This CIVIS Alliance OpenLab project aims to strengthen the digital and multilingual communication of associations and civic partners through collaborative service-learning projects. It brings together European and African universities around the co-creation of digital tools, websites, and multilingual resources that promote inclusion, accessibility, and civic engagement.
The project also encourages pedagogical innovation and international university cooperation by involving students, academic staff, and civic stakeholders in interdisciplinary initiatives with a strong social impact.
This project has been conceived as a reproducible model of digital and multilingual co-creation between universities and civic partners. In order to facilitate its reuse in other academic and civic contexts, the methodology will be fully documented and structured around four complementary phases that may be reproduced independently or implemented as a complete cycle.
Phase 1 – Website Design and Architecture
The first phase consists of analysing the needs of associations, NGOs, and civic partners in order to define the architecture of future websites and applications. This stage is based on a participatory methodology involving students, academic staff, and local stakeholders in a co-design process.
The teams will develop:
- website architecture and navigation structures;
- content categories;
- user journeys;
- accessibility criteria;
- technical and functional requirements;
- principles of usability and digital inclusion.
This phase will lead to the production of reusable models, including methodological guidelines, platform structuring schemes, accessibility checklists, and university–association collaboration protocols. These resources will be published in open access in order to enable other institutions to reproduce the design process within their own projects.
Phase 2 – Development and Creation of Digital Platforms
The second phase focuses on the practical development of websites and applications. Students and technical teams will create the digital platforms in collaboration with civic partners while ensuring:
- digital accessibility;
- ease of use;
- mobile compatibility;
- sustainability of the tools;
- future autonomy of the associations.
The prototypes developed will integrate open standards and solutions that can easily be transferred to other educational or civic contexts. Detailed technical documentation will also be produced in order to facilitate the reuse of the structures created, page templates, and maintenance procedures.
This stage will additionally include recommendations concerning web hosting, content management, and platform maintenance in order to support replication in other CIVIS projects and international collaborations.
Phase 3 – Translation, Localisation, and Multilingual Adaptation
The third phase focuses on the translation and localisation of digital content in order to ensure the linguistic and cultural inclusivity of the developed platforms.
University teams will work on:
- content translation;
- intercultural adaptation;
- linguistic simplification;
- terminological consistency;
- communicative accessibility.
The project will produce reusable translation and localisation workflows including multilingual templates, terminology guidelines, linguistic validation protocols, and recommendations for inclusive communication.
All methodologies developed during this phase will be disseminated in open access so that other universities may easily adapt the content to different linguistic and cultural contexts.
Phase 4 – Communication, Visibility, and Dissemination of Websites
The fourth phase aims to ensure the visibility and impact of the created platforms through digital and community-oriented communication strategies.
This stage includes:
- the creation of multilingual communication campaigns;
- the design of flyers and digital materials;
- SEO optimisation;
- dissemination through social media;
- the promotion of projects within local communities.
The partners will also develop communication and dissemination guidelines enabling associations to manage their digital presence autonomously after the completion of the project.
In order to guarantee the transferability of the model, an open-access replication kit will be produced. This kit will include:
- methodological guidelines;
- content templates;
- examples of communication campaigns;
- impact indicators;
- recommendations for the autonomous management of digital platforms.
Through this four-phase structure — design, development, translation, and communication — the project constitutes a reproducible model of digital co-creation that may be adapted to other universities, territories, and service-learning initiatives within the CIVIS alliance and beyond.