Young Digital Leaders (YDL) is an educational programme aiming to empower young people across Europe through digital citizenship, critical thinking and media literacy. The programme, developed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and supported by Google.org, was created to equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to be safe, effective and empowered online citizens in the 21st century. It also sought to upskill teachers and parents so they could more proactively support this process, with a better understanding of the challenges faced online. The second phase built on a 2018 YDL pilot, expanding its reach with a collaborative partnership model between these stakeholder groups and local civil society organisations in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania.

This report describes the programme’s logic, content and the findings of our evaluation. It demonstrates its impact on participants, describes ideas to improve future programme delivery, and makes recommendations for policymakers who can positively influence the provision of digital citizenship education (DCE) throughout Europe.