Kick starting SafetyNET Reality Check Research

Last week, SafetyNet project partners met in Limassol, Cyprus  for a transnational partner meeting focused on establishing the project’s research framework.

What is the SafetyNET project about?

Digital youth work is growing fast, but the standards to protect young people are falling behind. As youth organizations increasingly rely on digital platforms and AI, many lack the structured frameworks needed to ensure safety, privacy, and ethical use. Safety NET aims to create comprehensive and sustainable support systems to equip youth organizations with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate these digital tools responsibly.

Launching SafetyNET Reality Check Research

During our time in Cyprus, we officially launched our project’s research phase to find out exactly what the youth sector is missing when. Our goal is to analyze the existing capacities, digital tools, and internal practices across the youth sector, alongside current EU and national regulations.

Over the coming months, our research will focus on:

• Policy Mapping → Conducting desk research on current policies and legal landscapes across Europe.
• Institutional Interviews → Interviewing international institutions to understand their internal digital safety procedures.
• Digital Tools Survey → Surveying the most popular digital and AI tools currently used by youth organizations and the challenges they face.
• Online Debate Forums → Hosting focus groups to directly hear about real-life digital practices and gaps from youth workers themselves.

The Safety NET Consortium

This initiative is a collaborative effort driven by a diverse

European consortium dedicated to youth empowerment and digital rights. We are proud to work alongside:

• CONNECT International (Belgium) – Project Coordinator
• OBESSU (Belgium)
• MoveIt (Greece)
• Zavod Koda (Slovenia)
• Cultural Foundation 1948 (Cyprus)
• NGO Libero (Serbia)

We are looking forward to sharing with you more about the results of the SafetyNET research and working towards safe and ethical use of digital tools in youth organization work.