“Transforming!”
“One of the most thought-provoking and inspiring experiences I have ever done.”
“Very inspiring and enriching.”
This is how participants described AGORA 2026, the European Women’s Lobby’s Young Feminist Summer School, which took place from 7 to 11 September in Brussels.
For its 11th edition, AGORA welcomed 37 young feminists, from almost 30 nationalities across four continents, living in 21 European countries. Over five days, the group worked through one question at a time: who belongs in feminist spaces, whose voices are heard, who creates knowledge, how change happens, and what each of them will build next.
The answers came from many directions. Members of EWL’s Executive Committee shared their journeys in intergenerational conversation circles. Participants imagined Europe in 2040 in a strategic foresight workshop, interacted with representatives of the European Commission, the European Institute for Gender Equality, the European Economic and Social Committee, the CEDAW Committee, and the European Committee of the Regions, and explored the shelves of RoSa, Brussels’ feminist library.
Above all, they taught each other. Through twelve peer-led workshops, participants shared their own expertise on consent education, online violence, forced displacement, menstrual health, reproductive justice, care and much more.
What participants valued most was connection: with each other, with feminists working in very different realities, and with a European movement larger than any one of them. “It’s the participants that have made this experience so incredibly unique,” one wrote, “each offering new perspectives, yet all of us sharing the same values.” Others spoke of new confidence to speak up where decisions on women’s rights are made, and of realising they are not alone in their struggle.
We would like to thank everyone who made AGORA 2026 possible: our participants, our facilitators, Margarita and Shirin, our speakers and guests, RoSa Library, the Committee of the Regions, our Executive Committee and the National Coordinations, our colleagues, and everyone else who contributed, shared and joined us.
“So many ways of being a feminist (co)exist. Just choose the one that is right for you!”
Consult the full report right here !
