Voices for hope and solidarity

Focus: Youth empowerment
Who: 300 direct participants, 2,000 indirect
Where: Gaza Strip and West Bank, Palestine
When: January 2025 — ongoing
Partner: Operation Dagsværk & Tamer Institute for Community Education

When the world fails Palestinian youth, Danish students choose solidarity. Through Denmark’s unique student-driven movement Operation Dagsværk, thousands of young people across Danish upper secondary schools and folk high schools have democratically selected this project, choosing to dedicate their annual Action Day on November 19, 2025 to supporting Palestinian youth voices.

Since 1985, Operation Dagsværk has built bridges between Danish students and marginalized young people around the world, grounded in the belief that young people understand each other’s struggles and dreams in ways that transcend borders. Each year, students vote democratically on which international project to support, then spend one day working instead of attending school, donating their wages to youth-led change.

In a reality where Palestinian voices are systematically suppressed – by occupation, internal corruption, and an international system that repeatedly abandons them – young Palestinians continue to dream, create, and fight for their right to exist with dignity. For 77 years, Palestinians have lived under occupation, stripped of their land, freedom, and basic human rights. In Gaza, a humanitarian catastrophe has destroyed infrastructure and left thousands of children orphaned, homeless, and without access to education, while on the West Bank and in Jerusalem, youth face daily harassment, arbitrary arrests, and severe movement restrictions.

This project emerges from Danish youth recognizing that solidarity means more than funding: it means learning from each other, amplifying each other’s voices, and building the connections that sustain movements for justice. The project’s strength lies in its focus on solidarity rather than emergency aid – it’s about young people supporting young people, amplifying voices, promoting empowerment, and creating lasting change through collective action.

What we do together

Through this three-way partnership between Operation Dagsværk, Tamer Institute, and The Danish House in Palestine, Danish youth solidarity directly supports Palestinian youth empowerment. Operation Dagsværk creates a comprehensive awareness campaign across Danish schools, educating students about Palestinian youth experiences and challenges, then dedicates their annual Dagsværk-dag (Action Day) to collecting funds for the project. Throughout the project year, volunteers from Operation Dagsværk and Tamer work together to create the campaign materials and learn from each other’s experiences, building genuine connections between Danish and Palestinian youth. Tamer Institute’s deep community roots ensure programming meets real Palestinian needs and is implemented by Palestinian educators who understand their communities.

Working with Tamer Institute’s experienced community educators, the project supports youth-led initiatives that put Palestinian young people in control of their own narratives while creating genuine connections with Danish peers. We help establish safe spaces where young people can meet, collaborate, and lead—transforming libraries, cultural centers, and community spaces into vibrant activity hubs where youth can plan, debate, create, and learn together.

The project includes intensive winter camps in Gaza and the West Bank (conditions permitting) that serve as incubators for collaboration, where Palestinian youth exchange ideas, build networks, and transform their visions into action while sharing their experiences with Danish volunteer partners. Participants focus on developing advocacy campaigns, planning podcasts, writing scripts, and creating content that strengthens community bonds and cross-border solidarity.

Through workshops and collaboration between young people from both contexts, participants develop crucial skills including storytelling that connects their different realities through shared hopes; digital advocacy that amplifies both Palestinian and Danish youth voices on global platforms; and community organizing approaches that can inspire action in both Denmark and Palestine.