Stories4Wings: Learning from Within the Walls

The Erasmus+ project Stories4Wings introduces an innovative methodology for working with incarcerated individuals: using storytelling as a pedagogical tool to activate basic competences in prison settings. The project involves partners in Spain (AIFED), Italy (LINC), Türkiye (YYHEM), and Flanders (AVANZO). The project will run until the end of 2026, so we are currently halfway through.

Learning in Prison: An Alternative to the Traditional Classroom

Incarcerated individuals often have interrupted educational paths and experiences of exclusion. In this context, the conventional classroom is not always effective. Stories4Wings proposes safe spaces where learning takes place through storytelling, active listening, and shared reflection.

Ana and Serge give a speech and play a game with inmates at the prison of Granada.

Storytelling as an Educational Methodology

Storytelling allows participants to explore emotions, values, and dilemmas without direct exposure. This symbolic distance facilitates identification, empathy, and critical thinking. The methodology adapts to different educational and cultural levels and can be used in both individual and group sessions.

In Stories4Wings, each story is an opportunity to rebuild the connection with learning. It’s not about teaching theory, but about provoking insight through narrative experience.

Learning to Survive in a Changing World

The ability to learn allows human beings to develop and understand their environment. We live in a world in constant transformation, where adaptability, critical awareness, and, especially in the 21st century, digital literacy are as essential as reading and writing. However, incarcerated individuals remain isolated from this change. While the world moves forward, they remain disconnected, without access to the tools that would allow them to understand, participate, and rebuild their future.

Stories4Wings was born as a response to this gap. The project aims to build a bridge between the outside world and the prison environment. Through stories, it offers wings to those who have temporarily lost the ability to fly. It’s not only about learning competences—it’s about reclaiming dignity, voice, and the capacity to imagine a possible future.

Key Competences for Life Inside and Outside Prison

Stories4Wings develops eight essential skills and values. Each story acts as an emotional and cognitive mirror, allowing participants to explore these competences without naming them explicitly:

1. Resilience to cope with imprisonment and build a new beginning after release.

2. Teamwork for coexistence in confined environments and integration into society.

3. The ability to face social exclusion, reconnect with the community, and strengthen self-esteem—key steps toward reintegration.

4. Vocational training and professional acquisition to boost motivation and personal autonomy, both inside and outside prison.

5. Self-awareness to take responsibility for one’s own process of change.

6. Active citizenship as a foundation for reintegration and empowerment.

7. Critical thinking to break cycles of exclusion and take control of one’s life.

8. Digital literacy to communicate effectively and participate in an increasingly digital society.

Trust, authenticity, respect, connection, listening, and curiosity are fundamental pillars of this approach. These values support personal development and preparation for social reintegration.

To date, Stories4Wings has collected 28 stories linked to the eight key competences. Some are based on real-life cases, others are fictional, but all are crafted to allow inmates to identify symbolically with one or more characters. Sixteen of these stories will be selected to develop targeted educational activities. The remaining ones will be freely available for anyone to use and build their own learning experiences. All materials will be hosted on the project’s website, which will include a free-access learning platform (LMS Moodle). This platform will feature the full collection of stories, the methodology for working with them, and a card game with questions aligned to the competences and values. The sustainability of the project lies in its dynamic and collaborative nature: professionals will be able to download activities, upload their own materials, and select stories and cards based on the competences they wish to address with inmates. The platform will remain active for approximately five years and aims to become a vibrant space for sharing knowledge and experiences.

Collaboration in Flanders

In Flanders, the project is supported by professionals committed to education in prison contexts, including Serge Rooman (director of Merksplas prison), Eddy Meijs (photographer), Lut Lippeveld (president of KLASBAK), and Ana Ferrando (Western representative of EPEA and co-founder of AVANZO).

Avanzo is the Flemish partner in the project. Ana Ferrando, co-founder of the nonprofit, led the process of identifying the eight core values creating a shared template that captured the relevance and impact of each skill—both during incarceration and after release. Avanzo also authored the stories linked to “Critical Thinking” and “Digital Literacy.” The entire process was carried out through peer-to-peer evaluation, using common templates to ensure clarity, consistency, and high-quality outcomes across all partner organisations. The president of EPEA, Thomas Wüthrich, has aslo contributed to the evaluation of the stories.

One of the stories in our project was written and shared by Nick De Ridder, a former inmate who, after his release, founded the nonprofit organisation Rebron. Rebron supports vulnerable youth - especially those in special youth care - through buddy coaching by ex-detainees. Nick’s story and his life mission after release are so compelling that it deserves a central place in this project.

Serge Rooman, together with Eddy Meijs, created a book of photographs and diptychs exploring various aspects of life in prison. For this project, we selected a story about love during the Corona period, told from the perspective of the photographer, the poet and, of course, the inmate, who had to rely on critical thinking to make the right decision.

Lut Lippeveld, president of KLASBAK—our associated partner—supported us during the brainstorming sessions on how to shape our stories to capture the reader’s attention. Moreover, KLASBAK has offered their platform to share the project’s results across Flanders, helping us reach a wider audience.

Stories4Wings shows that learning can emerge in the most unexpected places. Even behind walls, stories can lift us toward change.

Photo by Eddy Meijs at Merksplas Prison.

Ana Ferrando Benedicto

Founder of AVANZO vzw

Representative for Eastern Europe of the EPEA