Training course: Participatory and Emancipatory Approaches for Youth Work, Vienna

EMOTiC applied for and coordinated this Erasmus+ training course in Vienna. It brought together 30 youth workers aged 20 to 35 from Algeria, Austria, France, Germany, Libya and Tunisia. Partners included the Arab Organisation of Diplomacy in Vienna, EPEKA, INNOVA Academy in Algeria, YALD in Tunisia and ALKHAIR in Libya.

Why this course

Youth workers are often on the front line with diverse and marginalised young people, yet current approaches to cultural and social competence rarely prepare them for the power structures behind inequality or for handling conflict in their daily work. At the same time, conflict in its many forms is undermining young people's potential and even hindering their basic participation in civic life.

An emancipatory approach

The training used an emancipatory approach that questions structures of power instead of accepting them as the status quo, building on critical thinking and innovative conflict transformation practice. The aim was a more comprehensive, culturally and socially competent youth work that addresses inequality and marginalisation and handles conflict safely and constructively, while strengthening emotional and social intelligence and bystander skills.

Each participant chose a grassroots issue from their own community, whether the environment, inclusion, education, digitalisation, human rights, gender or discrimination, or topics such as poverty, employment and climate change. All of them were explored through the framework of visible and invisible violence, used as a lens for finding solutions and for developing the skills and tools to address them in a constructive way.

The programme

The programme started by asking what violence and nonviolence are, then explored solidarity as a tool against violence, emotional and cognitive awareness, communication as a transformation tool and the step from unwitting violence to witting action. Participants experienced a simulation and a board game on positive conflict management, run with an expert through role plays. They then learned conflict analysis tools, applied them to a conflict of their own and moved on to ideation, strategic planning, and the monitoring and evaluation of conflict transformation initiatives.

From training to local action

Participants also developed a training module for their own daily contexts. In national teams, they designed a local initiative, such as a workshop at a school or university, a webinar, a digital campaign or an interview series, and presented their problem, solution and intervention strategy for feedback. Daily reflection time, an intercultural night and community evenings created space for exchange, and participants' learning was recognised with a Youthpass certificate.

The follow-up phase from December 2024 to February 2025 was dedicated to putting the initiatives into practice locally, with support from the EMOTiC team. One of the course objectives was also to compile a concise training guide for further use at local level, reinforcing the links between formal education, non-formal training, community involvement and social change.