HOP articles, stories and insights

Digitalisation as a driver for social boost

Author: Silvia Crocitta
Illustrations: Canva PRO
Licence to (re)use the text of the article: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0
Publication date: January 2026

 

Abstract

Digital transformation is reshaping societies and modalities of their learning styles and habits, a growing, newer structural force that supports learning, participation, interaction and cooperation. In the youth work ecosystem, digitalisation is increasingly recognised as a technological tool and as a powerful influencer of organisational approaches, pedagogical methods, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The present article aims to analyse how digital transformation functions and acts as a driver for social boost by empowering more inclusive, participatory and interlinked forms and dynamics of youth work ecosystem, drawing on historical trajectories to the post-pandemic acceleration, synthesising contemporary theoretical perspectives, EU policy frameworks, and diverse empirical findings from youth sector and research studies.

The analysis carves into how digitalisation enhances collaboration between youth work and other relevant sectors as education, social services, public administration, civil society and similar. The mission is to bestow an actionable guidance for strengthening youth work’s role within digitally transforming societies, adopting it in a professional and creative way. A particular emphasis is given to ethical, organisational and (infra)structural conditions that support a positive and meaningful cross-sectoral digital collaboration, providing with a structured framework for encompassing a potential policy alignment, participatory governance, inter-connectable infrastructures and (at the same time) competence development. 

The article:

• argues that youth work is uniquely positioned to mediate digital transformation processes in ways that reinforce social inclusion, democratic participation, and inter-institutional innovation thanks to its participatory ethos and cross-cutting direction.
• explores how digitalisation can enhance cross-sectoral cooperation in youth work and generate meaningful social impact when approached as a socio-technical and value-driven process.

 

Introduction

When we affirm that digital transformation reshapes the ways and processes in which youth engage with community, civic life and participation embed in the own social systems, reconfiguring relationships among groups, between citizens and both grass-root and EU institutions in the safest and most inclusive way. 

Digitalisation is frequently conceptualised through the lens of efficiency or innovation, and Youth Work is now operating within a pervasive connectivity, digital and hybrid learning and algorithmic mediation rather than in a more traditional and earlier-know approach based in experiential, interpersonal and only in-person practices: the shift finds its roots in rethinking, merging and adapting youth work's methods, its values and collaborations.

When we define digitalisation as a "social boost" we intend a strategical development driving to better inclusion, empowerment, democratic participation, youth development and sectoral cooperation: a set of digital (infra)structures that supports youth work in the mission of shaping personal and professional development, while having the role of navigating simultaneously youth digital societies in a proper way. It is a reflection on youth work sector reaction to digital divides, educational inequalities, increasing interconnectedness of societal challenges, mental health crises, digital boundaries, socio-economical differences and consequent opportunities, instability of economy, and more. 

And this is why cross-sectoral cooperation is thus essential and no longer optional: digital transformation provides tools and frameworks through which youth work can collaborate with education, health, social services, and civil society actors to address these complex challenges holistically.

 

A bit of history and digital youth work

The truth is that we did not arrive to digitalisation in one day: we rather feel such an acceleration as from Covid19 effects, and that is why the perception looks immediate. The evolution of digitalisation in youth work reflects a gradual and layered transformation: from technological developments to pedagogical reflections, and passing through shifts in digital practices. The first steps were characterised primarily by an emphasis on fostering ICT literacy and promoting safe online behaviour among young people: from the late 1990s into the early 2000s, youth organisations approached digital tools as instrumental resources through which young people could acquire from basic to advanced computer skills. And from such a momentum, safety campaigns and initiatives engaging youth have began. 

The more technology advanced, the more the participatory ethos of Web 2.0 emerged, and youth work experienced a second phase of "digital integration" (from mid-2000s to the 2010s): the proliferation of social media and the related usage of those introduced new forms of alternative participation, identity and communities formation, and transnational opportunities and youth sector's engagement. Youth workers increasingly integrated digital platforms for both communication and pedagogical-methodological reasons and spaces where young people were expressing themselves, collaborating, becoming more creative, organising and thinking new civic initiatives. This period also saw the emergence of online consultations and digital democratic tools within the EU youth policy framework, signalling a growing institutional recognition of digital participation’s relevance.

From approximately 2015 onward, youth work began its third stage: platformisation, hybrid learning, exploration and even professional design of digital pedagogical methods such as gamification, online mentoring and coaching, digital storytelling, and similar. Such tools entered a process of integration in the non-formal educational practice rather than simple accessory or supplementary features, reflecting a shift in recognition of digital environments and leading to more sophisticated digital youth work practices.

Reports by the Council of Europe, the CULT Committee of the European Parliament, and the OECD emphasised the need to embed ethical and pedagogical considerations into digital youth work, underscoring that digital competence involved far more than technical proficiency or basic integration of online elements for non-formal education.

