Empowering Youth for a Democratic Future

In 2023, the International Office of the EYP became an accredited Erasmus+ organisation. With this accreditation, we have received funding through 2023-2026 for a range of activities. Together, these activities fall under the project: Empowering Youth for a Democratic Future.

With this project, our vision is to build a democratic, peaceful, sustainable, and open society where every young person is informed and empowered to actively shape their own lives and contribute to society. Recognizing that many young people, particularly from rural and under-represented communities, lack the opportunity to engage in civic life, this project seeks to address this gap. We aim to provide meaningful opportunities for youth involvement and equip them with the skills to participate in democratic processes through EYP activities and training.

Pillars of the Project: 

  • ENABLE AND EMPOWER

    We strive to enable young people to reflect on democratic structures and their connection to multinational cooperation, such as the EU. Through peer-led platforms, we help youth express their opinions, share perspectives, and gain skills like facilitation, communication, and teamwork. This empowers them to actively engage in societal structures and prepares them for future civic and professional roles.

  • ENHANCE

    We are committed to enhancing the quality of youth work across Europe by building the capacities of young people and youth workers. This includes developing skills in inclusion, diversity, conflict transformation, partnership building, and project management. These competencies will help participants improve their roles within their organizations and strengthen their personal development, fostering attitudes like openness to new ideas and cultural diversity.

  • COOPERATE 

    This project promotes structural cooperation and best-practice sharing among youth-led organizations across Europe. We aim to foster a network of youth workers from up to 40 countries, facilitating the exchange of ideas, good practices, and innovative methods in youth democratic participation and inclusion. Through this cooperation, we aim to improve the overall quality of youth work and create stronger connections across Europe.

  • MULTIPLY

    By focusing on empowering youth workers, we aim to design better participation activities that reach all young people. Our extensive training strategy focuses on fostering a democratic culture, inclusion, and youth participation. The goal is to multiply these effects by supporting youth organizations, helping them improve grassroots-level youth work and enabling young people to become active citizens with critical thinking skills.

  • INCLUDE

    We are committed to including under-represented, vulnerable, and socio-economically disadvantaged young people in participatory democracy. This project aims to increase participation from groups such as rural youth, migrants, and vocational school students. We will identify and break down barriers to participation, ensuring that all young people can engage in our activities. Our progress will be closely monitored to ensure we meet measurable targets for inclusivity.

What This Looks Like in EYP

All the activities outlined in this project directly support our mission to build a democratic, peaceful, sustainable, and open society where young people are informed, empowered, and actively shaping their communities. These activities not only enhance the learning experiences in EYP sessions but also provide valuable educational opportunities for our volunteers themselves.

Many participants continue their involvement by facilitating or organizing events, gaining leadership experience, and engaging in training activities. These EYP’ers form our large pool of 3000 active volunteers, who are all youth workers benefiting from this project.

Through hands-on training, participants are encouraged to take on leadership roles and gain the skills needed to manage either EYP National Committees or other local/national youth organizations. EYP prioritizes building the competences of these youth workers. We offer a range of trainings such as the Training Academy, the Youth Worker’s Knowledge Exchange, and the Summer Academy, all aimed at enhancing skills in multiplication, leadership, and inclusivity.

Around half of the events under this project are training events for youth workers.The other half of our events under this project are EYP sessions and topical events, focused on  developing the knowledge and skills of youth through youth exchanges. These activities span a variety of personal and professional competences, from facilitation and EU decision-making to project management and media literacy.

Contact

  • Annelou Snippe

    Project Manager Arctic Youth

Partner