Winners European Youth Awards 2005

Category 1: Active Citizenship

DENMARK 

Description: The main aim of the project was to establish a type of counselling agency based on modern means of communication such as sms, chat and e-mail where young girls can help their peers by giving them somebody of their own age to talk to anonymously. The project team consists of 10 volunteers under the age of 25, including two from socially problematic backgrounds, who work with young people either professionally or as volunteers. In addition an open forum was set up on the project’s website where everyone can start and participate in a debate. Before the agency was launched extensive preparation took place via talks with other youth hotlines. Supervision and monthly meetings with experts (e.g. psychologists and social workers) have also been set up.

Results: The project was very innovative and well-though out. It promotes social inclusion because it reaches out to young people that need somebody they can contact anonymously and share their feelings with and therefore potentially helps people who might otherwise develop problems that could lead them to become socially excluded. Its impact has reached beyond the local community and the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs has now provided a grant to ensure its continuation. The website had almost 150,000 page hits and about 83,800 visitors, and today has about 750 page hits a week. The open forum on the website now has 15 categories (e.g. friendship, love, divorce etc.) and more than 1000 registered anonymous users.