This policy paper reflects digital transformation, sustainability and young people’s involvement in politics. Although these fields may seem distinct, they are key issues in the development of democratic policy in the European Union and its member states. The EU is responsible for governing digital markets, fundamental rights, and climate and environmental policies. This affects the lives, opportunities and democratic involvement of young people – now and in the future. Democracy is heavily affected by the choices we make for the regulation of the internet, as well as for tackling climate change. Therefore these policies are key for Education for Democratic Citizenship, and for Youth Work.
From the Table of Content:
1. Findings from Policy Labs
2. Linkages to European Policy Frameworks
3. Recommendations for Implementation
4. A Call for Collective Action
Download the Policy Paper here:
diyw-road_policy_rec_en-design
The future of European democracy will depend not only on regulating digital technologies, but on strengthening Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) as a core response to digital transformation. While current European digital policies increasingly address safety, transparency, and platform accountability, the democratic dimension of digitalisation remains insufficiently developed in practice. Young people need more than technical digital skills — they need the capacity to critically understand digital power structures, exercise their rights online, participate in democratic debate, and shape digital environments as active citizens.
Education for Democratic Citizenship provides the essential framework for connecting digital literacy, human rights, democratic participation, media literacy, and ethical reflection. Strengthening EDC in schools, youth work, and non-formal education involving education and youth work professions, children and youth, but also parents is therefore not simply an educational priority, but a democratic necessity. Safeguarding democracy and human rights in Europe increasingly depends on whether citizens are empowered to navigate digital environments critically, responsibly, and collectively. Without a strong democratic citizenship perspective on digitalisation, there is a risk that digital transformation will deepen manipulation, exclusion, surveillance, and democratic fragmentation rather than strengthening democratic resilience, participation, and social cohesion.
European Youth Policies, such as the European Youth Strategy including the EU Youth Goals ask for the recognition and involvement of young peoples´ voices in these policy processes. Digitalisation policies, environmental policies genuinely build on a youth perspective and need this angle as a central pillar for their establishment. These polices should not be developed from a for youth perspective only, but require a by and with youth perspective.
DIGITAL YOUTH WORK – RIGHTS-SENSITIVE, OPEN, ACCESSIBLE, DEMOCRATIC
In order to empower young people to go beyond ‘catching up’ or ‘getting to know’ digital infrastructures and technologies, a pedagogy of ‘the digital’ is needed that supports
them to co-determine how digitalisation should evolve in terms of democratic and sustainable development and in the areas in which they are acting in society and
civically engaged. Education for Democratic Citizenship/Human Rights Education can make a meaningful contribution to digital youth work. The project worked with educators and youth workers, young people, researchers and policy experts to examine the challenges, approaches and prospects of this kind of digital youth work. A project of 6 partner organisations, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme:
– Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten | Country: DE | Web
– DARE – Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe | Country: BE | Web
– Dínamo – Associação de Dinamização Sócio-cultural | Country: PT | Web
– Fundación CIVES | Country: ES | Web
– Partners Bulgaria Foundation | Country: BG | Web
– Sozialprofil – Verein zur Förderung individueller, institutioneller und gesellschaftlicher
Entwicklung < Country: AT | Web
Created by
Co-funded by the European Union