EYDR Project – Youth Participation in Digital Democracy: From Digital Skills to Digital Rights of Young People with Fewer Opportunities showed that young people are not just passive internet users, but can become advocates for digital rights, active participants in policy-making, and leaders of a safer and more inclusive online world.
At the final conference “Towards an Engaged, Connected, and Empowered Youth in Digital Democracy”, held on September 25 in Tirana, young participants presented policies and recommendations on the most pressing challenges of the digital age: the role of artificial intelligence in fact-checking, combating disinformation, technology-mediated gender-based violence, as well as youth digital participation.
Their proposals opened dialogue with institutions, media, and civil society, sending a clear message that youth engagement is not optional but a key to the future of democracy in the digital era.
During the implementation of the project, significant results were achieved:
- two national mappings on youth participation in digital democracy were conducted,
- the Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Programme was developed, through which more than 25 young people underwent trainings, mobility activities, research, and media actions,
- youth research was supported through four policy papers (AI and fact-checking, media literacy, youth digital participation, cyber-violence),
- local awareness-raising campaigns were carried out in Albania and Montenegro.
The project was funded through the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the Field of Youth Programme of the European Union, led by SCiDEV, and implemented in partnership with UZOR, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Youropia Asociacion, ESN Tirana, CCIS Albania, SHARE, and Agjencia Kombëtare e Rinisë.
