From acting for youth to acting with youth. Implemented by Education for Life with the Learning for Well-being Foundation, in close collaboration with the National Student and Youth Council of Israel.
Designed before October 7 and implemented in a reality of prolonged insecurity, displacement and disruption, Act2gether created spaces where young people could learn, lead and rebuild a sense of agency, belonging and well-being in their communities.
In communities across northern and central Israel, young people's voices are often the last to be heard. Act2gether changes that. It gives young people real power to shape their communities: not just a seat at the table, but genuine agency in decisions that affect their lives. In Israel, the programme was implemented by Education for Life (EFL) in partnership with the Learning for Well-being Foundation, and in close collaboration with the National Student and Youth Council of Israel.
Young people were not only participants. They acted as community initiators and young social entrepreneurs: identifying needs, designing solutions, engaging partners, managing resources and leading action in their own communities.
Act2gether brings young people and adults together and, through the practice of core capacities, to listen across differences, reflect on roles, discern power dynamics and act together, enabling more meaningful and sustainable intergenerational collaboration for community well-being.
A national Youth Advisory Group of young people aged 15–18 helped shape the programme, sharing decision-making and responsibility from the steering stage through to the final summary.
Young people met regularly in their local groups, exploring rights and developing core capacities (listening, reflecting, empathising and inquiring) as they grew their ideas over time. Participants described it as the programme's centrepiece, feeling like competent partners.
Three residential seminars and one final study day brought young people and adults together to learn about rights, explore well-being, build relationships across groups and turn ideas into community action.
Mentors accompanied young people throughout the process, helping them reflect, plan, ask questions and navigate challenges. Their role was not to decide for the youth, but to create the conditions of trust, structure and confidence that allowed young people to lead and rely on themselves.
Participatory micro-grants were not only a funding tool. They were a practical mechanism for sharing power with youth: young people identified a need, planned a solution, built a budget, sat on grant committees and took responsibility for community action.
Young people created public platforms for youth voice: a documentary film, a national podcast and the Child-Led Social Action Toolkit, carrying their perspectives well beyond the programme.
The seminars were not stand-alone events. They were part of a journey that connected learning, field research, project design, implementation and reflection: Heart, then Hand, then Head.
The distinctiveness of Act2gether is not only its focus on rights. It is the combination of rights, well-being, intergenerational partnership and core capacities.
Participation, power and accountability: young people as rights-holders, not beneficiaries.
Inner strengths, purpose and self-awareness as the ground for meaningful action.
Shared decision-making between young people and adults, with young people as owners.
Listening, observing, reflecting, empathising, relaxing and discerning patterns.
The programme worked with six youth groups: five local youth groups and one national Youth Advisory Group. The map shows the five local implementation sites across northern and central Israel. The Youth Advisory Group operated as a national youth-led group and is presented separately below.
The Youth Advisory Group operated nationally rather than at a single site, so it is not placed on the map. It is the programme's sixth youth group, drawing members from national student and youth councils. Read its full story below.
The Youth Advisory Group was not only an advisory body. It acted as a national youth-led group, accompanying the programme from the steering stage through to the final summary over three years, contributing to programme design and producing the documentary film and national podcast as public platforms for youth voice. The collaboration with the YAG continues today.
Watch the full documentary, with English subtitles, produced by the Youth Advisory Group.
Community initiatives that young people designed, funded and implemented in their own towns.
Resources that emerged from the programme so others can collaborate with young people on rights-based, youth-led social action.
A knowledge product developed from the programme experience. It supports adults, mentors, educators, schools, NGOs and municipalities to collaborate meaningfully with young people in rights-based, youth-led social action. Published in Hebrew and English.
Download the Child-Led Social Action ToolkitActivity and facilitation materials that schools and youth groups can continue to use to mark and explore young people's rights.
Independent evaluation and learning outputs from the 2024–2025 cycle that document what worked and inform the next phase of the model.
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Reach in clear layers, from the young people directly engaged out to the total broader reach.
Organisations engaged include the Ministry of Education, the National Student & Youth Council, the Hebrew University and three municipalities.
Independent evaluation of the 2024–2025 implementation cycle (reports, 2026)
The evaluation found promising improvements. Some findings are group-level, some are based on matched individual data, and some subgroup findings rest on small samples. The results suggest meaningful change rather than proof of direct causal impact.
Several outputs and practices carried on beyond the formal project period: one of the strongest parts of the story.
What we would strengthen as the model prepares for scale.
Act2gether is part of EFL's broader work to advance well-being, participation, resilience and belonging across schools, municipalities and communities in Israel. Alongside the youth-led work, EFL introduced the Learning for Well-being framework to 170 municipal youth professionals, extending the programme's systemic reach.
We are building on this evidence to scale the model across more communities.
