Active Youth Click (AYc) is an online-focused team of Active Youth Association (AY) – a for-purpose organisation working with youth and communities in need in Lithuania and across borders.

• AYc mission: empowering young people and those working with them through MIL and enhancing their skills in the online environment.
• AYc vision: increase digital awareness & skills in and through the online environment. 

AY has been actively involved in local and international (youth) projects since 2014. Up until now, the organization has successfully implemented (getting just the highest scores from the evaluators) more than 60 separate project actions on its own (and several times that as a partner). What is more, our NGO has built up a large partnership network worldwide (more than 700 organisations) and belongs to Lithuania’s Youth Board (LiJOT) (a platform for dialogue with decision-makers). All of that can be used for the current project.

In whatever activity we carry out, we follow our 3 core principles:

1. Sustainability – seeking sustainable impact over the long-term;
2. Compassion – being open & compassionate to target groups & other stakeholders;
3. Can-do attitude – seeing opportunities rather than problems.

Surely, it’s easy to list these values on paper and a lot harder to follow them through in real life.

That is why we focus extensively on having the right team for every project. The people we will be working with (in the current project) are professionals with relevant experience and a record of success (whether in youth work and/or digital fields). We also rely on a deep pool of volunteers (over 1000) and potential partners to ensure: 1) the project’s implementation goes smoothly; 2) the dissemination efforts reach the specified target groups.

The projects AYc takes on, as a rule, focus on demanding issues (e.g. MIL, disinformation, cyberbullying). Hence, we look forward to the challenges offered by the current project.

Active Youth Association has lengthy experience in running Erasmus+ projects. Therefore, we know how to chip in at all the steps of the project, starting with the application itself and finishing with result dissemination. We have carried out projects that have focused on digital skills, cyberbullying and others (see below).

AY is an observer member of the Lithuanian Youth Council, which represents European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA) in Lithuania — an independent European organisation, composed of national and regional youth information co-ordination bodies and networks. We stand for developing, supporting and promoting quality youth information and practices at all levels to meet the information needs of young people and apply the principles of the European Youth Information Charter which also involves Online Youth Information. 

Moreover, we follow UNESCO Global MIL Assessment Framework, which helps empower people and communities to participate in and contribute to global knowledge societies.

Excellent digital literacy is our greatest aspiration and non-formal education is a key to promote it. AYc is helping youth and those working with them become experts in and through online environment by:

1. Creating innovative WAYS and SPACES to develop digitally;
2. Enhancing MIL and other digital SKILLS & COMPETENCES of youth and those who work with them ;
3. Identifying and fighting ISSUES that appear online;
4. Empowering youth and those who work with them to become ACTIVE ADVOCATES, producers and innovators of MIL;
5. Promoting FREEDOM of EXPRESSION and other universal rights, values & key principles in the field  (e.g. EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade).

The key person involved in this application is the board member of AY – Gediminas Kondrackis. He is accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience.

Our staff are young leaders, who developed during their studies & life in different European countries. This has not only given them a strong (formal and non-formal) educational basis but has also taught them how to communicate with people coming from different cultural and social backgrounds.

The key staff involved have been part of all the previous activities of the association. Therefore, they have the necessary knowledge to chip into the current project as well.

Through their other endeavours, they have:

1. Led seminars for youth about risks and possibilities that appear online;
2. Created innovative online courses and platforms for youth workers;
3. Educated youth about Erasmus+ & ESC opportunities;
4. Lead or participated in Erasmus+ youth exchanges, training courses about online related issues and initiatives.

All of this has given them a range of skills and competencies usable for the current project.