The acceleration pushed by the Covid19 pandemic in Europe in 2020 gave the last and more recent upgrade, a rapid, emergent and urgent transformation: youth work went digital by force of matters to support each other, contact, deliver and transfer learning activities, offer psychological support through the network, communicate and keep growing in the sector. During those months, structural vulnerability in different areas has been clearly exposed, including digital inequalities, insufficient organisational resources and infrastructures, lack of digital competences.

The pandemic stimulated newer reflections on the ethical, cultural, and organisational dimensions of digital transformation as a systemic shift. And indeed, it affected and changed workflows, participation models, data governance, hybrid working, alternative form of interaction, and inter-organisational collaboration. This short overview shows an evolving socio-technical trajectory shaped by pedagogical values, societal challenges, the shifting digital ecosystems while understanding the evolution of digitalisation and how it can strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation and generate meaningful social impact.

 

Digital Transformation and Cross-Sectoral Cooperation in Youth Work

Until here, the message is clear: digitalisation reshaped how youth workers, young people, and partner institutions mean and comprehend knowledge, interact, and participate in shared social environments. 

On the other hand, theoretical approaches to digital transformation emphasise that digital tools are embedded within wider cultural and organisational systems: such an integration may fundamentally alter professional practices, institutional communication, and the organisation of youth services. This is the argue if we agree on the fact that digitalisation transforms societal structures by reorganising how information flows, how decisions are taken, how identities and communities are negotiated in digital spaces (Brennen, J. S., & Kreiss, D., 2016).

If we look from the angle of constructivist perspectives, digital environments empower young people to co-create knowledge, challenging traditional pedagogical hierarchies thanks to networked communication and collaborative platforms that provide the youth sector with unprecedented opportunities to shape the own narratives and participate online: and here is how youth work’s participatory ethos aligns with those developments. Digital transformation amplifies youth work’s capacity to promote digital citizenship, cultural expression and critical digital literacy, while simultaneously requiring youth professionals to adopt new hybrid pedagogies (which means online, offline, and blended forms of learning).

These theoretical insights are directly relevant when we analyse and scan the role of digitalisation in enhancing cross-sectoral cooperation and the positive effects produced.

And challenges ahead including mental health pressures, digital safety, educational inequalities and/ or civic disengagement are demanding a more collaborative response from the entire educational system, a cross-sectoral intervention that unites the third sector to other stakeholders and professionals. Consequently, digital platforms are creating new conditions for cooperating bridging information sharing, coordination of services, and the development of integrated pathways of support. With the aim of safeguarding society, supporting learning continuity, crisis response and targeting outreach to vulnerable groups, this enhanced connectivity improved operational efficiency and strengthened the participatory capacity of young people, boosting transparency and accessibility in the learning processes. In fact, digital tools, when and if ethically implemented, can reinforce youth rights, increase visibility of youth needs, and support inclusive governance frameworks.

Of course, while integrating digital technologies across sectors, ethical questions and organisational challenges arose, and still do today. From issues related to data protection, algorithmic bias, inequalities in accessibility, digital surveillance, and more aspects highlight the need for critical thinking and reflection on how innovation and digitalisation are employed and applied in our youth-centred ecosystem. And still, youth work normative in being anchored to its foundations, ensuring that the non-formal learning spaces remains dedicated to youth learning while technology-driven. 

 

Cross-Sectoral Digital Cooperation as a Driver for Social Boost in Youth Work

Cross-sectoral cooperation became a concrete strategy for tackling issues such as educational inequality, mental health, social exclusion, and digital vulnerability cannot be effectively addressed by single institutions operating in isolation. Within such an increasingly complex and interrelated challenges young people face in the contemporary societies, youth work occupies a unique intermediary position as it operates at the intersection of education, social services, health, local governance, and civil society. Indeed, when strategically implemented and planned, digitalisation supports operational efficiency and acts as a social boost (a measurable enhancement of inclusion, participation, and social value creation). In the case of youth work, creating and maintaining interoperating platforms and securing the exchange of information while sustaining a certain continuity of support across institutional boundaries, is key.

Such infrastructures allow for a better holistic response to youth and ensure that educational, social and psychosocial dimensions are incorporated in a more personalised way. However, compliance with the GDPR and the adoption of privacy-by-design principles are essential to safeguarding young people’s rights are a must, and is an imperative to keep it mind: it is a good practice for youth organisations to play the critical role of operating youth-informed procedures (as consent models, data practices, etc.) that align with principles of trust and empowerment. 

In youth work, participatory mechanisms are particularly significant, as they align with the sector’s commitment to empowerment and democratic engagement and the co-creation of digital spaces (online forums, hybrid meetings, collaborative platforms, and similar) and provide opportunities for shared agenda-setting, joint reflection and iterative policy development. When this happens, engagement gains legitimacy, relevance, and sustainability in the process and empowers youth organisations. Digitalisation contributes to strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation through professional learning, enabling continuous and flexible environments, allowing youth workers to share practices, develop common languages and update professional standards.

