We are living in an ever-increasingly digital world. The technological revolution was already growing at an amazing rate, but since the COVID-19 Pandemic, digitalization and adoption of technology, especially in young people and youth work, has increased massively. The innovations this growth has brought are almost infinite, but it has also created new issues; how do we stay safe online and keep our digital life private?

For this reason, Cyberyouth: Non-formal education for cybersecurity training and resilience of youth organizations and young people, a 2-year Erasmus+ Project for Youth was proposed.

What is Cyberyouth?

Cyberyouth is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme in the sector of Youth, with the objective of raising awareness and improving cybersecurity knowledge and resilience in the field of youth work, as well as upskilling young people in their cybersecurity capacities and capabilities. The project is comprised of a complementary international partnership representing 6 countries (Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Turkey and Estonia), with varied and cohesive skillsets and specializations built specifically to ensure the most effective combination of skills and knowledge to develop and promote cybersecurity in the youth field.

What has Cyberyouth done?

The project’s partnership have worked together to create cutting-edge learning opportunities and educational content aimed at youth workers and young people, with a focus on non-formal learning and education to ensure the engagement of all target groups. During implementation, Cyberyouth has developed 3 distinctive Project Results:

• Cyber-resilience Competence Framework: A customized Competence Framework developed through in-depth research, both through online surveys to youth workers and young people and consultation with cybersecurity experts, detailing 6 key competences for cyber-resilience and the knowledge, skills and capacities necessary to implement them in youth work organizations.
• Cyberyouth Online Academy: An online learning experience based on the findings and developments of the project’s Competence Framework, with in-depth information on key cybersecurity and digital safety subjects, such as threat detection, data governance, etc. Cyberyouth’s Online Academy aims to become a leading benchmark in the cyber-development of young people and youth workers.
• Cybersecurity app gamifying Online Knowledge: An innovative cybersecurity app for the empowerment of young people via nonformal learning through gamification of core concepts in cybersecurity, providing engaging tools through which young people and youth workers alike can have fun while learning the key concepts and importance of cybersecurity in the digital world.

In addition to these project results, Youth Workers and Young People from Partner Countries participated in a training mobility in Ankara, Turkey to validate and pilot-test the project’s non-formal methodologies in a supportive environment.

You can check out Cyberyouth’s Results at https://cyberyouthproject.com/results, and make sure to check out the project’s social media (Facebook/LinkedIn) as well as the official website at https://cyberyouthproject.com.

If you’re a young person, youth worker or someone interested in learning more about cybersecurity through nonformal learning, make sure to give Cyberyouth a look and see what you can learn!

PARTNERSHIP

Coordinator – Polygonal – Italy

Smartup NB Systematic Management SL – Spain

Social DNA Foundation – Netherlands

Student Computer Art Society – Bulgaria

Oü Özel Egitim Akedemisi – Turkey

Educational Innovation and Development Academy – Estonia

This project has been funded with the support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project No:  2021-1-IT03-KA220-YOU-000028668