Empowering Body Positivity for Healthier Lives

Body image, mental health and everyday habits are tightly linked, and beauty standards carried by media shape all three. This youth participation project brings 35 young people to Alicante to build the leadership and campaigning skills to challenge those standards, and puts them in the same room as decision-makers to co-create a Youth Manifesto.

Why this project

Research from Universidad Europea de Madrid published in 2024 shows a strong link between body image, mental health and lifestyle habits. Low self-esteem, stigma and unhealthy behaviours rooted in media and beauty standards affect young people directly, and they are rarely part of the conversations that shape policy on them.

Objectives

• Enhance youth participation in decisions about body image, health and wellbeing.
• Raise awareness of the link between body image, mental health and lifestyle habits.
• Foster inclusivity and acceptance, and challenge stereotypes carried by media and beauty standards.
• Promote healthy lifestyles and create sustainable impact through campaigns, policy recommendations and local partnerships.

Activities

• A youth participation mobility in Alicante, Spain, from 9 to 15 June 2026, with 35 young people aged 18 to 30, at least 20 of them from less-favoured backgrounds.
• Policy Labs on education, media and health, held with two decision-makers taking part.
• Advocacy workshops, intercultural evenings and campaign showcases.
• Co-creation of a Youth Manifesto 2.0, advocacy campaigns and Local Action Plans.
• Daily reflection sessions linked to Youthpass recognition.

Expected results

These are the results the project set out to produce. They are commitments made in the application, not outcomes already achieved.

• A Youth Manifesto 2.0 and Local Action Plans co-created by participants.
• Advocacy campaigns reaching peers, schools and civil society organisations.
• Strengthened competences in leadership, teamwork, advocacy and intercultural cooperation, alongside resilience, self-esteem and media literacy.
• Youth recommendations taken into strategies by the policymakers who join the Policy Labs.
• An Alumni Advocacy Network and online resources that keep the work going after the project ends.

Who it is for

Young people aged 18 to 30, at least 20 of the 35 participants from less-favoured backgrounds; local and national decision-makers; schools, peers and civil society organisations reached through the campaigns.