In the last few years, we have witnessed turbulent times in economic, social, political and digital realms. The spread of disinformation and foreign interference creates a tangible threat to the unity of our communities, the preservation of democracy and the protection of human rights. The Eurosceptic tensions, alienation and populism have employed the media to continue dividing people and groups. Facing a higher risk of being misinformed, young people in Eastern Europe and the Neighbouring East need a safe space for their voices to be heard, respected, and considered when deciding on the future of their communities. Young people should be the voices of change, advocating for the European future, but they need more support and encouragement through the right set of skills and tools to bring their vision to the forefront of our society.
Storytelling is a universal method of non-formal and experiential learning that can create inspirational moments and connections allowing young people to speak up on sensitive topics and shift perspectives. Through their own stories, young people can facilitate change, protect the future and impact the community by unleashing the potential in their peers. Stories bring entertainment to the learning process but also create a safe environment for sharing personal beliefs and values and help young people develop critical thinking and leadership skills.
VIBE: Young Voices Inspiring Active Citizenship project aims at raising the capacity of youth organisations to provide and promote non-formal training activities and tools. The project will develop and implement innovative tools and practices to support youth participation in democratic processes through storytelling. In this way, the project will improve the level of competences while ensuring active youth engagement in public life. The general objective of the VIBE project is to build the capacity of youth organisations to promote and apply non-formal learning to support youth participation in democratic processes through storytelling.
This will be achieved by producing new open educational resources and NFIL tools focused on storytelling as a means to promote young people’s views and opinions and EU values; training, exchange of best practices and cooperation among youth workers; organising training sessions and workshops and producing podcast series on the 11 EYGs. By doing so, the project will enable the transfer of knowledge and skills between youth NGOs, improving their expertise, synergy and cooperation in non-formal education and training.
Project ID No.: ERASMUS-YOUTH-2025-CB-101242150
Duration: 01-11-2025 – 01-10-2027
Partners: Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Culture and Education (Coordinator, Bulgaria), VisMedNet (Malta), Youth Initiative Centre (Armenia) and MilleniuM (Moldova).
The VIBE project is funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme.