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Youth Work in Frames

2025-3-IT03-KA153-YOU-0003732682025Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: IT|BG|TR|PL|HU|EE|HR|RO · Grant: €28,280
Digital content, technologies and practicesQuality and innovation of youth workPromotion of alternative forms of participation

Objectives

From a youth work perspective, the "Youth Work in Frames" project aims to achieve one main goal: to innovate and professionalize youth workers' approaches, providing them with a comprehensive methodological framework for using photography as a pedagogical tool for inclusion and democratic participation. The initiative stems from the recognition of a growing gap between traditional channels of participation, often overly verbal, and the predominantly visual world in which young people construct meaning and identity today. Many youth workers, while recognizing the potential of images, lack the tools to transform them into structured civic dialogue, critical reflection, and a tangible contribution to the community. To bridge this gap, the project pursues the following specific objectives for youth work practice: - Train 24 European youth workers to integrate technical and pedagogical skills. The goal is not to teach "how to take beautiful photos," but to provide youth workers with the technical confidence and, above all, the methodology to build inclusive visual journeys geared toward local impact. In practice, this means providing them with essential skills (composition, lighting, visual storytelling) and, crucially, facilitation skills to transform image production into an educational process. Operators will learn to use photographs to start conversations where words are lacking, to document critical issues and local resources, and to build bridges between young people, adults, and institutions, thus realigning the means and ends of their work: from telling to showing, from declaring to documenting. -Increasing the ability to engage with young people, especially those with fewer opportunities. A key practical objective is to equip operators with visual approaches that lower the barriers to access (linguistic, cultural, social) that lead many young people to self-exclude themselves from existing formats. The project aims to provide methods that foster ongoing participatory processes, overcoming the logic of episodic and symbolic experiences. For youth work, this translates into being able to offer safe and recognized spaces of expression, where young people's perspectives are legitimized and can truly impact local public debate, building on their direct experience to develop proposals. - Implement two Photovoice programs for each partner country to highlight youth perspectives. This objective translates training into concrete action. Operators will apply the skills they have acquired to guide at least 50 young people per country in implementing Photovoice projects. From a practical perspective, this means moving from the event to the process, where the images produced by young people are not only listened to but become a legitimate topic of community dialogue. The goal is to transform individual expressions into collective reflection and, from there, into community action, making young people's voices visible and debatable at the local level. - Produce replicable and shared tools to ensure quality and continuity. To overcome the lack of stable formats that plagues many organizations, the project aims to create a practical methodological manual and a digital gallery. For youth work, this means having common and reusable tools that ensure a standard of quality and ensure the continuity of visual practices over time. This achievement allows us to overcome the impromptu nature of many initiatives and consolidate a professional and sustainable approach within partner organizations and, potentially, the entire sector. -Strengthen a European network of practitioners and organizations. Finally, the project aims to build a transnational community of practice. For youth workers, this means joining a professional network that uses photography in their work, promoting the exchange of best practices, the co-design of new initiatives, and greater community impact. The goal is to create a shared heritage that makes everyone's work more effective, visible, and long-lasting, speaking the same educational language while remaining rooted in diverse local needs.

Project partners (8)