“Digi-Hack - A Journey Through Digital Competence”

This training course offers youth workers the opportunity to deepen their understanding of digital competence within youth work and non-formal education contexts, and to strengthen their capacity to design and facilitate practical digital learning experiences for young people. Through non-formal education and experiential learning approaches, participants will explore key concepts from the DigComp 3.0 framework - including information search and evaluation, communication and collaboration, content creation, safety and wellbeing, and problem identification and solving - while gaining insight into practical tools and methods that promote responsible and confident digital engagement among youth.

The course places strong emphasis on the role of youth workers as facilitators of digital learning processes. Participants will examine how educational activities can be designed and facilitated in an engaging and empowering way, with particular attention to building digital confidence, encouraging critical and responsible use of digital technologies, supporting young people in recognising digital opportunities and risks, and connecting digital competences to real-life youth work contexts. By combining theoretical input with structured reflection and peer exchange, the training supports participants in critically analysing their own facilitation styles, professional practices, and the digital realities in their home countries.

Going beyond theory, the training course is highly participatory and practice-oriented. Participants will engage in interactive workshops, small-group design sessions, and hands-on activities focused on applying DigComp 3.0 principles in youth work, culminating in a hackathon in which participants identify real digital problems and co-create creative solutions. Special focus will be placed on developing concrete educational activities and local-level session designs that integrate digital competence into everyday youth work practice. By the end of the course, participants will have strengthened their facilitation competences, developed practical activity concepts, and gained tools and strategies to foster critical thinking, creativity, and responsible digital engagement among young people in their communities.

The training course is developed in line with Youth Goal 7: Quality Employment for All, and contributes to:

Ensuring equal opportunities for all young people to develop the necessary skills and gain practical experience in order to smoothen the transition from education to the labour market.

Ensuring equal access to quality information and adequate support mechanisms to prepare young people for the changing labour market and future of work.

The training course is grounded in non-formal education principles and experiential learning approaches. The programme is designed to equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and practical tools needed to understand digital competence, apply the DigComp 3.0 framework in youth work contexts, and design and facilitate digital competence learning activities for young people.

The initial phase of the training focuses on building a safe and supportive learning environment, fostering trust among participants, and creating a strong sense of group cohesion. During the first days, participants will engage in activities that explore similarities and differences, group alliance, and shared expectations. They will be introduced to the foundations of non-formal education and digital competence, the DigComp 3.0 framework, and the role of youth workers in fostering critical and responsible digital engagement among young people. This phase also includes reflection on country realities related to youth work and digital education programmes, as well as the Erasmus+ and Youthpass frameworks as tools for recognition and professional development.

As the training progresses, participants will deepen their understanding of the DigComp 3.0 competence areas, including information search, evaluation and management, communication and collaboration, and content creation. Through practical workshops and reflective exercises, they will strengthen their facilitation competences and explore methods for designing engaging digital competence learning experiences. Particular attention is given to empowering critical thinking, supporting young people in navigating digital environments safely and responsibly, and integrating digital competence approaches into everyday non-formal education practice. Participants will also explore local realities through a self-organised activity connected to the training topic, and deepen their understanding of safety, wellbeing and responsible use of digital technologies.

In the later stages of the programme, participants will focus on applying their learning through a hackathon format grounded in problem identification and solving. Working in teams, they will identify real digital problems relevant to youth work and co-create creative, human-centred solutions that integrate DigComp 3.0 competences into practice. Through structured teamwork, peer feedback, and presentation of their solutions, they will refine their ideas and reflect on how to adapt and transfer them to their local youth work contexts.

On the final day, participants will engage in structured reflection and evaluation of their learning journey, develop personal and professional commitment plans for the transfer of digital competence learning into their everyday youth work practice, and have their achievements recognised through the Youthpass ceremony, supporting further professional development.