From 15 to 19 May 2026, the partners of the ECODE project  (Ceméa France, SOLIDAR+, FITCEMEA, Ceméa Belgium, and Dafni Kek) came together in Patras, Greece, for their Transnational Meeting, hosted by local partner Dafni Kek. 

ECODE (Ethical, Common and Open Digital in Education) aims to foster a critical approach to digital tools and an awareness of digital commons values among young people across Europe. The project is developing training modules for civil society organisations working with youth, as well as a roadmap with recommendations for civil society and policymakers on digital rights, youth, and education.

The week in Patras was centred on testing four training modules currently in development, each addressing a distinct and urgent theme at the intersection of critical digital citizenship and youth education. 

The first module invites participants to reflect on the environmental footprint of our digital lives, from the energy consumption of data centres to the material cost of digital devices, and to develop a more conscious and responsible relationship with the technologies they use. 

The second tackles inclusion in the digital world, exploring the barriers that prevent equal access to and participation in digital spaces, and equipping youth workers with tools to address them in their practice. 

The third module focuses on artificial intelligence: how it works, how it shapes our information environment, and what risks it carries, from the very concrete material impacts of AI infrastructure, to subtler but no less significant effects on autonomy, mental health, and our sense of reality. 

Finally, the fourth module is dedicated to (de)centralisation and the EU’s digital policy agenda giving an insight in the EU’s policies on the digital transition and touching on matters related to the centralisation of the digital world. 

The week was structured around the four modules, with each day divided into workshops facilitated by the organisations responsible for that module. The goal of each session was to test the module’s effectiveness with the full group and gather concrete feedback to refine and improve it, working towards a finished product ahead of a second, larger testing phase. What made the process particularly rich was the diversity of expertise in the room: participants brought together perspectives from non-formal education, digital commons, and advocacy, creating a cross-disciplinary exchange. 

Another part of the programme focused on advocacy, as partners brainstormed on the ECODE Advocacy Roadmap. This Roadmap will encompass recommendations both for civil society organisations and policymakers active in the areas of digital rights, youth, education and other related fields building the competences young people and youth workers need to engage in advocacy efforts, whether at the local, national, or European level. 

The meeting also provided space to step outside the workshop room. Partners met with the Department of Digital Services and Informatics of the Municipality of Patras, an exchange that brought a local institutional perspective to the project’s themes. 

The next step for ECODE is to refine and finalise the modules before moving into a broader testing phase with external stakeholders, and the work done in Patras has brought the partners well on their way there. Everyone left energised, with a renewed sense of commitment to the project and inspired by the collective passion and knowledge in the room.