Welcome to the introductory module on your journey to building digital communities for social change!
RNW Media is an organisation that aims at engaging young people – primarily in the digital space – as well as influencing the societies of young people. With innovative approaches to media and training, we connect communities and change-makers, contributing to a world where young people in restrictive settings confidently claim their rights, assume their place in society, and shape a better future. Our mission is to identify young people’s needs, and to bring young people together in user-owned digital communities where they can safely engage on taboos and sensitive topics and generate strong stories for advocacy to unleash their potential for social change.
One of RNW Media’s flagship interventions is Love Matters: a global digital community and network of organisations supporting safe healthy and pleasurable love sex and relationships for young people. The platforms deliver accessible evidence-and rights-based sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information, stories and advice to young people and help them make informed decisions. Love Matters supports open, honest and non-judgmental discussions around sex and sexuality. Forums allow visitors to ask questions to qualified moderators, which, in turn, sparks discussions among users. In this way, we create communities where young people feel included and can find peer-to-peer as well as expert support. Love Matters’ perspective is aspirational: focusing on pleasure and fulfilment.
The Love Matters Global Network (LMGN), which launched in November 2019, is a global network of independent member organisations all running Love Matters digital communities. All LM members align and comply with the LMGN’s vision and mission to scale the cumulative impact and resources of its members by; working together to share expertise and innovation in online comprehensive sexuality education and by advocating for young people to be in the driver’s seat relating to their own sexual health and well-being using a pleasure-positive approach.
The Love Matters roadmap is a collective knowledge product founded on the expertise and experience of the LM members and seeks to highlight learnings and best practices on digital interventions and online sexuality education, bolstered by case studies that have been harvested from across the LMGN. The intention is for the LM roadmap and corresponding modules to strengthen the network by facilitating knowledge exchange and learning between the LM members through a process of continual learning and improvement.
Additionally, with more than 10 years cumulative experience across the LMGN, we hope to share our expertise in online sexuality education with other organisations and through the roadmap we provide guidance and training on how to build successful digital communities. By doing so, we hope to reach millions of young people around the world with open, honest and pleasure-positive sexuality information and education using digital media channels.