Terrorist groups have led a global social media campaign to take their cause to every computer and mobile phone. With the growing concern about online radicalization and the noticeable increase in openly extremist groups in Europe, more and more Member States are facing threats from radicalization of youth. The Internet has played a significant role in the radicalization and recruitment of foreign fighters and continues to do so. Social networking is the main activity young people aged 16-24 use the internet for, something which extremist groups are well aware of. The challenge for governments and youth organizations is to understand the range of factors in which social media may play a role in this, so that responses are not misplaced or based on unsupported assumptions. On this basis, it may be possible to identify appropriate steps to counter radicalization activity online and to ensure appropriate response to the threat. This points to the need to prepare youth workers, to utilize on-line engagement and leverage ICT and digital networks as a pillar for building peace and preventing youth radicalization. However, we have noticed that youth workers need up-to-date digital and media literacy skills to be able to use digital technologies to address the current youth radicalization crisis in Europe. At level youth organizations, we have noticed weakness of essential skills to tackle the threat of online extremism and lack of awareness on how social media can be abused. Therefore, we have assessed the following precise needs: -Absence of programs and training in youth organizations dedicated to tackle offline and online radicalization -Lack of social media expertise on youth workers tackling online radicalization -Lack of exchange of information and cooperation on online radicalization amongst youth organizations -Lack of individual mentoring at local level consisting of psychological support and counselling to youth at risk. Our main objective with this project is to provide youth workers all the necessary knowledge and tools to help young people develop their critical thinking skills as many of them are exposed to radical propaganda and often make an improper use of internet. Youth workers will be able to provide positive online counter-narratives, recognizing online negative messages and encourage intercultural dialogue and personal exchanges between young people as a key method of building resilience to extremist propaganda. We will pursue two lines of actions to tackle the growing radicalization of youth throughout Europe. In the first line, we will design and realize an e-learning courses (IO1) to help youth workers harness the potential of digital media tools and to recognize and interpret signs of radicalization, to promote the creation of online counter-narratives, and to make available easily accessible alternative messages that stimulate critical thinking. The second line, we will develop a digital guide of best practice (IO2) which will include expertise in the field of preventing radicalization, all the exchange of information and ideas amongst the partners of the project, strategies and suggestions on how to face online radicalization, and how youth workers should encourage critical thinking amongst young people about extremist messages. For the participants’ selection for the TE (C1) and other project activities the following criteria will be taken into consideration: -Demonstration of social sensibilities (socially active young people dealing with youth) -Interested in the use of social media in their daily work of youth workers/volunteers. -Experienced or interested in working with marginalized youth and youth at risk of radicalization. The following methodology will be applied: Plan, Do, Check, Act. This aims to constantly monitor the project advancement and to ensure permanent quality improvement We have planned to divide the project into 3 major phases. Dissemination will happen during the whole length of the project and will be amplified in the final stage -Stage one: Kick-off, research & questionnaire (A2) (6 months) -Second stage: TE (C1), design, development and testing of e-learning training programme (IO1) (7 months) -Third stage (5 months): final dissemination of project results through local activities and the creation of a Digital guide of best practice (IO2), closing. The project is designed to result in long term and self-sustaining results, creating a positive impact in NGOs daily job and therefore contributing to improvement of the quality of youth work, social progress and economic growth. The Project Management Team will constantly search for resources to attain objectives and/or increase project impact. Erasmus plus, Europe for citizens, Creative Europe, National and Regional projects are funding opportunities for ROE and its related projects' sustainability.
ROE's main objective was to provide youth workers all the necessary knowledge and tools to help young people develop their critical thinking skills as many of them are exposed to radical propaganda and often make an improper use of internet. All youth workers reached from ROE are now able to provide positive online counter-narratives, recognizing online negative messages and encourage intercultural dialogue and personal exchanges between young people as a key method of building resilience to extremist propaganda. The main target group of ROE were youth workers as well as ROE outcomes and outputs targeted youth workers and professionals working in the field of youth. Indeed, the “Needs and Challenges Analysis Report” report (A2), e-learning courses (IO1), the digital guide of best practices (IO2), the training event (C1), the several dissemination activities conducted both offline and online allowed ROE consortium to reach more than 2000 people. However, this number can be higher because it does not take in consideration the digital guide of best practices (IO2) (available in all partners languages) which was the final output of the project and have the potential to reach and be used by other people working in the field of youth. Beyond the project management & implementation realized by partners, the following activities were undertaken: 1. Needs and Challenges Analysis Report (A2): This document was built using data collection through online questionnaires carried out in four countries, Denmark, Austria, Spain and Bulgaria. The main findings of the report were used to define the needs and challenges of youth workers regarding the digital and media literacy skills that they need in order to address the current youth radicalisation crisis in Europe. The results of the report were used for the elaboration of the e-learning courses (Output 1) of the project. 2. E-learning courses (IO1) and creation of Moodle online platform: All youth workers that taken the online courses achieved the following learning outcomes: -Understand key definitions and current trends related to youth radicalization and violent extremism. -Understand what makes youth vulnerable to radicalization. -Get to know how to recognize the indicators that radicalization might be taking place and have a clear understanding of their responsibilities -Learn how to build online counter-narrative and youth awareness programmes. 3. Training event (C1) which took place in Bansko (Bulgaria) between 24-29 June 2018. In the training participated youth workers coming from Bulgaria, Austria, Spain and Denmark. The idea of the training event was to share best practices regarding youth work and risk of marginalization and radicalization as well as: -Raise awareness of the treats that social media tools have for youth at risk of radicalization and how youth workers can use them to traverse the language barrier and to tackle the threat of online extremism. -Know and learn methods of use and management of social media for reaching out youth, thanks both to the comparison with the other participants to the best practices shown. 4. Digital Guide of best practice (IO2) (available in five languages): This output provides youth workers with updated knowledge, tools and examples of good practices in the field of preventing online radicalization. Thus, this guide gathered a useful set of guidelines, methods and case studies to be used by any youth worker interested in online de-radicalization. 5. Offline & online dissemination events which involved other youth workers and interested stakeholders. Results and impact attained: - The project was directly aimed to youth workers in the field of disadvantaged youth. They benefited from educational content to improve their management skills regarding to youth work. - The youth workers benefited in terms of motivation, commitment, tools and methods. They now have a greater satisfaction in their volunteer commitment and perform better quality of youth work. Their level of skills improved and these skills will be also transferable to other volunteer engagements or even in the job market. - Youth workers and other organizations staff involved in learning activities benefited from improved youth work: more committed and motivated youth workers, more consistency between regardless of youth workers involved in learning activities. This results in creating more impact in the awareness raising activities, improve learning impact, extended learning opportunities in the field of youth and eventually more sustainable results and impact of the activities. - Organisations involved benefited from improve processes and results, therefore they optimized available resources for new activities such as tackling the radicalization of youth and new opportunities. The project aimed to contribute to sustainability and capacity building of the organizations that now can count on new OERs.