MenABLE Hackathon by Webwise Youth Panelist Kiva

Written by Webwise Youth Panelist Kiva.

I started my journey on the Webwise Youth Advisory Panel at the start of TY in 2023. I immediately found it to be a very welcoming group, and a place young people from many different areas could talk about issues young people face around online safety today. The panel has many amazing opportunities to offer, including attending the MenABLE Hackathon.

In September of 2024 I had the amazing opportunity to travel all the way to Aarhus, Denmark to take part in MenABLE’s Hackathon against Gender Based Violence online. MenABLE is 24-month project who’s primary objective is to combat online gender-based violence by fostering mutual awareness, tolerance, and respect.

The Hackathon took place in KØN Gender Museum and was a way for MenABLE to get opinions on their digital toolbox to combat gender-based violence from representatives of many different European countries. Countries from every corner of Europe attended, such as Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Belgium and many more.

The main aim of this event was to get young people and teachers from around Europe to test out MenABLE’s new digital toolkit. This meant we looked at what MenABLE already have in terms of their toolkit to see what people from different countries thought about it, ideas we have on it, and ways we think it could improve. Their digital toolbox consists of different dilemmas that people may face online and a number of questions towards to end to help discussions. As well as just testing out and looking at this toolbox, we had the great opportunity to create or recommend other dilemmas/scenarios that young people could face. Being able to be part of this collaboration and having issues young people in my area face online heard, was amazing an extremely important part of this event to me.

Throughout the day there were two guest speakers who gave Lighting Talks on multiple interesting and important topics such as women and girls in the gaming world and why research like this was important. The two guest speakers were Anna Fiskaali and Gergana Tzvetkova. In my opinion, it was amazing to hear talks by these two speakers as it helped me understand more about Gender Based Violence and learn more about why it is such an important topic.

The event day wasn’t just all work and talking about MenABLE‘s Toolbox. We had plenty of time to talk to the other participants from all the countries attending. I had the special opportunity to learn about how schools work in different European countries, and make many friends who I hope I will stay in contact with in the future

After the event, we had the chance to explore the beautiful city of Aarhus. We visited places such as the Aros Art Gallery, the Old Town and other known places in Aarhus. As someone who has gone to a couple of different events similar to this one, this was a completely new experience and was an amazing chance to hear and share opinions with young people from across Europe. I’m honored to have had such an amazing experience and I am grateful to both Webwise and MenABLE for the opportunity.

NOTES:

The menABLE Toolbox “Ctrl+Alt+GBV” is a visual educational resource on gender-based violence online, aimed at young people aged 13-18. The material aims to address and facilitate discussions on gender and gender identity, encourage reflection, and provide concrete guidelines for action. Find out more.