Vertical Voices
Digital Storytelling Tools for Youth Workers
EduMansha sends three participants from Portugal. Applications close 5 October 2026.
What this training is
What happens when we give young people the tools to tell their own story — on the screen they already hold?
Young people build identity, argue, joke and organise in short vertical video. Most youth work still meets them somewhere else — not out of unwillingness, but because nobody handed youth workers a method.
Over six days we work through the whole process in the order you would use it with a group: finding the story, shaping it into a script, filming it, editing it, and then deciding — deliberately — whether it gets published at all. Consent, privacy and image rights are practised as facilitation skills, not signed as paragraphs.
Expect to film, cut, mess up, re-record, present and run a short session yourself. The aim is not to make you a video producer. It is to leave with a method you can run on a Tuesday afternoon with six young people and five phones.
Key facts
- Dates12–19 Nov 2026
6 programme days + 2 travel days - VenueZeltlagerplatz Berlin-Heiligensee
Rallenweg 4, 13505 Berlin - ProgrammeErasmus+ KA153
KA153-YOU-1FE7EC5F - Places3 from Portugal (21 in total)
- Deadline5 October 2026
- Age18+, typically 22–55
- LanguageEnglish
- CertificateYouthpass
- EquipmentYour own smartphone. That is the whole kit list.
What you will work on
- Vertical storytelling as a youth work method
- From idea to script to storyboard
- Filming with phones and low-cost tools
- Editing and clarity of message
- Consent, privacy and responsible publishing
- Digital and media literacy
- Inclusive and trauma-aware facilitation
- Micro-facilitation and peer feedback
- Turning the week into local practice at home
What you leave with
- At least one finished vertical story of your own
- A script and storyboard template you can reuse
- A session plan for one method, adapted to your own young people
- A consent and publishing checklist you can hand out
- An implementation plan with a date on it
- A Youthpass certificate and twenty colleagues in seven countries
Youthpass. Built on the ETS Competence Model. You start with a baseline self-assessment on Day 1 and work on the certificate through the week — not in a rush on the last morning.
Who we are looking for
Youth workers, educators, mentors and active volunteers based in Portugal who work directly with young people.
- Active in youth work, education or non-formal learning
- Working directly with young people or communities
- Want to use video and storytelling in an educational, ethical way
- Open to being on camera and learning in an international group
- Willing to take part fully and do the follow-up
Curiosity beats experience. Previous video experience is not a selection criterion.
You do not need to
- be a filmmaker or a content creator
- own a camera, microphone or gimbal
- know any editing software
- have an audience, a following or a channel
- have any previous video experience at all
One place for fewer opportunities
Seven of the twenty-one places are reserved for participants with fewer opportunities — one of our three is among them. We especially encourage youth workers from rural or economically disadvantaged areas, people with migrant, minority or LGBTQIA+ backgrounds, those without formal qualifications, and anyone with limited access to professional development. Tell us what support you need and we will work it out together.
Programme, day by day
Every day combines input, hands-on practice, reflection and transfer planning — small mixed-country groups, rotating roles, peer feedback, and a short session you run yourself. Tap a day to open it.
12 NovArrivalArrival and informal welcome
13 NovDay 1Hello, Humans! & Our Practice, Honestly
14 NovDay 2Find Your Voice & From Idea to Script
15 NovDay 3Seeing It First & Shoot Day
16 NovDay 4Cut It & Facilitation Lab
17 NovDay 5Inclusion Lab & Stories Come Alive
18 NovDay 6What Do I Take Home?
19 NovDepartureBreakfast and departure
Where you will stay
We stay at Zeltlagerplatz Heiligensee – Gruppenhaus, in the green north-west of Berlin by Lake Heiligensee. Full board included and covered.
This is a group house, not a hotel.
- Shared rooms, separate for women and men. Simple, clean, warm
- Shared bathrooms by gender, plus one gender-neutral toilet, reached from outside — bring slippers
- Bed linen provided. Bring your own towel
- Three meals a day plus coffee breaks, with a vegan and an omnivore option at every meal
- Dietary needs, allergies and intolerances collected before the project
- About 2 hours from BER airport by public transport; you travel there independently
What it costs you
Before you book any ticket: send us your itinerary and price and wait for written confirmation. A ticket booked without it is one you may end up paying for yourself.
Keep every document — tickets, booking confirmations, boarding passes both directions, and local transport tickets. Reimbursement reaches you through EduMansha. If paying up front is a problem, tell us early.
What we ask from you
Taking a place means taking the whole thing.
- Be there for the full programme, arrival to departure
- Take part actively — one disengaged person changes a group this size
- Complete the preparation: short tasks, dietary and emergency forms, the online meeting
- Bring a smartphone that can film, with the apps installed before you travel
- Run one local activity with the method within three to six months, and tell us how it went
Stories, consent and privacy
You will work with personal material and point cameras at each other, so here is what happens to it.
- Everything personal shared in sessions stays with the group
- You choose the depth — stepping back is always an available answer, including on camera
- Nobody is filmed without agreeing to it, and you can opt out entirely
- Sessions involving personal or emotional work are not filmed
- What you make belongs to you. Nothing is published without your separate written consent, and you can withdraw it later
The full infopack
Fifteen pages — programme, venue, travel rules, reimbursement, packing list and contacts. Read sections 09–12 before you book anything.
Preview not loading on your phone? Use the download button.
The partnership
- Talent Push e.V. · Germany — coordinator
- EduMansha · Portugal — your sending organisation
- BRANCH Kavadarci · North Macedonia
- Dečiji centar · Serbia
- REALISE · Greece
- KARAVAN · Türkiye
- Kazbegi Youth Hub · Georgia
Questions?
Anything about applying, travel or the week itself — write to us before the deadline, not after.
Apply for a place
EduMansha selects three participants plus two reserves for Portugal. We read every application, hold a short online conversation with shortlisted candidates, and agree the final group with all seven partners. Applications close 5 October 2026.
The form takes about 10–15 minutes. It asks the same questions as the coordinator’s application, so you only fill it in once — we pass on what is needed for selection.
Before you book any ticket: send us your itinerary and price and wait for written confirmation. The coordinator's deadline for confirming itineraries is 12 October 2026, which is why we close applications a week earlier.
Bring a story you have not finished telling
Six days in Berlin, twenty colleagues from seven countries, and a method you can run at home with six young people and five phones. Three places, fully funded, closing 5 October 2026.
Apply for a placeQuestions before you apply? Write to admin@edumansha.eu
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.
Project No.: KA153-YOU-1FE7EC5F · Erasmus+ KA153 – Mobility of Youth Workers · National Agency: JUGEND für Europa (DE04)