GLOCAL Foundation of Canada deliver service placements for young Canadians between the ages of 15-30 in the areas of digital civic engagement (i.e. creative civic engagement initiatives utilizing digital tools) and democratic literacy (i.e. knowledge about and experience in democratic participation in Canada).
Project Objective
The project’s specific objectives are to offer youth participants, including youth from Indigenous and underserved populations, the opportunity to:
- Strengthen youth democratic literacy, digital engagement, and community services through learning opportunities.
- Gain digital skills, civic knowledge and work with Canadians from across the nation
- Participants will gain digital development skills and the opportunity to get an experience in the design and development of digital content and educational games on the themes of civic engagement.
- Contribute to local communities through service placements that produce concrete results and which foster a lasting connection (research, curation, writing for a public audience).
- Learn digital skills, grow personal and professional networks, and practice leadership in the area of digital civic engagement.
- Increase awareness about the accessibility of civic information as well as misinformation.
What Does A Youth Participant Do in this Program
All activities and workshops are fully online and can be completed on a flexible schedule.
Youth participants are required to complete at least 120 hours of services in the following categories:
- Conduct digital civic engagement service work in the following 5 tracks:
- Research
- Data collection and analysis
- Social media content
- Digital services design and development
- Community outreach
- Attend professional workshops and special events on digital skills, civic engagement, and democratic participation.
- Meetings for team building, work training and group activities.
The objective of this program is to promote volunteerism and digital civic engagement. Youth participants are encouraged to carry out projects relevant to their own communities.
What Does A Youth Participant Gain from Joining the Program
- Certificate of Digital Civic Engagement and Community Service
- Youth participants will acquire digital democratic engagement experience, including how to effectively and critically evaluate the credibility and reliability of online information sources, how to identify common disinformation tactics, deal with online abuse and trolls, and how to work with legislators, civil society organizations and minority communities.
- Youth participants will develop digital skills such as the use of social media and other digital content for communication, collaboration, and knowledge mobilization.
- Youth participants will develop a broader understanding of the ethical, legal, and social implications of digital technologies, such as online privacy, security and online outreach.
- Youth participants will have increased awareness and competency of civic engagement challenges across different levels of government and of Canada’s democratic system.
- Youth participants, including youth immigrants and refugees, will gain a stronger sense of belonging and commitment to Canada and to their local communities.
- Youth participants will develop online teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills, including remote work time management, information sharing, cyber security, public speaking, workplace safety, and respect for diverse views and backgrounds.
Eligibility Criteria
Canadian citizens, permanent residents or refugees aged 15 to 30.
How to Apply
Application is open from 1 March 2023 onwards.
Please send your resume via: bit.ly/3JdYdo1
If you have any questions about this program, please contact admin@glocalfoundation.ca.