On 9 October 2025, Youthmakers Hub Co-founder and CEO Konstantinos Maragkos and Senior Project Manager Silvia Diazzi presented the AU–EU Youth Voices Lab – Power of the Collective programme to the EIMAS alumni network in Addis Ababa. Hosted at the Goethe-Institut during the closing ceremony of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in African Studies, the session brought together 55 young scholars, along with academic leaders, deans, and advisory board members.

The presentation introduced the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab as a programme designed to foster a more inclusive and youth-responsive society by empowering young people across Africa and Europe. The session highlighted the programme’s focus on youth-led cooperation, policy advocacy, and digital innovation, with young people positioned as active contributors to shaping policies and partnerships.

A central moment of the presentation was the live demonstration of the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab App, a digital platform created by Youthmakers Hub to engage, empower, and connect young people through learning resources, opportunities, and collaborative spaces. EIMAS Alumni explored the app’s multilingual features and shared feedback through a youth-driven co-creation approach, focusing on user experience, accessibility, and potential improvements. This direct input reinforced the programme’s co-creation approach — designing tools with youth rather than for them.

As Silvia Diazzi noted during the session:

“Co-creation is at the very basis of our programme and our mobile application. Sharing and collective feedback are vibrant aspects of our work, and today’s session has been inspiring!”

Within the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab, YMH leads the Visibility, Communication, and Dissemination, including the development and continuous improvement of the mobile application. By engaging directly with a highly relevant academic audience, the team strengthened connections among research, policy, and youth action, ensuring that emerging professionals help shape tools and initiatives that impact their own futures.