established a Collaboration Strategy with an external party, connecting the organisation to the broader digital ecosystem.
- Quality assessment: You've set up a system to measure the effectiveness of digital efforts.
- Assessing digital youth work for internal development and external accountability: You've implemented a Measurement Method, allowing you to gauge the impact of digital work and report on it.
Aufgaben
Aufgabe Nr. 1
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- Formulate a Vision Document: Develop a one-page document outlining your organisation's digital vision, focusing on the role of online as a point of contact, for observation, and for guidance. Consider how to apply this in your own context and what goals you want to achieve.
- Create a Team Plan: Conduct an internal analysis to map out your team's digital skills. Based on this, create a simple development plan to increase their expertise, for example, by offering training or encouraging peer supervision.
- Develop a Collaboration Strategy: Identify a relevant local organisation or expert in digital youth work and create a concrete plan for a potential collaboration, with clear goals for both parties aimed at reaching young people.
- Implement a Measurement Method: Define three measurable indicators to evaluate the success of your digital strategy. This could include both quantitative (e.g., reach, engagement) and qualitative (e.g., increase in one-on-one conversations, referrals) indicators.
Ausführende Organisation
Digital Youth Work Resource Hub
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