YxY Learning Festival 2024 Program

Cafés are 3-day small group experiences where we create brave spaces for all ages to have the necessary conversations around education transformation. They are a microcosm of the Festival's learning journey and allow us to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. This year we’ve decided to have truly intergenerational Cafés, co-hosted by youth activists and adult allies and themed by our 8 Global Action Circle themes: Relational and Inclusive Education, Supporting Youth Educators, Climate and Nature Education, Gender Education, Peace Education, Community based Learning, Technology and Education, Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Specific worlding events at large now suggest that the human is no longer the exclusive, independent subject we once thought we were. We must now contend with a world that exceeds us, a material world with intelligence and agency. How do we meet this world? What does it mean to think about activism and change through the posthumanist constraints now seemingly forced upon us? In this talk, Dr. Bayo Akómoláfé examines his theory of postactivism and invites a reformulation of the notions of change sponsored by the dominant ideology of humanism. At the heart of his exploration is the curious insight: "The way we address the crisis is part of the crisis."

The YouthxYouth team invites you to spend some time in the Community Garden with us, processing and reflecting on how we transition from our current systems to life-affirming ones. This is an emergent space, held with an intention to explore the shadow side of life and activism. Some learning questions for this space are: How do we deal with grief and despair as activists working for change? How do we recognize the barriers to change without falling into cynicism? Can we show true empathy for the pain of oppressed and oppressors alike? How do we avoid falling into dehumanizing and divise narratives, i.e. good vs. bad? How can we take action from a place of love? Can we be uncomfortable — together?

University for the Planet aims to serve humanity’s upshift into a planetary species, by curating projects & initiatives that foster regeneration, peace, and thrivability for all beings and our planet. We're a global network of interconnected initiatives and projects, diverse and inclusive, growing from the ground up. We welcome everyone, regardless of background, to join this movement for positive change. We are a learning ecosystem discovering itself. Through co-creation sessions, talks, forums, and learning journeys, we help changemaker communities and projects discover each other, share visions, knowledge and skills, and begin collaborating on building thrivable futures. Join us in this Lab to continue to co-create U4P!

The YxY Global Action Circles are our signature 5-month peer learning journeys for intergenerational activists seeking to deepen their learning and action around a specific theme in education transformation. This Showcase session is the culminating presentation and celebration of the Global Action Circles focused on Community-based Learning x Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing, Peace Education x Relational and Inclusive Education & Gender Education x Climate and Nature Education. In addition to sharing collective insights on this theme, our activists will share their projects developed through this program.

Join us at YouthxYouth's Open Mic, where our community of artists, musicians and creatives will showcase their talents and share their expressive interpretations of this year's guiding question. This will be a safe and brave space for our community members to share our most "vulnerageous" (vulnerable-courageous) creative selves!

Cafés are 3-day small group experiences where we create brave spaces for all ages to have the necessary conversations around education transformation. They are a microcosm of the Festival's learning journey and allow us to deeply connect, learn and collaborate around our Festival's guiding questions. This year we’ve decided to have truly intergenerational Cafés, co-hosted by youth activists and adult allies and themed by our 8 Global Action Circle themes: Relational and Inclusive Education, Supporting Youth Educators, Climate and Nature Education, Gender Education, Peace Education, Community based Learning, Technology and Education, Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing.

In this session Lana and Vishal will weave together a conversation around what weaving looks and feels like in their lives. They will explore weaving as an identity, as a practice and as an art.

In this session we will address: Why is learning and collaborating across generations essential to promote the wellbeing of people and planet? What are the skills and attitudes that intergenerational weavers need? What is different in the present moment regarding intergenerational weaving in comparison to the past? What does intergenerational weaving mean regarding our identity as part of an old tribe of weavers that has existed for centuries? The session will consist of a presentation of ideas, a dialogue and a practical exercise.

YouthxYouth has grown into a *glocal* organization, with 9 hubs across 6 countries in Africa, focused on transforming education to serve youth (un)employment, peace, and women empowerment. Join this session to learn more about the grounded work of our Glocal Hubs, and co-create the growth of our glocal community and Hubs around the world. What if we could weave at least one youth-led Glocal Hub in every country?

The YxY Global Action Circles are our signature 5-month peer learning journeys for intergenerational activists seeking to deepen their learning and action around a specific theme in education transformation. This Showcase session is the culminating presentation and celebration of the Global Action Circle focused on Technology and Education x Supporting Youth Educators. In addition to sharing collective insights on this theme, our activists will share their projects developed through this program.

Join us for the Closing Ceremony of our 2024 Learning Festival, where we will bring together the insights and stories shared throughout our 3 days of inquiry around the guiding question: “How do we need to know, live, and weave together to create the world of our deepest longings?”. Our YxY Café Hosts will share their takeaways and insights from the deep-dialogue sessions. We will also celebrate our current Weavership cohort who have dedicated 11 months to learning to be community weavers and facilitators of transformational spaces.

After the ceremony, we invite everyone to join us for one last DANCE & hangout to celebrate our journey together!