Volunteer Youth Advocacy in Action Team

In April 2025 CAIM Empowers established our Volunteer Youth Advocacy in Action Team (VYAAT).

This is a group of 12 young people around Ireland aged 13-29, who meet regularly to discuss the issues in their community, be that locally or demographically that they feel need action. They then explore ideas about how they as young people can take the lead in addressing those issues, with the principles of active citizenship, participatory democracy, inclusion and diversity, sustainability, digital transformation, and universal and adaptable design in mind.

 The purpose of the VYAAT is to offer young people structured opportunities to make a difference in their world via participation in co-produced projects. The goal of the VYAAT is to ensure young people are seen and heard in the decisions that impact their present and future. To be co-creators in driving solutions for a better world.

 The VYAAT are currently working on project ideas that will form applications under Erasmus+ Key Action funding and European Solidarity Corps projects.  Some information about those projects is below:

The full VYAAT is involved in the development of this idea and was our first issue to be raised and explored after we all watched the TV program 'Adolescence' that explores gender-based violence and the disenfranchisement of young men to a dangerous level.

 At a very high level, the issue the team have chosen is 'gender equality, which is one of the 11 EU Youth Goals European Youth Goals | European Youth Portal. As part of the project idea, this topic will aim to understand and address the causal factors of GBV, looking specifically at understanding how gender bias exists and how the Patriarchy creates gender based 'role/norms/expectations' that positively position males to have better life experiences, recognising however that the Patriarchy damages everyone and unhealthy norms of masculinity have created significant challenges for all genders, including the disenfranchisement of young men struggling to find their place in today's world..  

The VYAAT have spent the summer exploring the topic via research with Faye Hayden, Director of Services at CAIM Empowers.  Investigating how the issues present themselves in modern day popular culture that is consumed by people under 30, specifically social media platforms, but also looking at other platforms such as TV, Film, Music. 

As part of the proposed project, the VYAAT will first understand the experiences of people of all genders but with specific focus on the traditional experiences of men/women (be they CIS or Trans) and the way their lives are defined by their gender/biological sex and how by better understanding that, positive steps can be made to address gender imbalance and promote healthy gender norms/expectations. 

Project inspirations include the book ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez

Project activities will include the VYAAT working with www.openfacilitationireland.ie, who hosted trial Open Space Methodology session with the VYAAT recently, to run Open Space sessions around Ireland with young people to explore their gender-based experience, how that impacts them and they ideas for affirmative action to drive great gender equality.  This will contribute to the research element of the project.

 The aim is to work with a youth organisation in Portugal to bring our research funding’s to life via board games that communicate the gender-based experiences of young people, as part of a Celebration of the Contribution of Women in Ireland event, co-hosted in collaboration with the Longford African Women's Network in Autumn 2026. 

 The event will aim to engage with local and national decision makers to consider the actions they can take to improve gender equality, including  seeking the appointment of a Minister for Gender Based Issues.

 On September, 2 members of the VYAAT, Rachel and Eoin, travelled to Helsinki in Finland to attend an Erasmus+ funded networking event to create new partnerships for future international collaboration between youth workers specialised in gender and culturally sensitive youth work and prevention work for gender-based violence / honour related violence & sexual violence.

Voices Beyond Gender

Breaking down barriers with StoryTelling

Three members of the VYAAT are currently working on this project for submission in 2026.

In June 2025, Shannika and Naoise from the VYAAT travelled to Drammen in Norway with 1 member of CAIM Empowers’  Volunteer Youth Participation Panel (VYPP – See separate page) and the CAIM Empowers Director of Services, Faye Hayden to participate in a Partnership Building Activity hosted by Bufdir the Norwegian National Agency.  The event aimed to create partnerships for Erasmus+ Key Action One projects, and her we connected with Cine Giovanni in Italy who run a Social Storytelling Program for young people to raise their voices on Issues impacting their lives. CINEGIOVANI - YouTube

Our Goal for 2026 is to implement a KA154 Youth Participation project between Ireland and Italy, working with Cine Giovanni and an Irish Social Storyteller with three main objectives:

 To give young people with fewer opportunities a way to tell their story, in their way, about the barriers they face to achieving the life successes and quality of life that their peers achieve without as many barriers.

Telling this story to the people who have the power to make decisions in their lives such as politicians, educators, public servants, employers, and even family members. To try and create an attitude of 'nothing about us without of us' to be considered and applied in the spaces and places where planning and decision making happens, and to be go to people for being the voice of young people with fewer opportunities in the planning and decision making process, as part of having our say on our lives through participatory democracy. Often people with fewer opportunities feel that we are not listened to or heard, we believe this is a significant barrier to our success and also to our mental health and opportunities, so we aim to create a creative tool to tell our story and politely make people pay attention to our needs and ideas.

To learn new skills whilst completing the project that are practical skills for jobs, education, social skills, and self-care through the Audio-Visual medium.

To travel to another country to understand the challenges and barriers that young people face, especially those with fewer opportunities and to understand how they, as active citizens their interpret the responses and solutions to breaking down barriers as storytellers.  We aim to break down barriers of being self-conscious that our ideas and contribution is not important that we often face in our own self talk, and to tackle the barrier of anxiety for trying something new, by doing that as part of a group we trust that includes people who do have experience in travel and can assist in that way.

We also hope to break down cultural barriers that exist in the world by going somewhere new and experiencing new countries, cultures and ways of doing things, making new friends and contacts and contributing to the storytelling project of each country so our experiences are shared not just in Ireland but in Italy and vice versa when the Italian group visit us.

Watch this space to hear more about our exciting project development, and click here to contact us to find out more about getting involved :)