Website: https://sexedu.eduskills.plus/
At home, sexuality education rarely begins as a planned lesson. More often, it starts with a child’s question, and many parents find that moment harder than expected. Parents are among the most important mediators of sexuality education for their children. Yet when uncomfortable questions arise, many feel unsure how to respond and end up leaving the topic to schools.
SexEdu Extended built on existing digital materials for sexuality education and expanded them with additional language versions. The basis was a combined offer consisting of a handbook for parents and a child-friendly app. The extension responded to the need for multilingual materials that parents and children across Europe can use in everyday life.
A central focus was multilingual access. The initial plan concentrated on the languages of the Baltic countries, and the consortium later decided to add Ukrainian and Russian in response to refugee movements from Ukraine.
The primary target groups were parents and other caregivers, including grandparents, as well as children themselves. Professionals working in education and counselling settings were also expected to benefit by integrating the materials into their work or recommending them to families.
Results and outputs
SexEdu Extended expanded the language availability of the EduSkills+ platform “My body, my emotions”. Both the parent handbook and the children’s app “This is me!” are now available online in Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian and Ukrainian.
The handbook provides reliable information on children’s emotional and sexual development, along with conversation starters and practical tips to help caregivers respond more calmly to children’s questions. The content is based on guidance from the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the BZgA standards for sexuality education.
To ensure the app content could also be used without a smartphone or tablet, an eBook version was designed and made available online in 12 languages. In addition, five language versions, Estonian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian and Ukrainian, were printed and distributed to appropriate locations.
Our role
Studio GAUS GmbH contributed to SexEdu Extended from the application phase onward and was responsible for the further development of the EduSkills+ platform in the area of multilingual sexuality education materials for parents and children.
We developed and integrated the new language versions of the parent handbook and the children’s app within the existing platform structure. This included preparing and publishing the content, developing the eBook version, and aligning the materials with established workflows to support consistent release and long-term availability.
Throughout the project, we worked on planning, implementation, testing and publication tasks related to the new language versions, ensuring that educational concepts and digital structures evolved in parallel. The results were prepared to support stable access and continued use beyond the funding period.
Project partners
- Kultur- und Bildungsprojekte e.V. (Germany)
- Studio GAUS GmbH (Germany)
- Svietimo zona (Lithuania)
The collaboration combined one in-person meeting in Vilnius with regular online coordination. Partners worked closely through ongoing exchange via video meetings and email. Translations were reviewed and tested with the target group to support consistent quality across language versions.
Visibility and impact
Uptake illustrates the demand once language barriers were reduced. During target group testing, 105 questionnaire responses were gathered from the target groups.
Within nine months, the app recorded more than 30,000 downloads across over 20 countries, including a notable share from public authorities. Online dissemination also expanded steadily. Website traffic averaged around 25,000 visitors per month, and more than 5,300 eBook downloads were recorded across all language versions.
Dissemination was not limited to digital channels. The project reached 90 institutions and organisations in the Baltic countries and a further 68 in Germany through direct contact. Printed copies were distributed through multipliers such as counselling services, family planning organisations and child focused platforms. At the same time, it became clear that sexuality education continues to be negotiated differently across social contexts and does not meet with acceptance everywhere. This is illustrated by the rejection of the materials by the Lithuanian parents’ forum “Lietuvos tėvų forumas”.
SexEdu Extended was designed to be easy to access. All materials are free to use on the platform.
For parents, caregivers and professionals working with families, the handbook and children’s eBooks provide a basis for exploring content by age group and language and using it in everyday conversations. The project did not aim to replace schools, but to support the first questions at home with clear and reliable materials.