For some young people, it had become a familiar experience: They had something they wanted to say when it came to Palestine, but felt there was no space to say it out loud.
Especially in schools, conversations about Palestine could quickly be perceived as too political or too difficult to handle. For some young people, this created frustration and a feeling that they were not being taken seriously.
Operation Dagsværk therefore decided to turn the question on its head.
Instead of asking young people what they thought about Palestine, they asked:
Why is it so difficult to talk about Palestine?
This became the starting point for a new workshop format, which was tested in Guldborgsund in spring 2025. The aim was not to get young people to arrive at the same opinion. Instead, they were encouraged to explore why the conversation itself can be so difficult.
It changed the dynamic.
When the focus shifts from winning a debate to being curious about what makes a conversation difficult, a different kind of space emerges. A space where young people can share their experiences, listen to one another and examine their own reactions. This was precisely what Operation Dagsværk wanted to create through the project Young Voices for Hope and Solidarity in Palestine: spaces where young people can use their own voices, build communities and develop the confidence and ability to take action.
And according to Operation Dagsværk’s experiences from the first workshops, the format made a difference.
Young people went from feeling excluded from the conversation to increasingly feeling that they themselves could help shape it. The conversations became more open and curious, even when the adults did not necessarily have the answers.
Young People Supporting Young People
The project is based on the idea that young people should not only be recipients of knowledge about global issues. They should also have the opportunity to take initiative, create their own stories and take action.
That is why Operation Dagsværk is working with the Tamer Institute for Community Education and the Danish House in Palestine to support youth-led initiatives.
For many years, the Tamer Institute has created local communities, libraries and other spaces where Palestinian young people can meet, learn and create together. Here, the aim is for young people themselves to develop activities and stories through art, theatre, writing, podcasts and digital advocacy, among other things.
The Danish House in Palestine contributes, among other things, experience in building connections between Danish and Palestinian organisations and in bringing the perspectives of Palestinian young people to an international audience.
In this way, the project creates a connection between young people in different parts of the world: Danish young people engaging in solidarity, and Palestinian young people telling their own stories about their lives, perspectives and hopes for the future.
A Space Where Difficult Conversations Are Welcome
For Operation Dagsværk, contributing to young people’s voices for hope and solidarity in Palestine has been important because there has been, and continues to be, considerable hesitation around talking about Palestine. But the experiences from the workshops suggest that avoiding difficult conversations is not necessarily the solution. On the contrary, better conversations can emerge when you start somewhere else.
By asking why something is difficult to talk about, rather than telling young people what they should think, space was created for more perspectives and deeper reflection.
It is a concrete example of how funding from Connect for Global Change can help give young people new opportunities to engage with global issues. For Operation Dagsværk, it is not only about getting more young people to talk about Palestine.
It is also about who gets to speak, who is listened to, and how young people themselves can help create the conversations they feel are missing.
The first workshops in Guldborgsund therefore became more than a single activity. They became a starting point for Operation Dagsværk’s continued work with young people’s global engagement – and for giving young people the confidence to take ownership of even the most difficult conversations.