PhotoVoice and Visual Story Telling for Youth Workers

About the project

“To take a picture is to have an interest in things as they are, in the status quo remaining unchanged (at least for as long as it takes to get a “good” picture), to be in complicity with whatever makes a subject interesting, worth photographing-including, when that is the interest, another person’s pain or misfortune.” says Susan Sonntag when she talks about the photography. From this perspective, we can argue that, when we make photos, we take an interest the another person’s life but we put our perspective through the biases that we have rooted in our identities. Therefore, to discuss about the inclusive photography and making the photography inclusive, we have to understand the vulnerability, the mutability and the circumstances of the picture that are developed and created. Henceforth, when we talk about the inclusivity of the pictures that we are taking, the person who is photographed should participate in the process fully as the agency rather than passively.…

Objectives

“To take a picture is to have an interest in things as they are, in the status quo remaining unchanged (at least for
as long as it takes to get a “good” picture), to be in complicity with whatever makes a subject interesting, worth
photographing-including, when that is the interest, another person’s pain or misfortune.” says Susan Sonntag
when she talks about the photography. From this perspective, we can argue that, when we make photos, we take
an interest the another person’s life but we put our perspective through the biases that we have rooted in our
identities. Therefore, to discuss about the inclusive photography and making the photography inclusive, we have
to understand the vulnerability, the mutability and the circumstances of the picture that are developed and
created. Henceforth, when we talk about the inclusivity of the pictures that we are taking, the person who is
photographed should participate in the process fully as the agency rather than passively. The young people can
engage the others to tell the stories by making them qualified with the photographic skills and photovoice
methodology to promote the issues that they see important in their communities.
When working with young people, participatory photography should be in the central of the activities taking place
to engage young people with their peers as well as create ties with their own communities while empowering
them to use photography as a tool to document, to raise awareness and promote the change in their
communities. In several fields, the photography has been used to promote social integration and exclusion from
education to health and social studies. In the article published by Mari Pienimäki, the photography enabled
migrant youth to express their thoughts and experiences without using words but the images in their own
communities while promoting the inclusion in the communities. During this process, the migrant youth felt more
included to the Finnish community while making the wider community aware about their issues.
In both aspects, we argue that, the photography in youth work should be constructed in a way inclusive as well as
participatory that young people develop the products and engage with their own communities to document the
experiences in a way, how they see fit. Even though photography but empowers the young people in terms of
digital skills and to document the issues that they see important in their surrounding, the youth workers do not
have enough skills to implement PhotoVoice activities.
During our experience on “Inclusive Photography for Youth – Tools for Youth Workers to Engage Young People
with Photography” KA2 Cooperation Partnerships Project, we have implemented local workshops in Spain,
Turkey, Serbia and Italy. It gave us a perspective that the young people become more eager to talk about their
problems when it comes to talk about the images and narrate this images throughout the overall process.
However, the youth workers do not have detailed experience not only photography but the implement the
PhotoVoice methodology to engage young people to the deliberate discussion process by using the power of
photography.
In addition to that, visual storytelling is not really used by the youth NGOs to promote and implement advocacy

Activities

taking place
to engage young people with their peers as well as create ties with their own communities while empowering
them to use photography as a tool to document, to raise awareness and promote the change in their
communities. In several fields, the photography has been used to promote social integration and exclusion from
education to health and social studies. In the article published by Mari Pienimäki, the photography enabled
migrant youth to express their thoughts and experiences without using words but the images in their own
communities while promoting the inclusion in the communities. During this process, the migrant youth felt more
included to the Finnish community while making the wider community aware about their issues.
In both aspects, we argue that, the photography in youth work should be constructed in a way inclusive as well as
participatory that young people develop the products and engage with their own communities to document the
experiences in a way, how they see fit. Even though photography but empowers the young people in terms of
digital skills and to document the issues that they see important in their surrounding, the youth workers do not
have enough skills to implement PhotoVoice activities.
During our experience on “Inclusive Photography for Youth – Tools for Youth Workers to Engage Young People
with Photography” KA2 Cooperation Partnerships Project, we have implemented local workshops in Spain,
Turkey, Serbia and Italy. It gave us a perspective that the young people become more eager to talk about their
problems when it comes to talk about the images and narrate this images throughout the overall process.
However, the youth workers do not have detailed experience not only photography but the implement the
PhotoVoice methodology to engage young people to the deliberate discussion process by using the power of
photography.
In addition to that, visual storytelling is not really used by the youth NGOs to promote and implement advocacy
activities to make the issues of young people visible in the communities. We have built this training course to
promote the young people’s involvement with photography while increasing the skills of youth workers to
implement such activities. Thus, the project is highly related as well with the European Youth Goals concerning to
the Goal “Space and Participation for All” by providing a space for young people to practice their skills in
photography to raise their voices while increasing youth workers capacity to implement such activities in their own
communities.

