About BIK Youth participation activities
Youth participation activities have always been at the heart of the BIK Youth programme. Lately, marking the European Year of Youth, the #DigitalDecade4YOUth! consultation and the launch of the new BIK+ strategy, youth participation and involvement has taken a more prominent role.
Using co-creation methods, young people work with other stakeholders to develop online safety guidance, learning and campaigning materials, and contribute to decision-making processes to help create a better internet.
Over time, we have been building and publishing a collection of youth participation activities on the BIK Youth site allowing you to both see the outputs of the youth panellists' work, and adapt the methodologies followed for use in your own youth participation settings.
Activity 1: Campaigning for an online world free from bullying, racism and intolerance
Why?
How?
- Use a peer-to-peer approach – the youth panellists will address their peers through videos "sharing their stories"; which "real" online experiences do they have to share? How is the digital world affecting them in social and psychological terms? Which concrete steps can be taken to improve how young people interact online?
- Keep it visual – a set of videos (including a teaser video to be launched/shown at Safer Internet Forum), with testimonials from youth panellists, will be uploaded to YouTube and disseminated on social media via a #togetherforrespect hashtag. Known YouTubers and others will be invited to share their stories and ideas on how to work together for an online world free from bullying, racism and intolerance. The hashtag will be used to promote the campaign across various social media platforms.
- Critical reflection – the campaign aims to also trigger discussion and reflection on some of the challenges and opportunities of using social media to address online safety issues in a peer-to-peer manner.
When?
Activity 1 – Key decisions and lessons learned
The aims of the project
Roles and responsibilities
- Most of the communication took place using a combination of online tools, with synchronous chat facilitated using an online meeting tool. In these sessions, youth panellists were invited to put forward possible scenarios, debate the issues, and chose one which resonated with the whole group to develop further.
- Using English as a common language, youth panellists met regularly online to enable them to develop a specific activity, with a clear focus and output, and a realistic timeline.
- On the specifics of implementing the chosen scenario within the available timeframe, the youth panellists agreed on the specific skills, roles and competencies needed, who could provide them, and what additional support was needed from the project facilitators.
Disseminating the message through peers and hashtags
Process versus outcome – how will we report and evaluate results?
Key lessons learned
#TogetherForRespect follow-up
What have BIK Youth Ambassadors been up to since Safer Internet Forum? How have they shaped the #TogetherForRespect campaign and what have they achieved in their countries, among their peers? Find out more below:
Lili (Austria)
"#TogetherForRespect is not only the campaign we kicked off back in Brussels at the Safer Internet Forum 2017 - it has become a personal goal for me, on which I have been working since Brussels.
As part of my final year project, I am currently programming a game on cyberbullying, which has improved my knowledge of social media and bullying triggers. To raise awareness about our campaign in my network, I called my game #TogetherForRespect. Once this final school project will be finished, the game will be played in different schools in Vienna. This will grant much needed visibility to our campaign particularly among pupils and students, especially thanks to an information page where players can find out more about the campaign.
This campaign is much more than just the name- it is a call to action for everyone – to fight against racism, sexism, intolerance and all unacceptable kinds of hate online. However, in order to really get people to think about it and to stand against these contemporary issues, it is necessary to talk to as many people as possible and to warm their heart to convince them to stand #TogetherForRespect with us.
To start doing this, I managed got permission to host an open discussion and a workshop in my school in which I intend to get all participants to talk to one another, rather than listen to me giving a presentation. They need to tell and hear stories, to understand the importance of standing against hate and intolerance. I want them to slip into the shoes of both victims and abusers and feel intolerance on their own skin. This is the only way students can understand the purpose of our campaign.
In order to increase our online reach, I asked my friends to share the video campaign and different posts and content using the hashtag.
I firmly believe that with a bit of effort, our mission can be supported by a lot of people in all the countries we come from.
#TogetherForRespect should not be a one-off action, but a way of participating in the online world."
Kacper (Poland)
"Last November I had the pleasure to participate in the creation of the #TogetherForRespect campaign.
It was an unforgettable experience which allowed me to realize the strength of the idea of making the internet a friendlier place.
During YEP (European Youth Forum 2017) and SIF (Safer Internet Forum) I had the privilege to meet many wonderful people from all over Europe and had a chance to look into a series of social issues from completely different perspectives.
This event, however, was only the beginning for my further actions. A week after returning home, not only have I introduced my younger sisters to new safety rules on using social media, but also, in cooperation with my school, we decided to organise a day dedicated to online safety. During the celebration, we talked about ways to counteract online hate speech and we also had the pleasure to watch the campaign prepared earlier in Brussels.
The experience of participating in YEP 2017 and SIF 2017 will remain in my memory as one of the most valuable projects to which I had the chance to participate."
Henkka (Finland)
"I've asked my friends to join the campaign and I have talked about it with many people at work and at school.
They all said that the campaign is really good and worth joining. I also shared my journey to YEP (European Youth Forum 2017) on YouTube and discussed the campaign with my followers.
Furthermore, I have talked with people working at Save the Children Finland, and they promised to promote the campaign on Safer Internet Day, which in Finland lasts an entire week and is called Media Literacy Week."
Charlotte (Germany)
"After the Safer Internet Forum in Brussels I wrote a report about our work during the two days and most importantly, I introduced the campaign (as well as the hashtag) to my network.
This report was published on our school website and on the Klicksafe website.
I also gave a presentation to of all my school´s media scouts and we watched the video together. They all promised to further spread the word about #TogetherForRespect.
The younger media scouts, who are also responsible for organising the Safer Internet Day 2018 in our school will also incorporate the hashtag in their event activities and promotion."
Fanni (Hungary)
"During these past months, I've been trying to broaden the reach of the #TogetherForRespect campaign in my country as well.
Now we are preparing for the Safer Internet Day 2018 (SID) celebrations in Hungary. On 6 February we will have a big celebration for the SID 2018 with programmes to promote a better internet.
We are organising a Living Library in which experts in various fields will act as living books, providing visitors (or "readers") with information.
There will also be a section about Safer Internet Forum 2017 (SIF), where I will be talking about my experience in Brussels and the #TogetherForRespect campaign."
Laura (Romania)
As part of the #TogetherForRespect follow-up, together with the Romanian Safer Internet Centre, we started to promote the campaign on social media.
Afterwards, I had a meeting with Save the Children volunteers in which I presented the campaign.
For the Safer Internet Day 2018, we are planning some activities surrounding the campaign.
>> Back to youth participation activities overview page.