Voices in Action
Voices in Action – Youth Media for Participation is an 18-month KA154 Youth Participation project that empowers young people in Hamburg, Bonn, Leverkusen and Celle to make their perspectives visible and bring them into direct dialogue with decision-makers.
The project particularly reaches BiCop youth and young people with fewer opportunities, whose experiences and perspectives are still underrepresented in many traditional participation structures. Rather than asking young people to adapt to existing political formats, Voices in Action starts with the ways they already communicate: stories, videos, podcasts, social media and conversations about issues that affect their everyday lives.
Young people take an active role throughout the project. Through local youth editorial structures, they identify issues that matter to them, research them, produce youth-friendly media content and develop messages and recommendations for decision-makers. They strengthen their competences in media literacy, fact-checking, storytelling, critical thinking, democratic participation and facilitation while immediately putting these skills into practice.
The 18-month journey combines four youth participation events and one cross-city mobility. It starts with the Kick-off & Youth Editorial Board Launch in Hamburg, where young people establish how they want to work together and take ownership of the project. The Media & Democracy Skills Sprint in Bonn provides practical tools for media production and participation. During the Youth Editorial Forum “Our City, Our Voice” in Leverkusen, young people bring their stories, media outputs and proposals into dialogue with local decision-makers.
The Cross-City Editorial Exchange in Celle connects young people from all four cities and creates space to compare their local experiences, explore the European dimension of their concerns and jointly develop new ideas. The project then culminates in the Youth Media Festival & Feedback Forum “What Changed?” in Hamburg, where youth-produced media and recommendations are presented to a wider audience and decision-makers are invited to respond to the issues raised throughout the project.
The project is designed to move from voice to participation and from participation to dialogue. Young people are not only participants in activities; they help determine topics, create content, shape events, facilitate discussions and communicate the results. Adults and youth workers provide the necessary support, safeguarding and access to institutions without taking over the process.
By the end of Voices in Action, young people should have greater confidence in expressing their views, a stronger understanding of democratic processes and practical experience of engaging with decision-makers. At the same time, municipalities, youth organisations and local stakeholders gain a better understanding of how participation can become more accessible to young people who are often not reached by conventional formats.
Ultimately, Voices in Action asks a simple question: what changes when young people are given the tools, space and responsibility to tell their own stories and turn those stories into participation?
GERMAN
Voices in Action – Youth Media for Participation ist ein 18-monatiges KA154-Projekt, das junge Menschen in Hamburg, Bonn, Leverkusen und Celle dabei unterstützt, ihre Perspektiven sichtbar zu machen und mit Entscheidungsträger*innen in den Dialog zu treten. Besonders angesprochen werden BiCop-Jugendliche und junge Menschen mit geringeren Chancen, deren Stimmen in klassischen Beteiligungsformaten häufig unterrepräsentiert sind.
In jugendgeleiteten Redaktionsgruppen beschäftigen sich die Teilnehmenden mit Themen, die sie selbst betreffen. Sie produzieren Podcasts, Videos und andere Medienformate, entwickeln daraus konkrete Anliegen und Empfehlungen und bringen diese in den direkten Austausch mit lokalen Entscheidungsträger*innen ein. Dabei stärken sie gleichzeitig ihre Kompetenzen in Medienbildung, kritischem Denken, Storytelling und demokratischer Beteiligung.
Das Projekt verbindet vier Jugendbeteiligungsveranstaltungen mit einer städteübergreifenden Mobilität. Die jungen Menschen bestimmen die Themen mit, entwickeln Inhalte, gestalten Veranstaltungen und moderieren Dialoge. Die Fachkräfte schaffen dabei den notwendigen unterstützenden und sicheren Rahmen, ohne den Prozess vorzugeben.
Voices in Action möchte von Geschichten zu Stimmen und von Stimmen zu echter Beteiligung führen – und jungen Menschen das Selbstvertrauen, die Kompetenzen und konkrete Möglichkeiten geben, sich in Diskussionen und Entscheidungen einzubringen, die ihr Leben betreffen.
Next Event: Cross-City Editorial Exchange in Celle
Our next Voices in Action activity brings the Youth Editorial Boards from Hamburg, Bonn, Leverkusen and Celle together for the Cross-City Editorial Exchange in Celle.
Young people will meet, exchange what they have been working on in their cities and explore how their local experiences connect. Together, they will work on youth media, share perspectives and develop ideas for making youth participation more visible and effective.
The exchange is also a chance to learn from each other, build connections across cities and strengthen the youth-led network behind Voices in Action.
📍 Celle, Germany
📅 11.-14.02.2027
