About

We are a youth association working across Europe and, increasingly, beyond it. Over the years our role in the youth sector has grown: alongside taking part in European initiatives, we design methodologies, coordinate training processes, build digital tools, facilitate spaces for dialogue, accompany other organisations, and turn what we learn in projects into concrete proposals for improvement and advocacy.

We work with young people, youth workers, educators, social organisations, schools and universities, and public administrations, from municipalities and the Provincial Council of Valencia to European networks and United Nations forums.

BACKSLASH exists to empower and accompany young people, especially those with fewer opportunities, and the people who work with them, through training, participatory non-formal education methodologies, intercultural dialogue, and the building of networks between organisations, educational centres and public administrations. In doing so we contribute to an open, inclusive, feminist and sustainable society in which young people are recognised and act as agents of social change.

An open, diverse and inclusive society where the social rights of all people are guaranteed, especially those in the most vulnerable situations, and where different voices are heard and respected. A society in which non-formal education, intercultural dialogue and support networks strengthen the social fabric and guarantee equal access to learning and participation. A society where young people are committed to their community, are recognised as agents of social change, and recognise themselves as such.

These values shape how we take decisions, how we work, and how we relate to the young people, organisations, institutions and territories we work with.

• Participation and active citizenship. Young people take a real part in the processes that affect them, not as recipients, but as protagonists sharing responsibility.
• Equity. People start from different situations, so we adapt support, resources and opportunities to reduce barriers.
• Coherence. Our decisions, relationships and practices should reflect the principles we defend publicly.
• Social commitment. We orient our work towards changes that improve living conditions, coexistence and participation in communities.
• Collaboration. Working together, learning together and building networks are conditions for widening impact, not optional extras.
• Vocation. We share a deep commitment to young people and we are witnesses to what investing in their capacities produces.
• Feminism. We bring a critical view of gender inequality and promote fairer relationships, structures and opportunities.

A set of cross-cutting approaches shapes the design, delivery and evaluation of everything we do.

• Social innovation, new or improved responses to social needs, judged by their usefulness, accessibility and adaptability.
• Critical interculturality, dialogue between different realities that takes power relations, inequalities and context seriously.
• Diversity and inclusion, processes that recognise different identities, capacities, trajectories and living conditions.
• Transformative education, learning as a process that builds capacity, critical thinking and the ability to act.
• Empowerment and effective participation, conditions in which young people decide, propose and exercise real influence.
• Human rights, dignity, equality, freedom and non-discrimination as the frame for our action.
• Intersectionality, attention to how different inequalities intersect, and adaptation to avoid adding new barriers.

In practice this means applied research, co-creation with young people and professionals, testing, training, peer learning, evaluation, and the transfer of results so that others can use them.

The people who design, coordinate and deliver our work.