IGLYO Global Online Activist Academy 2025

Our Global Online Activist Academy is back!

IGLYO’s Activist Academy is back with its 3-week skills-based training programme for young people across the world. After several successful online editions since 2020, our Activist Academy is going online and global again from 1 to 18 April 2025.

Ready to build a queer future together? Read the full call below and apply through the application form by Sunday 16 February 2025 at 23:59 CET.

IGLYO particularly welcomes applications from underrepresented groups and communities such as young women, trans and non-binary youth, intersex youth, young people with disabilities, young people living with HIV, racialised youth, Black youth and young people of colour, and young refugees and migrants. In the context of the Global Online Activist Academy we particularly welcome applications from participants living in the Global South.

Full Call for Applications

What is the Global Online Activist Academy?

IGLYO’s Global Online Activist Academy is a 3-week skills-based training programme for young people aged 18-30 years old at the beginning of their activist careers who are passionate about activism, advocacy and learning, and have a strong interest in LGBTQI rights.

Over the course of three weeks, participants will take part in expert-led workshops and live sessions, as well as attempt one skill-based task to apply the skills they learned, while receiving feedback from the Activist Academy experts.

The Global Online Activist Academy aims to strengthen the LGBTQI youth movement across the world by building skills and competencies, creating networks of support and exchange of practices, and increasing the resilience of young LGBTQI rights defenders. This year’s focus is on project management for LGBTQI activism, equipping participants to design impactful, equitable, and sustainable initiatives.

The sixth online edition of the Activist Academy will gather selected participants from around the world from 1 to 18 April 2025. What’s more, is that participation in the online edition is completely free of charge.

PS: In July 2025, IGLYO will organise a one-week in-person Activist Academy, open only to participants residing in Council of Europe Member States. The aims and programme of the in-person Activist Academy will be similar to those of the Online one. Keep an eye on our newsletter if you are interested in this opportunity.

What is the topic?

This year’s focus will be on "Project Management for LGBTQI Activism," equipping participants with the skills to manage projects that prioritise equity, sustainability, and inclusivity through a queer decolonial perspective. The programme will emphasise incorporating intersectional knowledge into every stage of project management, employing queer methodologies, addressing structural power imbalances, and confronting systems of oppression in activism. It will also highlight the importance of fostering meaningful cross-border collaborations and embedding care and well-being into project practices, ensuring initiatives are impactful, transformative, and grounded in resilience and justice.

How does it work?

Be prepared for a wonderful and intensive experience: The Global Online Activist Academy 2025 will include mandatory and optional online live sessions and a few hours of teamwork. The total time commitment of each participant will be around 30 hours, spread over 3 weeks.

You need to apply for the Academy individually, and you will be teamed up with other young LGBTQI activists from all over the world. Each team will be assigned to a mentor who is a graduate of previous Activist Academy editions, and will work together on one real-life skill-based task.

In a nutshell, here’s how this year’s programme will be organised:

Breaking the ice

The programme will kick off on Tuesday 1 April 2025 with an ice-breaking session where we will all meet online, find out more about each other, and learn how the Global Online Activist Academy works. Teams will also be announced on the first day.

Networking

One of the great added values of the Global Online Activist Academy is the opportunity to meet and network with other young activists from across the world. We will organise optional networking activities at the beginning of the programme to give you the opportunity to get to know your fellow participants, the work they do locally, and the reality of LGBTQI rights in their country.

Expert-led workshops

You’ll be able to attend a mix of mandatory and optional workshops led by experts within the global LGBTQI movement. In total, each participant will need to attend 5 mandatory workshops and 3 mandatory live sessions.

Real-life task

Once you’ve attended all the expert-led workshops, you will put what you’ve learnt into practice and translate your new skills and knowledge into action by undertaking one real-life skill-based task over the course of a week. You will work together with your teammates and with the online support of mentors. Mentors are graduates of previous Activist Academy editions. Every team will also have the chance to present their work they have done to the other participants.

Review and feedback

If you need it, you can submit your task for an intermediate feedback from a team of experts before making final changes and improvements before the live presentation. Every team will receive a final thorough feedback on their task at the end of the programme.

Closing session

During the closing session, participants will reflect on what they learned in the past three weeks and celebrate the connections made.

Who can apply?

The call for the Global Online Activist Academy 2025 is for you if you:

Identify with or advocate for LGBTQI rights and are involved in LGBTQI activism;
Are between 18 and 30 years old, at the date of application;
Are able to use English at an intermediate-advanced level;
Are able to participate in the online live sessions taking place around noon CEST (Central European Summer Time)*;
Possess basic computer proficiency, have a good internet connection and access to basic video/audio recording equipment (at a minimum a smartphone).

In addition, to be able to receive a participation certificate, participants must:

attend all mandatory live sessions, as announced in the detailed programme**;
contribute to the production of the assigned skills-based task.

All applications will be reviewed by a selection committee composed exclusively of members of the IGLYO team. The committee will select the final group of Academy participants.

*Note that most online live sessions will be scheduled in the early afternoon CEST (Belgium/Brussels time). Take this into consideration if your time zone is very different. We will provide the exact time as soon as we know what time zones participants live in, to try to make it convenient for most of you.

**At the beginning and the end of each live session, a screenshot will be taken of all the participants and the participant list, for reporting purposes. Participants will be notified before, so they can opt to switch their cameras off.

How to apply?

Do you have sparks in your eyes after what you’ve just read?

Please follow the steps below to apply for the Global Online Activist Academy 2025:

Read the above call carefully and take the time to go through it thoroughly to make sure you comply with the criteria and requirements;
Prepare your motivation, thinking about why you want to participate in this event, what positive change you expect from it, and what you wish to learn.

All set? You can now apply to take part in the Global Online Activist Academy 2025 by filling out the application form. The deadline for applications is Sunday 16 February 2025 at 23:59 CET.

Please note that the spots are limited. We will select participants based on the information you provide in the application form, so make sure to pay attention to your motivation.

Selected participants will be informed via email in late February 2025.

Questions & Contact

If you have any questions regarding the Academy, please email the IGLYO Programmes Team Viola (She/her) and Ali (They/them) at programmes@iglyo.org.

Good luck!

This research is funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) 2021-2027 programme of the European Union. The contents of the tender are the sole responsibility of IGLYO and cannot be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.