Zukunftslaut - the voice of the youth
Project owner: YEP (Youth Empowerment & Participation) - Stimme der Jugend
Responsible person: Rebekka Dober
2021
2,000 Euro Prize
AT
Civil Society / Social Economy
Social welfare, health care
Law, Justice
Diversity
We live in filter bubbles. It is becoming increasingly rare for us to hear other opinions or meet people with different backgrounds, ways of life, or experiences. In addition, young people are heard far too little in our society. Decisions are made about them without including them and their perspectives.
Young people share their realities and challenges in joint creative dialogues. They develop and present a manifesto with defined ideas for social cohesion to decision makers. The young people also prepare multi-media projects to connect different generations.
Zukunftslaut - the voice of the youth (“Zukunftslaut - Die Stimme der Jugend”) was created and designed BY young people FOR young people. People from 14-25 years old from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds engage in dialogue and break their filter bubble. They develop strategies together to improve coexistence for all.
The programme focuses on strengthening the young people’s self-efficacy. Their work presenting their manifesto to decision-makers, videos, podcast, and leading intergenerational dialogues emphasise their important role in society: it shows that young people are engaged shapers of a better world for all.
The innovative “Open Speech” workshops and YEP Generation Dialogues are transferable to urban, rural, and interregional communities. These initiatives can also be digitally implemented to connect people of diverse backgrounds and all ages.
Young people develop cross-media strategies to strengthen social inclusion. Zukunftslaut – the voice of the youth lures young people out of their intellectual filter bubbles and creates new social spaces for debate. Thanks to its broad network, the programme confronts decision makers from politics and business with demands for more social cohesion developed together by young people. This dialogue is a socially innovative intervention into the future and across generations.
Photo: Rainer Berson, YEP