Digital Skills for Youth – new priority for Fundatia Danis

Fundatia Danis plans new projects for developing youth digital skills together with partners from Ireland, Norway and Poland.

Supported by Erasmus+ Programme and by Ireland NA for the program – Léargas, Fundatia Danis together with Norsensus Mediaforum, Fundacja Robinson Crusoe, Youth Work Ireland, KDYS Killarney, TechSpace – Creative Learning for Young People, met in Killarney (Ireland) to develop new project ideas for improving or building youth digital skills.

According to Digital Economy and Society Index 2017, Romania is on the last place in EU28 in regards to how people use the technology in their day-to-day activities, how they use Internet, e-banking, e-commerce, and in regards to the level of their digital skills. And the situation is the same when the index looks to the younger groups of population.

For two days, the experts from the mentioned organizations presented the national contexts and the national challenges regarding the digital skills among young people, and the challenges regarding the formal and non-formal educational programs in the field; discussed the common needs and objectives regarding their organizations and their future plans in the digital and technology education area; and developed the idea of a project that could fit both youth’s needs for digital skills and the organizations’ needs for new tools to use in the work with young people. Thus, the organizations identified the needs for young people to develop or improve their digital skills to be better prepared for the labour market; but also they identified the need of youth workers to develop their skills, competences and knowledge to be able to use more technology in their work and support young people in the development of the digital skills.

The meeting ended with the partners full commitment to submit the proposal they drafted for receiving funds from Erasmus+, but also to search for additional resources that can be attracted in the implementation of other ideas in the area of developing the digital skills of young people they work with.