Frameworks such as DigComp 2.2 provide a reference point for digital competences and ethical standards supporting a more coherent culture across sectors. And this, reinforces the role of youth work making it capable of translating digital innovation into social meaningful practices. These structural and governance-related dimensions of digital cooperation directly contribute to digitalisation’s capacity to act as a driver for social boost.

In addition to this, when youth organisations collaborate digitally with public institutions, educational actors, and private-sector partners, they generate new service models, governance practices, and forms of social entrepreneurship that can be replicated or taken as a model and adapted to diverse contexts and spaces. The fact is that youth work often functions as an experimental space in which digital tools are adapted to concrete contexts and emerging needs (from grass-root to European levels), making it a key incubator for fast digital social innovation that frequently extends beyond the youth sector itself. 

As a final aspect, we should be cautious enough to state that the use of data in youth-related cooperation must be governed by strong ethical safeguards and participatory procedures and practices: involving young people in the interpretation and governance of data strengthens transparency and accountability while ensuring that evidence generation aligns with youth rights and democratic principles, becoming a resource for empowerment.

 

Implementing cross-sectoral Youth Work through digital transformation

Implementing cross-sectoral youth work through digital transformation requires a set of coordinated actions which includes policy, practice, and governance levels: digitalisation can enhance the capacity of youth work to collaborate across sectors and generate lasting social value when it is strongly based on ethical frameworks, participatory principles, and shared infrastructures. But how to make it work? Success relies on strategic, multi-level approach going beyond the simple fact of adopting digitalisation into youth work practice. The effort and capacity of building stable digital youth work and translate digital cooperation into a sustainable social impact stays in simultaneous cross-sectoral participatory mechanism and ecosystems. Digital transformation should be seen as a long-term organisational process that includes policy-making and proactive, consistent collaboration in the youth work sector, while youth work could consequently act as a coordinating, value-oriented actor. 

Digital transformation should therefore be understood as a long-term organisational and policy process rather than a series of isolated projects. Youth work, given its intermediary role between young people and institutions, is well positioned to act as a coordinating and value-oriented actor within such implementation frameworks.

But certainly, a primary condition for effective implementation is that digital youth work initiatives embed within broader national and European digital, educational, and social strategies: for example, the EU Digital Education Action Plan  and the European Youth Strategy qualifies coherence for youth work, education, social services, and digital innovation agendas. Those help making sure that digital transformation keeps being "for youth with youth" while obtaining institutional resources and political legitimacy, as they provide with strategic direction and support coordinated actions and decision-making while trying to reduce fragmentation.

Another relevant aspect of present literature is embraced within the DigComp 2.2 as it provides a common reference for aligning expectations and standards across institutional contexts: a crucial aspect for cross-sectoral capacity building and competence development. It is effective cooperation that depend on shared digital, ethical, and participatory competence among youth workers and crucial actors for the youth sector itself. 

As well, we can consider crucial the intersection and interoperability of digital infrastructures: sustainability relies on safe communication, coordinated management, collaborative programme design and similar. And public investment should prioritise practical and viable solutions adopted by organisations of different size, capacity and system. It is of paramount importance that technological infrastructures are formally supported by clear governance protocols in the mission to be accountable, transparent, and accessible. It is where youth organisations can carve, reinforcing trust and ethical integrity through incorporating youth-centred systems.

Participatory digital governance constitutes a defining feature of youth-centred digital transformation: implementation strategies should institutionalise the direct involvement of young people in the complete lifecycle - from design to evaluation and permeability of cross-sectoral services. Having youth within governance structures enhances democratic legitimacy and improves the effectiveness of digital solutions, and it represents a continuity for youth work in terms of core values within digital youth (work) ecosystems. Methods as youth advisory boards, co-designing of digital workshops, participatory audits, or digital course design are putting young people at the position of coherently influencing decision as it affects their own digital lives.

And the relevant pillar that can close the circle of our article touches evaluation and learning mechanisms. This is essential for ensuring continuous improvement and accountability, used responsibly and reflectively. Indeed, cross-sectoral evaluation frameworks can generate evidence on outcomes, equity and even unintended effects. While documenting the progress of digital transformation, different gaps in research should be covered, as the RAY DIGI aims to.

Any evaluation process should be participated by youth, involving them in interpreting data and forge potential future interventions in the sector: such an approach can have a positive effect in both evidence informing and decision-making with youth rights and democratic principles, making digital transformation into shared learning resources. 

 

Conclusions

The article consciously positioned digitalisation as a structural process influencing organisational practices, professional roles, and institutional interactions adopting an analytical approach that recognises both enabling conditions and structural constraints shaping digital youth work. The discussion contributes to ongoing academic and policy discussions by offering a systematised examination of how digital transformation intersects with cross-sectoral youth work with analytical neutrality: it provides a conceptual framework for understanding digitalisation’s potential roles and limitations, leaving space for further empirical research to assess outcomes across diverse contexts.

 

References

• Brennen, J. S., & Kreiss, D. (2016). Digitalization. In K. B. Jensen & R. T. Craig (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell.