It is estimated that 1 in 3 young people have been victims of cyberbullying[1]. KID_ACTIONS (Kick-off preventIng and responDing to children and AdolesCenT cyberbullyIng through innovative mOnitoring and educatioNal technologieS) aims to raise awareness of this issue among young people and encourage reporting of incidents, following an interactive, gamified and holistic approach that entails both the formal and non-formal learning environments. Funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme (2014-2020) of the European Union, the project is running from January 2021 to December 2022.

KID_ACTIONS will seek to address the topic of cyberbullying, including prevention and remediation, through the creation of a range of pedagogical tools, in particular the KID_ACTIONS Digital Education Platform, which will contain a social media monitoring and virtual coaching system, narrative-based learning and pedagogical games (similar to what has been done in the CREEP project), designed to empower young people to recognise, stand up to and report cyberbullying.

In doing so, KidActions will also aim to support teachers, educators, and youth workers in fostering effectiveness and efficiency in education about risks and effects of cyberbullying. The project will also aim to strengthen cross-border coalition-building by promoting cooperation between a diverse group of stakeholders, via the creation of the KID_ACTIONS Lab.

KID_ACTIONS will primarily target young people aged 11-19, both in formal and non-formal learning settings, all across the European Union. To fully reach this audience, it is equally important to reach the variety of stakeholders that interact with them on a daily basis and shape their world views: teachers, educators, youth workers, but parents and caretakers, wider educational stakeholders (such as policy makers and Ministries of Education), researchers, representatives of non-governmental and civil society organisations from the field of digital citizenship, online safety and media literacy, social service and healthcare professionals, law enforcement agencies, and industry members.

The KID_ACTIONS project consortium involves research centres, public administrations, non-governmental and civil society organisations from Belgium and Italy, namely the project coordinator Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy), Provincia autonoma di Trento (Italy), Amnesty International Italia, Youth for Exchange and Understanding (Belgium) and European Schoolnet (Belgium).

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[1] UNICEF poll: More than a third of young people in 30 countries report being a victim of online bullying