Generated on: Aug 4, 2026
Booklet
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The content of this page is published for information purposes only. The project was funded by the European Union. However, the communication about the project
that is published through this page expresses the views of the project beneficiaries only and it does not represent the views of the European Union or the European
Commission. It shall not be deemed to constitute legal or official notice on behalf of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union
nor the European Commission can be held responsible for this content nor the use thereof made by any third parties.
During the project, we will work on three themes : photovoice methodology (photography), visual storytelling (
narration and photography ) and inclusion of the young people with fewer opportunities. The project will directly
increase the capacities of the youth organizations and youth workers involved due to its construction and the
outputs of the project will contribute to the social change due to the structure of PhotoVoice activity and
implementing visual storytelling ways to promote these issues.
The objectives of the project are;
-To qualify the youth workers as PhotoVoice practicioners to implement photovoice activities for promoting the
issues of young people
-To create an awareness on the usage of photovoice methodology to increase the visibility of the issues of the
young people in the communities
-To increase the attractiveness of the participating organizations by making them able to implement photovice
and visual storytelling programmes for the young people and people with fewer opportunities
-To provide a space to develop partnerships in the field of photography and youth work
Activities
The project activity will take place between 01-08 April 2025 ( 6 full-working days – 2 travel days ) in Alcala la
Real,Spain with the participating organisations from Spain, Hungary, Türkiye, Germany, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Netherlands, Guadeloupe (France) with 22 participants. We planned to include 2 participant per
country and we planned to include 10 young people with fewer opportunities as the representatives of the target
groups both to qualify them as trainers and engage them to the process of educational programme development
of the participating organization to increase the efficiency of the training course.
The project activity is consisted of 8 day programme ( arrival and departure included ),it will consist of preparation
activities ( virtual component ) and follow-up activities which are explained detailed under project design. Though
overall the activity plan is indicated below each segment of the project activities.
A1. Online Preparation Module ( November 2024- March 2025 )
Participants will participate on e-learning program focused on photography and photo voice activities as well as
theory of implementation photovoice activities prior to the training activity.
Objectives of the online preparation module :
– To increase the knowledge of participants regarding to the implementation of photovoice activities
– To make the participants acquainted with each others’ practices and themselves
– To make the participants work together as a team
A2. Study with the Target groups ( December – March 2025 ) :
During the second week of virtual module, the participants will implement a small qualitative research with their
beneficiaries to understand which groups can benefit from implementation of such projects. During this process,
we will provide participants with a guideline of the qualitative research methodologies and make them aware
about the needs of their beneficiaries as a result of the research study to tailor-made the photo voice activities.
Objectives of the study :
– To develop the skills of participants concerning to needs-assessment and program development
– To make the participants engage with their communities to plan photo voice activities
Step 3 – PhotoVoice and Visual Story Telling for Youth Workers – Training Course ( March 2025 ) :

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The content of this page is published for information purposes only. The project was funded by the European Union. However, the communication about the project
that is published through this page expresses the views of the project beneficiaries only and it does not represent the views of the European Union or the European
Commission. It shall not be deemed to constitute legal or official notice on behalf of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union
nor the European Commission can be held responsible for this content nor the use thereof made by any third parties.
The planned course on PhotoVoice and Visual Story Telling will be conducted and the themes of the training
course will be : photovoice activities, development of visual stories as a result of photo voice activities, how to
engage policy makers and local population to photography activities and Erasmus+ and European Solidarity
Corps Programme.
Day Programme of Training Course and Themes of the Days:
For detailed Information about the Activities and Methods please consult to activity table.
1st Day : Arrivals, Welcome Evening
2nd Day : Getting to Know Each Other, Ice Breakers & Trust Building, Non-Formal Education and Youth Pass,
Photo Voice: What it is?, Evaluation of the Day
3rd Day : Abigale meets Equiano, Images in Newspaper, Learning about Photography,
Intercultural Night
4th day : PhotoChallange , Photo Voice and Planning a Field Trip
5th Day : Field Trip & Cultural Visits and Visits to Local NGOs
6th Day : Visual Storytelling and Exhibition, Tailoring the Photovoice to my community
7th Day : Erasmus+ Programme , Follow – up Actions, General Evaluation , Farewell Party
8th Day : Departures
Step 4 – Follow-Up Activities (March 2025 – July 2025)
After the training course is implemented, the participants will implement photo voice activities in their own
countries according to the needs of their organisations and target groups.
Participant Profile :
-18-50 years old
-Involved in the organisation as youth trainer, youth worker or project coordinator
-Previously provided activities for the young people in non-formal education context based on youth
empowerment or photography
-Motivation to partake in learning process and like to provide his/her unique experiences during the
implementation of the training course
-Has interest to increase his/her capacity to implement photovoice activities upon their return
-Has sufficient level of English ( B1 – C1 ) to involve to the discussions and co-develop activities with the other
participants
-Have lack of capacity on photography, youth empowerment or facilitation

