From Ideas to Framework: Co-Creating Youth Empowerment in Florence

What does youth empowerment actually look like in practice? And how can we create approaches that support young people not only to participate, but to feel confident, informed and included in civic life?

These questions were at the centre of the TRUTH4YOUTH Working Group in Florence, Italy, which brought together 29 participants from 17 countries for four days of collaboration, discussion and co-creation. The activity was organised with the main goal of developing the TRUTH4YOUTH Empowerment Framework for active and inclusive youth citizenship. 

Rather than presenting participants with a finished methodology, the working group invited them to contribute their own experiences, practices and perspectives. The process combined group work, World Café discussions, stakeholder mapping, reflection and collaborative design, gradually transforming different ideas into concrete project outputs.

Starting with different perspectives

The first day focused on getting to know the project, the people behind it and the key themes that would guide the following days. After team-building and an introduction to TRUTH4YOUTH, participants took part in a World Café, creating space to exchange perspectives and identify common priorities. 

This was particularly valuable in such an international group. Participants brought different experiences of youth work, civic participation and empowerment from their own countries. Instead of looking for one universal definition from the beginning, the process allowed these different realities to become part of the discussion.

Building the Empowerment Framework together

The second stage moved from discussion into co-creation. Working in smaller groups, participants explored what should actually be included in the Modular Empowerment Framework. They discussed its core components, possible modules and tools, as well as the learning outcomes the framework should support. 

An important part of this work was stakeholder mapping. Participants identified actors who could contribute to youth empowerment at local, national and European levels, including institutions, community organisations, target groups and potential multipliers. This helped connect the framework with a wider ecosystem. Empowering young people does not happen through one organisation or one activity alone. Youth workers, schools, NGOs, public institutions, communities and other actors can all influence whether young people have meaningful opportunities to participate.

Creating more inclusive spaces for participation

Another important focus of the Florence working group was gender-sensitive and inclusive facilitation. Participants examined how the design and facilitation of an activity can influence who feels comfortable speaking, whose perspectives receive attention and who may unintentionally remain outside the conversation. The group worked specifically with inclusive language, safe spaces, balanced participation and monitoring indicators. 

These discussions moved inclusion beyond simply inviting diverse participants into the same room. Meaningful participation also requires thinking about what happens once people are there: how discussions are facilitated, how group dynamics are managed and whether everyone has a realistic opportunity to contribute.

From discussion to concrete project results

Throughout the four days, ideas were continuously reviewed, challenged and refined. Participants first generated possibilities, then returned to them to identify what was useful, realistic and adaptable to different contexts. By the final day, the group had refined the learning objectives, methods and structure of the Empowerment Framework and consolidated the gender-sensitive facilitation standards into a practical checklist. 

The Florence working group therefore resulted in more than an international meeting. It contributed directly to the development of the TRUTH4YOUTH Empowerment Framework, stakeholder mapping and gender-sensitive facilitation guidance that will support the project's next activities.

Perhaps the most important element of the process was also reflected in how the working group itself was organised: if we want young people to participate meaningfully, participation needs to be built into the process from the beginning. Co-creation gives people space not only to respond to existing ideas, but to influence what is created in the first place.

TRUTH4YOUTH – Digital Disciplined Citizenship

Project No. 101252921 — TRUTH4YOUTH — CERV-2025-CITIZENS-CIV

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only 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 can be held responsible for them.