Participation is Power

Context and needs

Youth workers are the ones who can bring young people towards participation, but many do not know the structured dialogue mechanisms and have no tools to use them in their communities. Unlike the youth exchanges, this project addressed professionals directly.

Objectives

The course aimed to develop youth workers’ capacity to encourage young people to become active citizens, to build understanding of the European framework for participation and structured dialogue, to pass on non-formal education methods for civic competences, and to design local activities that lead young people towards involvement in decision-making processes.

Activities

Nine days in Bodo. Training sessions, exchange of good practice between organisations, workshops in which each participant designed a local activity, tested it with the others and received structured feedback. A chapter dedicated to evaluation and the recognition of learning through Youthpass.

Results and impact

Each participant left with an activity plan adapted to their own organisation. For IRDT, the project strengthened the partner network and led to new collaborations in the youth exchanges of the following years. It was our first project dedicated to youth worker training, a direction the 2024–2027 strategy continues.

Photo gallery

Materials and resources

The full photo album of the project is published on our Facebook page.