D-Engage: Esports for Youth Work

Warsaw, 16 April 2025 — The partners of D-ENGAGE – Bridging the Digital Gap in Youth Work through Esports met in Poland last week for the project’s inaugural transnational meeting, marking the official start of a 12-month Erasmus+ Youth small-scale partnership (KA210). Hosted by Akademia Nauk at its Pruszków campus, the session set the strategic direction for using competitive gaming as a fresh, inclusive tool in youth work.

Partner

Country

Role in D-ENGAGE

ANS (Academic Nauk)

Poland

Project coordinator; quality management and research

Collective Innovation AS (COLIN)

Norway

Builds the e-learning platform and digital toolkit

FUT Esports

Türkiye

Shares pro-esports expertise; leads the international tournament

SportsTech Turkey (STTR)

Drives community-building events & webinars

Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES)

Dissemination and outreach, with a focus on inclusion

More and more young people identify with gaming culture, yet many youth centres struggle to translate that enthusiasm into structured learning. D-ENGAGE will:

Train youth workers (aged 25-40) in tournament organisation, digital safety and mentoring.

Deliver six online modules covering ethics, event management, wellbeing and career paths in esports.

Publish an “Esports Team-Building Guide” with ready-to-use session plans and check-lists.

Run an international, cross-community tournament in late 2025, giving participants practical leadership experience.

Work-package roadmap — Tasks and budgets for the platform build, webinars and tournament were confirmed.

Ethics & inclusion lens — Partners agreed clear guidelines on fair-play, gender balance and safeguarding.

Next steps —

September 2025: platform wire-frame ready for testing.

June–September 2025: fortnightly public webinars on “Esports in Youth Work”.

November 2025: hybrid tournament finals hosted by FUT Esports in Istanbul.

D-ENGAGE aligns with two Erasmus+ Youth priorities: (1) raising the quality and recognition of youth work and (2) driving digital transformation. By the end of 2025, the consortium aims to have at least 120 trained youth workers and 400 young people actively involved in programme activities across Poland, Norway and Türkiye.

Project page (coming soon)

General enquiries: hi@collectiveinnovation.no

D-ENGAGE is co-funded by the European Union. Views expressed herein are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).