Through the EQUAL-Lit project, FILOLOGISME and partners aimed at increasing the response capacity of youth workers (YW) in addressing online hate speech. Accordingly, the emphasis was placed on forms of expression that incite or promote racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, or other intolerances and ways of combating these severe forms of discrimination and prejudice that have caused numerous tragedies throughout history and still are a matter of today’s world, regaining prominence through new social media platforms. The project used a methodology that combined digital tools and ’alternative narratives’ to stimulate empathy, self-esteem, and compassion, enabling YWs to assist beneficiaries in recognizing and repelling online hate speech. This approach was deemed essential, especially considering the fast-changing social media environment. We have started our project on four main needs we have identified among our youth workers, based on which we defined our objectives. Therefore, the needs from which we have started are: ● Need 1 (N1): to develop the organizational capacity (to increase the no. of YW from each partner organisation capable of addressing online hate speech); ● Need 2 (N2): to increase the capacity of the partners’ communities to address hate speech topics (through networking); ● Need 3 (N3): to improve the working methodology with an effective approach of tackling different types of online hate speech; ● Need 4 (N4): to improve digital competences to address online hate speech in new social media platforms, such as Tiktok, Reddit, Telegram, etc. Four main objectives were developed based on these needs: ● Objective no. 1: All partner organizations were expected to enhance their ability to tackle online hate speech by the end of the project. This objective was assessed through the delivery of a minimum of three local actions with beneficiaries after the Training Course (TC), with at least 20 beneficiaries per activity. ● Objective no. 2: Increasing the capacity to transfer knowledge about online hate speech to other organizations. This objective was assessed by conducting at least two workshops with a minimum of 10 participants per workshop, involving other local actors after the TC. ● Objective no. 3: At least 75% of the YWs were expected to learn how to effectively approach online hate speech on popular social media platforms by employing ’alternative narratives’ that promote empathy, self-esteem, and compassion. This objective was assessed through a plan of action designed for their current work. ● Objective no. 4: A minimum of 75% of the youth workers were anticipated to acquire robust digital competencies for using various technical aspects of popular social media platforms, and better understanding their beneficiaries’ needs by the end of the learning activity. This objective was measured with the Digital Competence Wheel before and after the activity. The objectives listed above were thus a combination of carefully considered subjects and identified difficulties that we wanted to overcome by implementing the project. Notably, we demanded an increased capacity to address online hate speech by equipping youth workers with digital competencies. In addition, we felt it was mandatory to include transferring the practice of working online on hate speech and learning to constructively approach online hate speech on social media in our main objectives to transcend the ever-present danger of discrimination in our digital era and develop a more insightful approach for our beneficiaries. The project also aimed to integrate the results from the TC into a methodology that enables youth workers to communicate effectively with youngsters. This methodology was published in a Handbook with free access to ensure greater sustainability of the project results as planned.