Our Members
AGE Platform Europe
AGE’s vision encompasses an inclusive society, based on well-being for all, solidarity between generations and full entitlement to enjoy life, participate in and contribute to society. At the same time, each person’s rights and responsibilities throughout their life course have to be fully respected.
AGE celebrates longevity as one of the greatest achievements of humanity. We seek to combat ageism, promote human rights throughout the life course, reduce inequalities and enable everyone to live a full and dignified life.
To achieve this mission:
We raise the aspirations and needs of older people bridging the gap between them and policymakers; We transform our members’ experiences and ideas into policy proposals, advocacy, campaigning, dissemination actions and projects; We support our members’ active involvement in AGE’s work while promoting mutual learning and networking.
COFACE Families Europe
COFACE Families Europe is a network which represents millions of families, volunteers, and professionals. COFACE advocates for strong social policies that take into consideration family needs and guarantee equal opportunities for all families. Our area of work includes social and family policy, education, disability rights, gender equality, children rights, migration, consumer issues as well as the impact of technological developments on families.
In 2018, COFACE Families Europe adopted 13 Digitalisation Principles with the aim of ensuring that digitalisation and new technological developments serve the general interest of all people and families living in the EU. COFACE works especially to support families by building partnerships for educational tools and awareness-raising campaigns, and by advocating for strong EU policy and legislation. As part of this, COFACE organised a webinar series to explore the concept of digital citizenship and how useful it can be to contribute to creating a positive digital environment for all families without discrimination.
Digitalisation is now all-pervasive in the life of families and children. The challenge is to ensure a holistic and societal approach to child protection and empowerment, while also preventing violation of child rights online.
EU, based in Belgium
The Lisbon Council
The Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal asbl is a Brussels-based think tank and policy network. Established in 2003 in Belgium as a non-profit, non-partisan association, the group is dedicated to making a positive contribution through cutting-edge research and by engaging political leaders and the public at large in a constructive exchange about the economic and social challenges of the 21st century.
The Lisbon Council is actively involved in various projects that foster digital skills and counter disinformation, and contributes to the Digital Citizenship Working Group by building and maintaining the Digital Citizenship Map.
The internet has become an integral part of people’s life and digital technologies shape our everyday activities. Just as there come many benefits with that, there are also some risks related to these new technologies. Digital citizenship is crucial to ensure that everybody, no matter their age or socio-economic background, possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to utilise the internet and emerging technologies and protect themselves from potential harms.
Belgium
European Youth Forum
The European Youth Forum is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. We represent over 100 youth organisations, which bring together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe.
We primarily advocate for young people’s digital rights, digital participation and for safe, secure and empowering online spaces.
Young people live out a huge part of their lives online so it is really important that they are well-equipped to make the most of online spaces, to navigate the advantages but also to be aware of the dangers. Young people are harnessing the power of the internet in incredible ways and we want to encourage that creativity, whilst making sure that young people’s rights, privacy and data are protected.
Pan-European (based in Belgium)
Molengeek
MolenGeek fosters Digital Citizenship by equipping young people across Europe and Morocco with essential digital skills, preparing the generation of digital natives to safely use digital tools and become responsible online citizens. This enables them to build successful careers in the tech sector. Our training courses and incubator program focus on bridging the digital skills gap, promoting inclusivity, and providing practical tech experiences. By doing so, MolenGeek empowers a diverse community of learners to become proficient and responsible digital citizens, ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the digital world.
MolenGeek fosters Digital Citizenship by equipping young people across Europe, as well as Morocco, with essential digital skills, enabling them to build successful careers in the tech sector. Our training courses and incubator program focus on bridging the digital skills gap, promoting inclusivity and practical tech experiences. By doing so, MolenGeek empowers a diverse community of learners to become proficient and responsible digital citizens, ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the digital world.
MolenGeek focuses on making digital skills accessible to all, ensuring people from diverse backgrounds can enter the digital sector. We believe digital citizenship is integral to creating an inclusive society. At MolenGeek, we see digital citizenship as vital for responsible and innovative navigation of the digital world. Our emphasis on ethical technology engagement and informed, critical thinking aims to transform community members into active contributors, unlocking the full potential of digital opportunities for a more inclusive, tech-empowered society.
Belgium
Shout Out UK
We provide impartial Political and Media Literacy training and campaigns focused on democratic
engagement and combatting disinformation online, tailored to local circumstances and culture.
We focus on education (direct to young people and Train the Trainer) and multi-media impartial campaigns.
Being a Politically and Media Literate Citizen is imperative to the safeguarding and advancement of democracy.
