Awero team
5 learnings for digital youth work transformation from Slovenia
29 Jul, 13:32
“It’s youth work, guys,” says Urška Česnik from TiPovej! “It’s just different environments and different tools.”
For her this cuts through much of the uncertainty around digital youth work, but with one important distinction. Digital youth work isn’t about transferring every face-to-face activity onto a screen. It's about applying youth work values in environments that already shape young people’s relationships, identities and daily lives.
His colleague Kaja Vuk is equally direct: “Young people are already there. That’s a fact, and they’re going to stay there. So why not provide safe spaces for them?”
Together, Urska, Nejc and Kaja, through the Digital Systemic project, explored how youth workers and organisations can make the move to digital safely, meaningfully and strategically. Their experience offers youth workers practical lessons and policymakers a clear message: digital youth work and transformation isn’t simply about buying technology. It's about strengthening the people, systems and relationships around it.
Start with strategy, not technology
For Urška, Digital Systemic created a chance to return to the foundations of digital youth work and give organisations a clearer structure for change.
Her aim was to help youth workers and organisations understand where they were, what they needed and how they could move forward. As she explains, the project was about “setting the structure for youth workers and youth organisations” and giving them resources they could later use with young people.
That strategic approach matters because digital readiness varies sharply across the sector. Some youth centres already have virtual reality rooms, podcast studios and gaming spaces. Others still rely heavily on paper systems.
Urška recalls mentoring an organisation whose first realistic step was replacing paper room-booking lists with a shared spreadsheet.
“I came to them thinking, ‘How can we digitalise everything?’” she says. “And then I realised, no, we’re just moving papers from the doors. It’s step by step.”
That lesson is central to her approach. Digital transformation should not be imposed as a complete overhaul. It should begin with a useful, manageable change that responds to an organisation’s real needs.
For policymakers, this means resisting the temptation to measure digital progress only through new equipment or platforms. Organisations need time, mentoring and flexible support to develop at their own pace.
Turn resistance into relevant support
Kaja’s work begins with listening closely to youth workers and identifying what prevents them from engaging digitally.
She names “the resentment of youth workers towards digital youth work” as one of the biggest barriers in Slovenia, alongside “the lack of knowledge and the lack of realisation of what they already do as digital youth work”.
That resistance is not simply a problem to overcome. It can reveal what kind of support is missing.
“We developed our services based on what we see in Slovenia that people lack or want to do more of,” Kaja explains.
Those services include social media support, website development, training and practical help with digital communication. Rather than expecting every youth worker to become a technical specialist, Kaja focuses on making digital tools more understandable and useful.
She also sees a major opportunity in meeting young people where they already are.
“They are there. That’s a fact, and they’re going to stay there,” she says. “So why not provide safe spaces for them instead of them using dangerous spaces?”
Her point is not that all youth work should become digital. It is that ignoring online environments leaves young people without trusted adults, supportive communities or youth work values in spaces where they spend significant amounts of time.
Build digital spaces around youth work values
“I was interested in digital youth work even before it was popular,” he says. “Before COVID-19, I was advocating that we should do something digitally, but no one listened.”
The pandemic accelerated digital activity, but Digital Systemic helped him see the need for a more complete organisational approach.
“It was probably then when I realised that it’s not just about digital youth work,” he says. “It’s also not just about having the infrastructure or the competences. It’s everything combined.”
That includes visibility. An organisation may offer excellent digital activities, but they will have little impact if young people do not know they exist.
“You have to be visible, and young people need to know that you are offering some digital services,” Nejc says.
When developing an online youth centre, he and his colleagues also asked what standards should distinguish a genuine digital youth work space from any other online group.
“We asked: what makes it a digital youth centre?”
Their answers included regular youth worker presence, active moderation, inclusive language, protection of digital rights and free access to basic services. Young people can also help moderate the space and challenge harmful behaviour, much as they would in a traditional youth centre.
“Most of the moderation is done by young people and the community,” Nejc explains. “If somebody crosses the border, the community itself is going to say, ‘Stop it. This is not OK.’”
Young people were not passive recipients of protection. They helped shape the culture and governance of the community.
Digital literacy is about judgement
For Urška, digital competence cannot be measured by how many apps someone uses.
“Just because you are using ten different apps doesn’t really mean that you are digitally savvy,” she says.
Young people may use artificial intelligence, social platforms and digital tools every day without understanding how their data is used, how to question automated outputs or how to use technology effectively.
“One thing is that you use something digital for fun,” she explains. “Another is that you use it in a good way that makes your work easier.”
This is where youth workers can play a distinctive role. They can create space for reflection, help young people think through long-term consequences and connect digital choices to rights and responsibilities.
Urška also sees youth workers as a bridge between young people and the adults around them.
“Sometimes parents don’t know, and teachers don’t know,” she says. “How can we be a bridge between parents, society and young people?”
Digital literacy, then, is not only a technical skill. It is the ability to make informed choices about privacy, participation, safet, responsibility and trust.
Make the work last
Sustainability was built into the collaboration from the beginning.
Urška invited Kaja and Nejc into Digital Systemic because they were already working directly with young people and could test project resources against real practice, describing them as “a team with a digital youth work mission”.
That team is now carrying the work beyond the original funding period.
Kaja and Nejc are developing further training and project ideas around safer digital spaces, responsible gaming and digital youth centres. Alongside Urška, they are also planning an introductory playlist for youth workers in Slovenia, offering basic steps and practical routes into digital youth work.
Nejc stresses that progress does not always require creating something new.
“A lot of projects are based on ‘let’s develop something brand new’,” he says. “But a lot of our focus is: let’s use the things that are already out there and teach people how to use them effectively.”
Digital Systemic has produced more than tools. It has created relationships, confidence and momentum.
That may be the strongest sign of sustainable digital transformation: not another platform, but people with the knowledge, trust and shared purpose to carry the work forward.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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