Odido Extends Partnership with Join Us Foundation

 Odido is extending its partnership with Join Us Foundation, the organization dedicated to strengthening the mental and social health of young people experiencing loneliness. The telecom provider has been working with Join Us since 2021 to help young people feel stronger, more resilient, and more connected. By combining Odido's digital expertise with Join Us's substantive knowledge, the organizations are working toward one goal: helping young people feel less lonely.

Use Your Voice Against Loneliness 
The extension follows a series of joint projects, including the campaign "Use Your Voice Against Loneliness." Odido, Join Us, and MIND Us launched this campaign during Mental Health Awareness Week. The message was simple but urgent: use your voice against loneliness. Because although making contact is easier than ever, with full contact lists, hundreds of followers, and dozens of group chats, more than one in three young people feel lonely. The campaign received national attention and highlighted how significant the problem of youth loneliness is. The insights and results from the campaign form an important starting point for the next phase of the partnership. 

Building More Connection Together 
Recent figures about how Gen Z experiences the online world show that campaigns like "Use Your Voice Against Loneliness" are desperately needed. Scientific research demonstrates that genuine conversations (such as phone calls, video calls, or voice messages) can lead to genuine connections. It's precisely in this context that the partnership between Odido and Join Us plays an important role. Since the collaboration began, they have reached thousands of young people annually through local groups, national campaigns, and a growing online community. A great example of this is the Stronger Together event, where the renewed partnership was also announced. Both organizations are actively working to restore real connection in the lives of young people throughout the Netherlands. 

Margreet Hoekstra, Chief Legal and Regulatory Affairs Officer: “Young people are constantly 'on,' both online and offline, and that can be quite overwhelming. Technology makes connecting easier than ever, but it only becomes meaningful when used in the right way. That's why we believe it's important for technology to remain human. During the Stronger Together event, where we spoke with young people, experts, and platforms about connection in a digital age, we frequently discussed how important technology is in helping lonely young people find connection. We're therefore pleased to extend and deepen our partnership with Join Us.”

Connecting and Strengthening Young People 
With the renewed partnership, Odido and Join Us are building on this foundation. Odido will continue supporting Join Us in further digitalizing and scaling up their activities. This makes it easier for Join Us to guide young people in an accessible way, regardless of where they live or how they want to get in touch. By accelerating processes and modernizing programs, Join Us gains the capacity to reach even more young people. 

Jolanda van Gerwe, Director of Join Us Foundation: "Through this partnership, we can reach young people with feelings of loneliness even earlier and support them preventively in strengthening their social network. By further modernizing our approach, we not only increase our impact but also create more opportunities to truly connect young people with each other. Having a partner like Odido contribute structurally to this is of great value to us. Together, we're building a strong social foundation for young people."