From November 30 to December 5, 2025, the Erasmus+ KA2 project Transformative Youth Leadership: towards horizontal leadership models in youth work (2024-1-ES02-KA220-YOU-000251305) held its Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity (LTTA) in Teulada, Spain. The week-long training brought together 20 youth workers and young leaders from Spain, Italy, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Sweden for an intensive exploration of inclusive, non-hierarchical leadership models in youth work.
The training served as the creative and methodological core of the project. Over six days, participants and partners co-developed, tested, and refined a range of educational tools designed to foster leadership through participation and empowerment. The focus was on translating the project’s core concepts into practical methods that could later be applied in both local and international youth work contexts. The LTTA, through experimentation, structured sessions, and continuous feedback, laid the groundwork for the pilot phase that will follow in each partner country.
The programme combined structured facilitation training with group decision-making exercises, roleplay, and reflective practice. Sessions focused on how to create environments where leadership is shared, transparent, and oriented toward collective responsibility rather than individual authority. Each activity was followed by debriefs and peer input, ensuring that tools were not only tested but adapted to reflect the lived realities of participants.
The LTTA in Teulada marked a significant step forward in the project timeline, validating the first version of the educational methodology and strengthening the network of practitioners who will now lead its piloting in their communities. The next phase of the project will see these methods adapted and tested in national contexts through local activities, workshops, and multiplier events.
“Transformative Youth Leadership: towards horizontal leadership models in youth work” project explores how young people can take part in shaping collective decisions and driving social change without reproducing the same hierarchical models they often face. It begins with the belief that leadership is not about standing out, but about enabling others and building shared responsibility. Through reflection, dialogue, and cooperation (especially in contexts marked by inequality and disconnection) the project works to turn leadership into a practice of empowerment and participation, not control.
Funded by the European Union. The opinions and views expressed are, however, the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA is responsible for them.
