CALL FOR PARTNERS

 We are looking for partners for a youth project based in Linz: Digital Common Spaces and Safe Participation

1) Who are we?

We are a youth group operating in Linz and have so far organized 2 youth exchanges and participated as a partner in 1 project. Now our goal is to reach more young people and establish a new collaboration extending from Linz to other EU and program countries. In this process, we want to make EU values ​​(participation, diversity, inclusion, culture of democracy) visible through concrete youth work in the field.

2) Why this topic?

The communication and learning space for young people has rapidly become digital; however, safe communication, media literacy, dealing with cyberbullying, and collaborative production skills are not developing at the same rate in these digital spaces. We wanted to address this need not just based on observation, but with evidence. That's why we based our work on data from Jugend-Internet-Monitor, published by Saferinternet.at in Austria: The study conducts a representative survey of 405 young people aged 11–17 and reveals changes in platform usage trends. These data show that school/semi-formal digital spaces (e.g., Microsoft Teams) should be considered as much as "social media" in youth work.

3) Project Idea

The focus of our project is: To enable young people to come together safely and inclusively in digital shared spaces they already use, and to carry out collaborative production (content, mini-campaign, digital product/guide, short video/podcast, etc.) at an international level. The project will be clarified through a needs analysis conducted with partners; that is, we will proceed with a needs analysis → collaborative design → collaborative implementation approach, not a "partner first, then writing" approach.

4) The Partner Profile We're Looking For (Who are we looking for?)

We want to match with organizations/teams that are strong in at least 1-2 of the following areas:

Youth work experience and motivation for international collaboration

Fieldwork in digital citizenship / media literacy / safe internet

Intersection of school-youth work (working with student communities, teacher/mentor networks, etc.)

Methods that make young people co-producers rather than just "participants" (co-creation, peer learning)

Inclusivity: practice working with underprivileged youth (accessibility, language support, safe space approach)

5) Potential Roles and Contributions (Draft)

While to be clarified with partners, the following roles are needed:

Needs analysis & co-design: Joint survey/focus group questions, short reporting, clarifying goals

Workshop/module contribution: safe digital communication, disinformation, dealing with cyberbullying, digital Ethics, Content Production

Youth Leadership: Organizing young people as a content team/creative team (podcast, vlog, campaign)

Dissemination: Local event, school/community presentation, social media sharing plan

Quality & Evaluation: Simple measurement set (pre/post mini survey, digital portfolio evidence)

6) Expected Outputs (Example)

Needs analysis short report prepared with partners (survey + focus group summaries)

Digital content produced by young people (short video/podcast, visual series, mini campaign)

Practical guide/mini toolkit for a “safe digital common space”

Local dissemination: School/center presentation + social media visibility

7) What do we offer?

Linz-based coordination and co-writing process

Joint needs analysis methodology (survey + focus group + short report format)

Youth participation-focused design (youth-led content and decision-making steps)

Communication plan to make the produced outputs visible even after the project

8) Timing and process (practical plan)

Phase 1 (2–3 weeks): Meeting with partners + short orientation meeting + role matching

Phase 2 (3–4 weeks): Joint needs analysis (mini-survey + focus group) + project framework

Phase 3: Application writing and task allocation (work packages / activity flow / dissemination)

Note: This call is designed to structure partner selection and needs analysis on an “evidence-based” basis. Our working logic: first data + collective intelligence, then the project text.

9) Brief Information Set Required for Application (We will request this from you)

Institution/Team Introduction (3-5 sentences)

Youth work experience (1-2 sample projects/activities)

Which role you wish to undertake (from the role/contribution list above)

Your target youth profile (age range + method of access)

(If applicable) OID / PIC / official registration information

10) Contact

If interested, please share your brief profile and the role you wish to take; then we can schedule the first online meeting.


Contact with us: loveunity.group@proton.me