Impact

Our project will contribute to the quality of youth work in the aspect of usage of photovoice methodology to
increase the capacities of youth organizations and youth workers in the field of youth specifically focused on
working with young people with fewer opportunities. Photovoice methodology is used to promote the issues of the
disadvantaged communities by using the power of the photography and engaging them to raise their voices
through a dialogue and engagement. By implementing such activities with fewer opportunities, their sense of
belonging to community and inclusion will be promoted directly. As the project focuses on increasing the
capacities of the youth organisations as well as the youth workers working in the field of youth specifically
focused on the young people with fewer opportunities. Due to this reason, we expect to contribute to the quality of
the youth work and the creativity aspects within the youth work practices by qualifying youth workers.
Photovoice methodology will make the youth workers job easier to engage with the young people who are not
easy to reach out and providing activities based on photography methodologies which can be easily implemented

Generated on: Aug 4, 2026
Booklet
Page
of
43
162
The content of this page is published for information purposes only. The project was funded by the European Union. However, the communication about the project
that is published through this page expresses the views of the project beneficiaries only and it does not represent the views of the European Union or the European
Commission. It shall not be deemed to constitute legal or official notice on behalf of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union
nor the European Commission can be held responsible for this content nor the use thereof made by any third parties.
with smartphones without any requirement of using a professional photo camera. On the other hand, we
internalise the aspect that the young people with fewer opportunities should have a voice and should be work with
rather than should be worked for. Due to this aspect, we believe that our participants will be able to reach local
youth by using local interventions i.e. photo walk activities by implementing activities focusing on different work
areas varying from culture to inclusion. In addition, since our participants will have new methods and educational
plans in their organisations deriving from the needs of their own organisations, they will be able to implement
more coherent activities with the participants and it will create significant impact on the implementation of new
youth activities based on photography.
In addition, by informing the visual and written media in Alcala la Real as well as Jaen provience, we will share
the information of our project and provide information about the realization of such a project in Alcala la Real and
discuss youth work practices and usage of photography in youth work. Since our participants will want to organize
international activities while working with their organisations after they return to their home countries, the new
methodologies that they will learn will increase the quality and inclusiveness of their work in their communities.
This will be reflected in the activities that they run internationally. These activities will ensure that the impact
planned is reached in local, regional, national and European level.
We will develop a basic booklet to disseminate the knowledge that is developed within the project to
organizations in the field of youth to mainstream the photovoice activity which does not require any special
training rather than taking photos to increase the participation of young people with fewer opportunities. In
addition to that, to promote the project activities, we will develop a testimonials video with the interviews of the
participants which we do for every project to promote the usage of photography and photovoice in the field of
youth during the implementation of the project. To ensure the impact, we will promote the activities in European
level and will increase youth organizations to implement Photovoice activities in their communities to provide
young people with fewer opportunities a voice to raise their concerns.
The participants of the training as the direct beneficiaries are expected to multiply the training outcomes by
implementing own photo walk activities on the topic at local or/ and international level within or outside the
Erasmus+. Consequently, an impact beyond the direct beneficiaries is expected to result mainly from the
participants and their sending organisations acting as multipliers and the follow-up activities. To ensure that this
impact is reached and evaluated, we will be in contact for 6 months period after the implementation of the activity
to be able to evaluate and understand the outcomes of the project is used by other organisations. On the other
hand, we will check that the tailor made activities of participants that are developed during the training, will give a
fruit to new projects in international scale and trainer teams will act as mentor after the implementation of the
activity.
In European level, more cooperation and partnership are desired which might include the following impacts :
– exchange of practices for mutual learning and synergy development through the implementation of photovoice
and youth work activities
– joint cooperation project to add a European dimension to the work of the stakeholders
– exchange of organisation staff for further qualification and education in the field of youth

Project partners

• 🇪🇸 Asociación Socio-Cultural VerdeSur Alcalá
  Spain
• 🇵🇹 ARTE M ASSOCIACAO CULTURAL E ARTISTICA NA MADEIRA
  Portugal
• 🇷🇴 New Prospects for Development
  Romania
• 🇳🇱 Stichting yEUth
  Netherlands
• 🇫🇷 ARRIMAGE GOOD'ILES
  France
• 🇭🇺 Hidak Ifjúsági Alapítvány
  Hungary
• 🇹🇷 Giresun Fotograf Sanati Dernegi
  Türkiye
• 🇩🇪 Frieden und Entwicklung e.V
  Germany
• 🇵🇱 FUNDACJA ROZWOJU SPOLECZENSTWA PRZEDSIEBIORCZEGO
  Poland