Stories Weave aims to empower youth workers to use storytelling as a tool to support queer/LGBTQIA+ young people. At its heart, the project recognizes that queer young people’s lives are made of many intersecting threads, identities, struggles, joys, and dreams. Storytelling and stories themselves offer a way to honor those threads and weave them together into a fabric of belonging, empowerment, and community strength. Each story is important on its own, but it is even more powerful when woven together with others. During the training programme, we will offer a playground to give shape to empowering narratives. The project emphasizes on interconnection, creativity and community, equipping youth workers with necessary tools in creating spaces where queer and other marginalized voices (young people from intersectional backgrounds) can be heard, valued, celebrated and connected. We will work with traditional stories, personal stories and with oral storytelling as means of expression within the main approach of experiential learning and other methods that will contribute to the project and its objectives. Focus on Queer Youth: Across Europe, queer youth continue to face barriers to safety and their well-being. The seemingly progress of LGBTQIA+ human rights is currently under threat with right-wing narratives and conservative beliefs. Young queers face harassment, bullying, hate speech, family rejection, and discrimination that affects their personal development, confidence and mental health. What they need most is to feel safe, seen, valued and free to express themselves without fear or shame. When it comes to organizations providing services and support to queer youth, few focus on the LGBTQIA+ needs. Thus, many youth workers lack the competencies to support them effectively, or provide with a safer space for them. Focus on Storytelling: Stories play a vital role in the queer community and young people. They serve as a means of: Preserving history: queer history and stories, have been constantly marginalized or excluded from the mainstream narratives. Stories are a means of education, and through preserving queer history, we contribute directly to educating society to eliminate forms of discrimination, biases and prejudices. Fostering connection and support: personal stories provide a sense of shared experienced and connection, where individuals feel seen, understood, and acknowledged, whether they are facing oppression or celebrating their journey. For queer community creating supportive environments is essential for their lives and survival. Building a sense of community: there is nothing more powerful than people feeling safe to share their personal journeys, connecting with others. For queer youth, the spaces where they can share their struggles and joys, builds a collective identity, creates support systems, and invites them to live authentically owning their story and who they are. Challenging harmful narratives: storytelling is a powerful tool to deconstruct dominant narratives, such as heteronormativity, patriarchy, body normativity and ableism, colonial narratives, victimhood, binary thinking in inclusion etc. When replaced, we create space for: gender equity, queer inclusivity, intersectional belonging, care and empathy cultures, and democratic participation. Promoting representation: stories featuring queer perspectives and experiences, tackles invisibility. Queer stories aren’t just about surviving trauma. It is vital to deconstruct those narratives and share stories of empowerment, well-being and celebration. Main Objectives: -elevate the quality of youth work in organizations working with queer youth or seeking to increase their competencies. -equip youth workers with storytelling tools that they can use in their daily youth work and learning environments. -involve 25 youth workers who are LGBTQIA+ or allies to the community. -enhance lifelong competencies and professional development of participants. -organize local activities during the Local Action Phase in each participating country.