“Untie the Knot: Storytelling for Resilience and Social Change” in Italy

This was an international mobility for youth workers that brought together, in the beautiful setting of a little town by the sea in the south of Italy, Giovinazzo, 21 participants from Italy, France, Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Serbia, and Spain to explore storytelling as a tool for activism, participatory decision-making, and social change. The project, organised by MOH APS, focused on how narratives can strengthen civic engagement, support resilience, and empower young people to actively shape their communities.

Through experiential workshops combining storytelling, sociocracy, and activism, participants explored how stories can foster participation, collective leadership, and inclusive processes. Sociocratic principles, such as shared responsibility, consent-based decision-making, and collective ownership, were integrated into the learning design, ensuring that storytelling was not only expressive but also deeply political and participatory. Participants practiced using voice, body, and narrative to communicate values, advocate for change, and support young people in overcoming the metaphorical “knot in the throat”, the fear or self-doubt that often prevents them from speaking out.

The project placed strong emphasis on learning by doing, resulting in tangible outputs created collaboratively by participants, such as a Storytelling Decalogue – “Untie the Knot: Tell It Like It Matters”, a practical guide for youth workers on using storytelling for active citizenship and activism. Each principle was proposed by participant pairs and validated through a popcorn-style sociocratic process, ensuring the decalogue reflected a truly collective voice rather than a trainer-led outcome. A Podcast Series: “Untie the Knot: Stories to Unravel, Stories to Change”, episodes produced during the mobility featuring folklore and written stories, personal narratives, reflections on activism, social challenges, and international experiences. 

The podcasts amplify diverse voices and demonstrate how storytelling can be used as an advocacy tool, you can listen to them here, from 22/12 every day a story will be published both on   YouTube and  Spotify.

Participants also created Fanzines out of their stories: artistic and tangible reflections created at the end of the project, combining visual storytelling and political expression to capture the learning, emotions, and messages of the week.

These results will continue to be used as open educational resources for youth workers, educators, and activists across Europe. By bringing the methods back to their local contexts, participants aim to multiply the impact through workshops, performances, and community actions that use storytelling to inspire participation, challenge exclusion, and promote social change.

Untie the Knot shows how storytelling, when rooted in activism and sociocracy, can become a powerful practice for building engaged, inclusive, and resilient communities.