CONTEXT / BACKGROUNDSince the outbreak of the Covid19-pandemic, our lives and the way we perceive social interactions have changed drastically. Youth organisations have had to reinvent themselves, find new ways of working and interacting to ensure that those in the most vulnerable situations would still be supported. These adaptations call for innovative and creative practices. That is why with the VOICE project, we want to engage youth organisations, formal education institutions as well as creative actors to work together towards professional youth work in Europe.PARTICIPANTSParticipants in the VOICE project are youth and social work students as well as young youth work professionals actively supported by the project partners. The innovative combination of youth organisations, social work students and creative organisations will allow for innovative and intercultural practices to emerge and for all participants to develop creative competences and skills. By involving further education institutions as Associated Partners, VOICE ensures the anchoring of skills shared and competences learned in the project not only in youth work practice, but also in formal youth work education.METHODOLOGYThe VOICE focuses on using the innovative and creative approach of Photovoice to empower youth workers, future youth workers and young people around Europe. It builds on our successful implemented project YourEP and its follow up Europe3E, which we want to adapt to the international youth work context. Photovoice (and abbreviation of “Photos Voicing Our Individual and Collective Experience”) is an innovative creativity-boosting method used to share personal stories supported by photos. It aims to enable people to record and reflect their community's strengths and concerns, promote critical dialogue and knowledge about important issues through large and small group discussion of photographs, and to reach policy makers.ACTIVITIESThrough short term joint staff trainings and local activities, participants will learn and experiment the creative Photovoice method. Using Photovoice is a learning process for the newly trained students and youth workers. Learning this method will provide the youth workers involved with a new way to activate young people, provide ways of expressing and discussing issues as a way to involve young people in the EU – and other topics beyond the project which are of significance in their local context.Intellectual Outputs are planned to bring project partners together and guarantee the sustainability of the project. The Giving young people a VOICE - Creative Tutorial will serve as an accessible and fun introduction to the Photovoice method, targeting future and current youth workers. The Making VOICEs heard - Participative Exhibitions will consist of a mobile multi-usage concept enabling the exhibited project process and results to be used by further education institutions and youth work organisations not only during the project, but also long after the project has ended. The Giving young people a VOICE – Photovoice Training Resource is aimed at increasing the sustainability of the project through written documentation that complements IO1, giving the chance to go into more detail especially regarding the theoretical background. Lastly, a Policy Brief will be drafted with social and youth work students. These recommendations aim to bridge the gap between policy and practices, for a more diverse and creative youth work training in formal education institutions training future youth workers. OBJECTIVESBy bringing together future and current youth workers, young people and creative organisations (eg. photographers and graphic designers), the VOICE project aims at promoting the method of Photovoice in youth work, to make it more recognized as a creative tool that future and current youth workers can use to promote social inclusion, engagement and active citizenship of young people. RESULTSVOICE is expected to have a positive and long-lasting impact, by equipping social and youth work students, as well as youth workers with new creative methods to work with young people. The expected direct impacts of the Intellectual Outputs described above are an increase of the quality of youth work using innovative and creative approaches, and the training of future youth workers to get familiar with Erasmus+ and international youth work. Additional positive outcomes will be to foster a creative dialogue with young people, enable them to voice their ideas and develop entrepreneurship and creative skills.Furthermore, the project is committed to participate in the achievement of goals set by the European Youth Work Agenda, by supporting the further development of high-quality youth work, supporting the ability of youth work to tackle emerging challenges and innovate its practices, or enhancing the promotion and recognition of youth work.