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The digital culture as means to prevent radicalization of youth at risk

2019-2-BG01-KA105-0627822019Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: BG|IT · Grant: €7,065
EU Citizenship, EU awareness and DemocracyAccess for disadvantagedICT - new technologies - digital competences

Objectives

The project “Digital culture as means to prevent radicalization in youth at risk” propose the opportunity to 20 young people aged 16-28 years old and two leader from Bulgaria and Italy (equal number of female and male) to gain knowledge about digital culture and communication through nonformal education exchange for the period 01.09-05.09.2019 in Varna, which will assist them in their live and professional journey. The project of the two partner organizations Association “Our World” and Giovani per L'Europa with a total duration of 6 months (01.09.2019 – 29.02.2020) increase the computer literacy, digital skills and culture of young people by nurturing skills for intercultural communication aiming to ameliorate their social and civil position regarding current problems of radicalism in society. The main aim of the project is the approbation of the model of developing digital culture in youth with lower live social standard and limited digital skills, inclined at risk behavior, active users and participants of social media. These young people have problems with socialization and search of professional realization. Going to school of university is boring and difficult to handle, unemployed due to lack of profession. Some of them have left school early and live in small villages with ethnical habitants in the Shumen and Varna region, in Roma families and don’t work due to lack of profession, lack of educational diploma and limited job availability. These young people use primarily the phone due to lack of accessibility and opportunity for training on computer skills. They self-learning and learn from each other. Their limited social contact are traded for virtual ones, but they don’t have the skills and knowledge to search properly for friends and information in the various channels. Based on latest research on these groups of young people, the results show that they can’t form critical thinking towards the information that reaches them and are easily manipulated, often with messages that they can’t process and evaluate whether to follow or not. Conducting active educational activities in a nonformal manner for obtaining digital competences, associated with the work in multicultural environment with young people from another EU country – Italy is an important project task. The current project reflect the objectives of the EU program Erasmus + for gaining and recognition of skills for digital competences through non formal education and conducting a structured dialogue with the youth about the role of social groups and searching for identity, social and living rights. The project has the aim not only to improve the digital literacy of the beneficiaries but also to create a stable updated digital competence that will change their perception and widen their mindset. The increase digital culture of these young people will serve as a preventive measure against the attempts of various social groups to use them as means to disseminate radical ideas. The partner organizations Association “Our World” and Giovani per l’Еuropa have experience in conducting youth activities using various methods for influence on themes close to the current one. The participants in the project will gain acquire skills on using mobile technologies such as Facebook and Instagram, will analyse typical cases to apply real and virtual bullying, psychological and social influence in the use of radicalism. They will be thought to have critical and reflexive attitude towards the information and to responsibly use the informational technologies, learn how to use the various online channels and resources, to discern the accuracy and validity of the popularized information without accepting at face value foreign doctrines and theories.

Project partners (2)