The European Youth Foundation (EYF) gathered partners, international and independent funders active in the field of youth and member of the Council of Europe Joint Council on Youth in Strasbourg to chart the way to updating the Foundation’s work. The European Youth Foundation is a unique, agile and relevant supporter to youth organisations across Europe. The Foundation’s grants are a key tool to follow-up on the Reykjavik declartion by fostering young people’s participation in democratic life and decision-making processes, working for peace based on international cooperation.
The Consultative meeting on the refofrm of the EYF’s grants was held on 11-12 September in Strasbourg and it gathered more than 50 participants – representatives of member states, international, local and national youth organisations, donor community, youth researchers and the Council of Europe. The meeting offered a platform for the partipants to explore new ideas and provide guidance for the main directions of change in the EYF grants and procedures.
The update will allow EYF to remain a unique, agile and relevant donor to youth organisations across Europe, with a key role within the Council of Europe for revitalising democratic life and promoting human rights. The reform of the EYF will also create space and support for reinforcing civil society and democratic values, key areas of work of the Council of Europe reaffirmed in the 4th Summit of the Heads of States and Governament in Reykjavik, May 2024.
“Youth policy and perspectives require, at European level, structures capable of providing support to young people, their organisations, and international networks. The European Youth Foundation is doing this through funding genuine European activities, led by young people themselves coming from multiple countries. The statute and the aims of the European Youth Foundation have stood the test of time since 1972. The Consultative Meeting convened by the Joint Council on Youth is about how the Council of Europe can modernise the Foundation’s co-operation practice, foster the participation of young persons in democratic life, and empower today’s youth in the pursuit of peace based on justice and international cooperation”, said Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe at the opening of the meeting.
Within the EYF reform process, a public consultation was conducted in the period May – July 2024. It aimed to collect ideas about the needed changes regarding the grants and over 100 contributions from organisations, institutions, individuals from 29 member states were collected. The results were discussed at the Consultative meeting and some of the main recommendations include proposals on making the grants more suitable for the situation of young people across member states, simplification of procedures and development of trust-based partnerships with youth organisations, to allow young people to be actors of change for democracy and human rights in their communities.
In the upcoming period, the Joint Council on Youth, the co-managed decision-making body of the Council of Europe’s youth sector, will examine the main directions of the EYF reform, with a horizon of concluding the process by 2025 with the final approval of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The EYF was set up by the Council of Europe in 1972 to promote peace, understanding and international co-operation between young people in Europe and beyond, in a spirit of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It does so by providing financial support to international, national, and local non-governmental youth organisations and networks, to carry out strategic projects relevant to the Council of Europe youth sector priorities. Every year the EYF supports around 200 youth projects and reaches out to about 15 000 young people.
