Author: StraitUp

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In November 2025, the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange “Age of Disconsent” took place in Naples, Italy, hosted by our partner Two Plus Two. The project brought together young people from Italy, Armenia, Finland, and Spain, with partner organizations DiverCity (Armenia), Finnish Peace Committee (Finland), plus our six Strait Up participants. Over several days, participants shared ideas, experiences, and perspectives in a lively intercultural setting focused on today’s social and political challenges.

“The Age of Disconsent” reflects a key moment in young people’s lives, when they move from simply accepting the status quo to actively questioning it and taking part in public discourse. Through non-formal education activities and professional facilitation by Two Plus Two, participants explored responsible citizenship, nonviolent communication, and the impact of words and actions. Special attention was given to misinformation and political discourse in the online age, making complex topics more personal, interactive, and relevant to everyday life.

Working in international groups, the youth developed cooperation skills and learned how to engage constructively with different viewpoints. The exchange concluded with the creation of a podcast, designed to share their reflections with a wider audience and amplify young voices beyond the project itself. The experience not only strengthened participants’ confidence to act within their own communities, but also laid the foundation for future collaboration between the partner organizations.

We are excited to see what next steps and new projects grow out of this collaboration!

Over the past two years, Strait Up was part of something pretty unforgettable: Youth Impact through Community Festivals (YICF), an Erasmus+ KA210-YOU project that proved that when young people take the lead, a festival can be way more than music and food — it can inform, create opportunities, and actually change a community.

The whole idea behind YICF was to help youth workers and young people (especially those who usually don’t get many chances) learn how to create inclusive and sustainable festivals with purpose. Through the process our participatns learned everything from public speaking and budgeting to teamwork, co-creation, and social innovation. All this was done in an intercultural setting with colleagues from all over Europe.

The project brought together teams from Italy, Norway, Romania, and Spain, including Strait Up from Tarifa. Looking back, YICF had a whole journey of activities: it kicked off in Romania, moved to Norway for trainer training, rolled into six months of capacity building online, then hands-on festival co-design with youth, plus an awesome youth exchange in Italy. And of course, the grand finale: four local festivals, one in each partner country — all planned and run by us.

The final crown is creation of a multilingual toolkit explaining how to design inclusive, civic-impact festivals. It’s set to be launched across EU platforms in 2026, so the ideas we tested will keep spreading long after the project’s end.

In Tarifa, Global Society Institute (GSI) played a major role. The White House became our festival home base, and it also hosted the Project Management Evaluation group. And something big happened along the way: thanks to working with YICF youth, the GSI Youth Advisory Board was born — a lasting legacy of young people shaping the future of their own communities.

Over a year of preparation, but the eight project days went like a flash. This project exceeded all expectations. It was our first experience with all under 18 participants and the team proved that this generation is ready for anything.

Our group of ten 15-17 year olds had the freedom and responsibility to organize implement and evaluate their own workshops. Together with their mentors and colleagues from Bremen Germany, they experienced hiking, martial arts, comic making, journalling, standard dance, language creation and aquisition, killer poker games, and so much more

Navigating sustainable and public transportation was a focal point of the project and the experience also did not disappoint! From the VIP lounge of Atocha, to the business class car of an abandoned train, to coexistnace with Malaga’s homeless pòpulation, we definately had an experience.

Our colleagues at Nature Friends Bremen, Germany taughts us so much about professional youth work and generously supported our ability to participate. The entire team is already developing our next youth exchange. This project was made possible by the Euopean Commision, Erasmus+ programme.

This video gives just a taste of the experience.

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Una publicación compartida por Rea Fraser (@straituptarifa)

We just got back. It was crazy. Five young people from Georgia, five Palestinians, plus our local group representing Strait Up and three Bulgarian hosts. We learned traditional dance from every country, plus taught Sevillanas to everyone. We met people who had never cooked an egg, and others who have risked their lives in political activism.

It’s difficult to describe what happens in a youth exchange. Usually it is the late night moments around the campfire where the real learning happens, not in the daytime sessions.

On the last day we made a short video to try and sum it up. The original music recording is thanks to the Georgians.

Were you at our festival? Probably not. We had to compete with a killer beach day and general apathy for youth events. However, we are really proud of our efforts, the results and the seeds that we planted for future events.

But, we are are going to give you the real scoop, from behind the scenes on what worked and didn’t on this project. If we aren’t honest, we can’t improve. Here’s what it looked like.

The good parts:

• Great interest from the five associations and two schools who attended
• Moha’s workshop on designing youth events
• Elina’s workshop on how to access EU youth opportunities
• Networking with young people, the association members and the general public.
• Inspiring location at Floating House site

Where we can improve for next time:

• Chose a date when people are more likely to come
• Use mouth to mouth to personally invite people who wouldn’t usually attend
• Utilize the associations to spread the word and get more people involved

We had some real challenges to overcome, like participants who don’t live in the town, it being exactly exam time for our target group, and no experience to build on regarding festivals. But that’s the point! Now we do have the experience, motivation and network to launch a larger festival next year.

Our participants were very young and ambitious with their ideas. We are so proud of how they pulled it together. And best of all, it brought us together to spread the word about youth opportunities, both locally and internationally.

UBIKATE – A Festival of Youth Opportunities

Strait Up invites the community to an exciting evening of youth opportunities, beyond traditional education and career advice. The event, taking place on 14th June at 18:30, is a result of the Erasmus+ program YICF – Youth Impact through Community Festivals, and the young people who participated the youth exchange in Napoles in March. Designed to inspire and empower youth, the evening features a hands-on workshop, an EU Info Q&A session, and an opportunity to connect with active young people shaping their futures in innovative ways and the associations that support them.

This initiative aims to open dialogue around the question: “How do we support youth in Tarifa?” and create new links between education, intercultural dialogue, and real-world options. Attendees will hear firsthand from local youth who participated in the Erasmus+ exchange, and explore how and informal education can open doors and spark change. Whether you’re a student, parent, educator, or just curious, this event offers a space to connect with young people creating new paths for their generation.

Contact:
Strait Up
661413934 straitup.eu
Instagram: @straituptarifa

So excited to annouce that we have a new approved youth exchange scheduled for October. We will join our German colleagues from “Bremen Nature Friends” for a special youth exchange for younger participants. Ten young people between 15 and 17 will be accompanied by two leaders and one youth mentor to ensure a fun safe experience for everyone.

The participants will have the opportunity to shape the activities that are programed and make the experience unique to their interests. The focus will be on strengthening democratic participation and non formal education opporutnities for youth in Spain and Germany.

Tarifa is very far from everywhere in Europe and green transportation options are difficult for us to find. But on this trip we will go by rail to see first hand the benefits and difficulties of green transportation in the EU.

Applications are open now!. Follow the link to apply.

Bremen Nature Friends in Tarifa in October 2024

Challenge –  An Organization For Conflict Transformation has announced the soft launch of their new initiative, Digital Peacekeepers, a training program designed to introduce the basics of fake news detection and fact-checking in a fun, engaging way. Digital Peacekeepers aims to build digital resilience and spread media literacy through hands-on learning.

The online pilot session will take place on Wednesday, May 28 at 16:00 CET, exclusively for organization staff, members and European collaborators at Strait Up, in Spain.

This pilot session marks the beginning of a series of interactive events, with full sessions expected to roll out in the coming weeks and an in-person workshop planned for July.

Stay tuned for future registration details by following the link to Challenge Website, or their Instagram account