UK
CIES - Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology
The Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte) of the Iscte- University Institute of Lisbon, is a R&D unit in the area of social sciences dedicated to studying contemporary social problems from a multidisciplinary perspective. CIES-Iscte’s main scientific domain is sociology, developing relevant activity in the fields of public policy, political science, communication, education, modern and contemporary history and social work.
CIES-Iscte’s activity is characterised by a demanding articulation between basic research and applied research mainly directed at the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies in various sectors and areas of intervention. CIES-Iscte is currently involved in various international projects focused on countering disinformation (IBERIFIER., led by Navarra University), media literacy, algorithmic literacy and AI (Algowatch, led by Savoir Devenir), and digital citizenship (Digital Citizenship Education, Council of Europe).
Digital citizenship is key because it empowers citizens to create, share, socialize, communicate, work, play and learn online and offline in an active and responsible way throughout life. This is key in a context marked by the declining trust of democratic public institutions and processes, threats to freedom of expression and the lack of opportunities to live and learn through democratic processes.
Portugal
Meta Platforms Inc.
Meta’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. We build technology that helps people connect, find, communities, and grow businesses. We help people discover and learn about what is going on in the world around them, enable people to share their opinions, ideas, photos and videos, and other activities with audiences ranging from their closest family members and friends to the public at large, and stay connected everywhere by accessing our products. And we are building new ways to help people explore their interests and connect with the people they care about, including by building products and experiences for the metaverse.
We’re committed to digital safety and empowerment. That’s why we collaborated with experts to launch Get Digital (https://about.meta.com/actions/safety/topics/digital-literacy) which blends ready-to-use lessons, tips and resources for each of our five content pillars — digital foundations, digital wellness, digital engagement, digital empowerment and digital opportunities. There are resources specifically for youth, caregivers and educators.
Digital literacy is a critical skillset that empowers people to thrive in the digital world.
WOLRDWIDE
UCD Centre for Digital Policy
The Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme is designed to support those in government with the skills and knowledge necessary to amend existing legislation and plan for new legislation that will protect society and provide a relevant framework in which organisations can operate.
Digital technologies underpin all areas of society and the economy, from work to leisure to political participation. However, as technological developments in the field of digital and data science accelerate, balancing the rights of citizens while investing in the possibilities afforded by digital technologies remains tricky for legislators, policy makers, and the private sector alike. New technologies emerge and create new challenges even as organisations and governments struggle with creating appropriate responses for today.
Challenges in digital policy arise for numerous reasons, across all sectors, and evolve quickly. It is often the case that those with the knowledge and skills to develop new technologies are not aware of the broader implications of these new technologies. On the other hand, those tasked with developing, implementing, and evaluating governance and policy in the digital arena are not familiar with the ways in which technologies evolve or their potential effects and consequences. The universe of complex digital technologies is vast; there is no simple “one shot fix” that can govern all technologies.
The members of the UCD Centre for Digital Policy believe that policy making and evaluation must be deliberative, emergent, and iterative, with sociocultural values at their core. Such an ambitious agenda will require working with stakeholders and beneficiaries to:
To develop effective and evidence-based formal and informal regulation and institutional digital policies,
to maintain such policies over time, and
to foreground urgent issues of sustainability, equity, and human rights.
IMS - Institute for Media Studies
The Institute for Media Studies (IMS) strives for international excellence in the research fields of both media and communication. The IMS produces innovative and critical scientific research with a focus on four domains:
Journalism & News
Strategy & Marketing Communication
Human-Computer Interaction
Culture & Policy
In addition, the IMS employs its research expertise to provide quality education, to participate in academic and social debate, and to inspire (inter)national policy.
European Schoolnet
European Schoolnet’s mission is to inspire and support its ministries of education’s members, as well as schools, teachers and relevant education stakeholders in Europe, in the transformation of education processes for 21st-century digitalised societies.
European Schoolnet does this by identifying and testing promising innovative practices, sharing evidence about their impact, and supporting the mainstreaming of teaching and learning practices aligned with 21st-century standards for inclusive education.
Since its founding in 1997, European Schoolnet has used its links with education ministries to help schools become effective in the pedagogical use of technology, equipping both teachers and pupils with the necessary skills to achieve in the digital society.
EAVI - Media Literacy for Active Citizenship
EAVI – the European Association for Viewers Interests – is an international non-profit organisation registered in Brussels which advocates media literacy and full citizenship. EAVI supports the adoption of initiatives that enable citizens read, write and participate in public life through the media.
Full and active citizenship in Europe is increasingly reliant on media literacy skills. Therefore, by empowering Europeans as responsible media users, EAVI is actually working towards the goal of a healthy, democratic, more cohesive society.
EAVI represents citizens interests in the European sphere through lobbying, conferences, networking, research, media literacy focused projects, the development of good practices and the production of online content of resources with a particular attention to the education of young people.
