Resources and Toolkits

The DEFY Collective

The DEFY project unites global justice educators from across Europe in an exploration of "difficult knowledge" and the role of emotion in learning and change.

At its core, DEFY poses a crucial question: How can educators develop the resilience to engage with difficult knowledge and embrace discomfort, and in turn, hold spaces for others—particularly the young people they work with—to do the same?

Through the project we invite youth educators to join us in collectively creating spaces, workbooks, and trainings centred around themes of discomfort, difficult knowledge, and elephants in the room.

During 2023 we engaged in research around the needs of educators, and the project continued building on this, developing a training manual for youth educators and a European train the trainer programme.

On 27th January 2026, STAND, in partnership with Comhlámh, finep (Germany), and Zavod Volontariat (Slovenia), launched DEFY: Pocket Workshop and Exhibition — an important milestone in a three-year Erasmus+ project focused on engaging with difficult knowledge in Global Citizenship Education.

The DEFY Zine

On 13th May 2024, DEFY published their zine, titled "The Story so Far: Exploring Our Capacity to Open and Hold Space as Educators." 

DEFY is interested in 'discomfort', 'elephants-in-the-room', and 'emotions' in learning spaces. The zine was created over a period of months reflecting together with educators on these themes and collecting the educators' thoughts

Here are some tips on reading the zine:

• Find yourself a bit of time: 25-30 minutes will give you the space needed to wind your way though the zine
• Find somewhere quiet and comfortable to sit, with little distraction.
• Scribble/write/draw/play music as you engage.