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Empowering Youth Organisations: DigitalYOu Platform
Empowering Youth Organisations: DigitalYOu Platform
Content
This activity invites young people, youth workers, and youth organisations to explore the DigitalYOu platform, a unique online space designed to digitalize youth work, empower organisations, and foster meaningful connections across Europe and beyond.
Developed within an international project co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by CONNECT International, the platform provides virtual offices, interactive conference spaces, online fairs, and e-volunteering hubs. It enables organisations to streamline their work, reach new audiences, and build strong networks while promoting digital rights, access, citizenship, and innovation. See the presentation of the paltform in the video below:
By completing this activity, you will:
- Discover how youth organisations can work, meet, and grow in a virtual environment.
- Reflect on the potential of digital tools for empowerment, participation, and innovation.
- Get inspired to use DigitalYOu or similar solutions to strengthen your organisation’s mission and outreach.
Get inspired
The DigitalYOu platform offers a range of functions designed for youth organisations in the digital era:
- ENGAGE: A virtual office with innovative tools for managing organisational work.
- EMPOWER: Virtual conference rooms where events are engaging, interactive, and fun.
- CONNECT: Virtual fairs to showcase your organisation, exchange knowledge, and build partnerships.
- VOLUNTEERING: A dedicated e-volunteering space to manage volunteers and share opportunities.
The platform has already been adopted by organisations in Belgium, Greece, Spain, Slovenia, and Serbia, and it demonstrates how international collaboration can create scalable, accessible, and inclusive digital solutions for civil society. DigitalYOu shows how digitalisation is not just a trend, but a necessity — helping youth organisations cut costs, extend their impact, and embrace innovation while safeguarding digital rights and inclusion.
Take action: activities for different roles
As a young person:
- Explore the DigitalYOu introduction video and imagine how a platform like this could support your learning, volunteering, or activism. Or if working in an organisation that has this type of work tools would motivate you to join.
- Reflect on digital spaces you already use (social media, online events, volunteering platforms): what works, what doesn’t, and what inspires you?
- Sketch or describe your “ideal digital youth space” — what tools and opportunities should it include?
As a youth worker:
- Watch the introduction to DigitalYOu (video) with your group and discuss: How can digital spaces expand opportunities for young people?
- Map the tools you already use for digital engagement and consider how DigitalYOu could complement them.
- Facilitate a role-play or creative session: If our organisation had a virtual office, what would we do with it?
- Research other virtual platforms or tools in your area and compare them with DigitalYOu.
As a youth organisation / manager:
- Reflect with your team: how could DigitalYOu support your strategic goals in areas like inclusion, participation, or innovation?
- Explore partnerships: which organisations in your city could you connect with through virtual fairs?
- Consider how e-volunteering could expand your volunteer base beyond local borders.
- Imagine DigitalYOu as part of your long-term digital transformation strategy: what steps would you take to implement it?
Suggested follow-up activities include:
- Group discussions on digital transformation and its benefits/challenges for youth work.
- Workshops on digital citizenship, online safety, or managing virtual volunteering.
- Co-creation projects where young people design their own “digital youth spaces.”
- Networking with other Cities of Learning members to exchange digitalisation practices.
Claim open badge recognition
After completing this activity, you can earn digital badges that recognise your engagement with the DigitalYOu platform and reflecting on your learning. These badges recognise the value of exploring digitalisation, innovation, and community building in youth work. By completing this activity, you gain recognition for competencies in:
- Exploring virtual tools for organisation, connection, and empowerment via DigitalYOu.
- Reflecting on the role of digital platforms in participation and inclusion.
- Imagining innovative, youth-led uses of digital technologies that can inspire others across the Cities of Learning network.
Who created this resource?
This activity is inspired by DigitalYOu platform, developed by CONNECT international that brings together individuals and organisations working on four pillars: Digital Rights, Digital Access, Digital Citizenship, and Digital Innovation. The platform was developed with their partners (Backslash from Spain, MOVE IT form Greece, TiPovej! Institute from Slovenia and BUM from Serbia) within an international project co-funded by the European Union.
The Digital Systemic partnership and the Cities of Learning Network use these inspirations and resources to create this activity, aiming to promote examples of good practices in digital transformation and with the aim to open conversations on how to create innovative European projects that mainstream digital rights and the digital agenda with young people and active citizens.
Next steps:
- Start by exploring the DigitalYOu platform introduction and discover how its functions (virtual office, online events, digital fairs, e-volunteering) can support your organisation’s work.
- Then, continuing on the paltform, explore their e-learning modules.
- Finally, take a moment to reflect: What inspired or surprised you about DigitalYOu? Which function (Engage, Empower, Connect, Volunteering) would be most useful for your work or community? How could you integrate a similar platform into your organisation’s daily practice?
- Let this experience be a starting point: imagine, adapt, and create your own ways of using digital platforms to inspire learning, participation, and innovation in your group, your organisation, and your community.
Resources
Get activity badge
DigitalYOu Explorer Get this badge
This badge is awarded to anyone — youth, youth workers, or managers — who activity and exploring how digital platforms can inspire connection, empowerment, and innovation. This badge recognises your ability to reflect on the role of digital transformation in youth work and community life.
By earning this badge, you show curiosity about new technologies, awareness of their potential for participation and inclusion, and a commitment to imagining more innovative ways of working together. Skills and Experiences Gained:
- Awareness of digital platforms as tools for connection and empowerment
- Reflection on digital citizenship and inclusion
- Imagination in applying digital innovation to your own context
- Communication and creative sharing of ideas
Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Explore the DigitalYOu platform introduction and its main functions (Engage, Empower, Connect, Volunteering).
Reflect: What inspired you most? How could such a platform support your community?
Share your reflection or idea in text, visual, or audio/video format.
Skills
#Excellent Level. Confident in using a diversity of digital tools and platforms to support youth work and deliver youth work services. (e.g. advanced technological equipment, digital cameras or software, AI tools)
#Excellent Level. Constantly assess, together with young people and/or other youth workers on the quality of the digital work and reflects what has been learned; as an intentional process part of the digital youth work strategy.
#Excellent Level. Supports young people and other youth workers to set goals for meaningful digital youth work, assess them and reflect jointly on the outcomes.
#Excellent Level. Supports young people to create their communities, based on pre-set learning objectives, while reflecting on the results.
#Excellent Level. Supports young people who independently carries out their content production
#Excellent Level. Shares practices, as a member of a network, which meets regularly and aims at developing digital youth work.
#Good Level. Ensures that young people with fewer opportunities have participated in digital learning activities, such as thematic events, problem-solving, producing their own content, or vlogs.
#Fair Level. Knows how to support young people to collectively, as a group, gather and reflect on online information (non-formal learning is social knowledge production).
Organisers
Digital Youth Work Resource Hub
Awero not-for-profit organisation manages this platform and develops it together with leading educational organisations. The European Union's programme Erasmus+ granted co-funding for building the first version of this platform. Contact support@awero.org.
Platform
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