DIVE Project
Diverse Societies and Digital Participation
The DIVE project focuses on people from diverse cultural backgrounds, promoting mutual respect in multicultural communities, and supporting young people in a rapidly changing digital society. The partners in the DIVE project aim to strengthen the capacities of youth workers to support social inclusion, digital readiness, and active citizenship, particularly among newcomers and local youth. It provides practical tools, training, and strategies to improve digital and intercultural skills in non-formal education, where structured training is often lacking. In this way, the project supports the professionalism and visibility of youth work and promotes collaboration and long-term quality development in this sector.
What we stand for:
- Promoting the digital readiness and ability of professionals to respond to the needs of young people in diverse societies.
- Strengthening young people's commitment to tolerance and diversity through non-formal learning and digital tools
- Strengthening cooperation for integration between the youth, education and public institutions sectors
- Creating awareness of shared European values, opportunities for participation and common strategies for integration
Project events & resources
- Development of a resource platform with learning materials on 3 main topics: migration and diversity, digital skills, and civic participation.
- In-person seminar for youth leaders 3 webinars
- Pilot project - Application of digital tools for youth work through local training and mentoring meetings in each partner country
- Creation of an intercultural city guide with digital storytelling from 5 partner countries
- Roundtable events and outreach to integration stakeholders in partner communities
The DIVE learning platform is LIVE!
Discover examples of good practice and practical learning resources for intercultural youth work
Our learning modules support youth workers in developing practical skills, knowledge and confidence in key areas of their work.
Each module is linked to one of our three main programs:
- Human rights, migration and life in diversity
- Media and information literacy
- Civic engagement and volunteering
The modules follow a learning-by-doing approach. This means that it's not just about theory, but about applying ideas in real-life situations. Through examples, reflection, and practical tools, youth workers can directly transfer what they've learned into their daily practice.
Background of the DIVE project
There are a number of issues that concern youth work organizations across Europe, as well as society as a whole: facilitating the integration of people from different cultural backgrounds into a new community; promoting respectful coexistence and mutual acceptance in multicultural communities; ensuring that young people are prepared for a dynamically changing and digitalized society; and empowering youth workers and educators to support young people in the numerous challenges they face in today's society.
A collaborative approach across these four areas is particularly effective because they are interconnected. Improving young people's life skills often requires improving their digital literacy, which in turn can benefit from integrating diverse cultural perspectives.
Similarly, promoting cultural diversity and inclusion can lead to more innovative solutions for the resilience of young people and for digital challenges. Together, these elements form a holistic approach to building a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable society.
The project aims to address the urgent need for youth workers, expanding their knowledge and skills to better support the social integration of young newcomers into the community and to promote the active citizenship of local youth, thereby fostering a welcoming culture and positive experiences with cultural diversity. Specifically, the project aims to enhance the skills of youth workers to support young people in navigating an increasingly digital and diverse society.
Since youth workers primarily operate in non-formal and informal learning environments and often volunteer, they typically have more diverse professional backgrounds than educators in the formal sector. As the 2022 European report on digital skills in youth work highlights, structured vocational training in digital skills is still generally lacking in the non-formal education sector in Europe, and self-assessments of these skills are rare. Nevertheless, working with specific target groups requires youth workers to continuously develop their skills and have the right tools and strategies to apply them in their work environment.
The project therefore aims to provide content, activities, and digital tools that enable youth workers to easily gain an overview of relevant topics related to shared values in diverse societies, media literacy, and digital skills; it will allow them to assess and strengthen their skills and practically apply appropriate approaches in their work. At the same time, the participating organizations and associated partners will evaluate and improve their strategies for developing and applying competency frameworks within their teams. They will expand their capacity to provide structured training and resources for staff and volunteers to ensure the quality and professionalism of their youth work.
The project will further increase the visibility and recognition of this important work in the partner communities and support the quality development of the sector by promoting more synergies and joint efforts.
Project partners
Funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or JUGEND für Europa. Neither the European Union nor JUGEND für Europa can be held responsible for them.
