We are happy to announce the launching of the call for proposals for ad hoc youth initiatives “Living and building democracy”.
The details of the call, including the eligibility, exclusion and award criteria, as well as application forms are now published on our website. and applications are open for submission as from end of July for youth organisations registered with the EYF, by the deadline of 1 September 2026 23:59 CEST.
This call aims to support ad hoc youth initiatives that contribute to the following objectives:
- Create space for young people to learn more about democracy and the role of human rights therein, in relation to specific challenges to democracies in the current European context.
- Allow young people to develop their attitudes, views and specifically their critical thinking for building a democratic culture, including when using the digital space.
- Equip young people with citizenship skills and ways to take active part in democratic processes and human rights promotion.
The activities that can be supported through these grants must respond to specific challenges young people face in engaging with democratic processes, such as challenges around misinformation and manipulation, disinformation and fake news, barriers to voting, limited participation in political and governance processes, etc. Initiatives need to demonstrate the relevance of the proposed intervention and explain how their initiative will tackle and overcome that specific challenge.
For more details, please read carefully the call for proposal overview document.
This call is open for local or national youth organisations. You may check the Guide for the grants of the EYF pages 17-19 to better understand the criteria for youth organisations eligible to apply for the EYF grants.
For youth organisations and their representatives interested in finding out more about the specificities of this call for proposals two information sessions will be held online on Thursday 23 July 2026 between 15h00 – 16h30 CEST and Tuesday 11 August 2026 between 15h00 – 16h30 CEST (JOIN THIS SESSION AT THIS LINK).
Check at this link the transcript of the first info session that took place on 23 July 2026 on this topic, as well as the power point presentation that was shared at the meeting.
In addition to that, you can join our Digital Open Desks to ask any questions you may have on this call. They take place every Wednesday afternoon in July (8, 15, 22 and 29 July) and August (5, 12, 19, 26 August) , from 14:00 to 16:00 CET, on TEAMS (no prior registration is required).
To apply for this call, applicants must be registered with the European Youth Foundation, as per the eligibility criteria indicated in the overview document of the specific call for proposal.
Interested candidates who are not yet registered with the Foundation must first create an account and submit their registration request at support4youth.coe.int. For applicants who are not yet registered with the European Youth Foundation, the online granting system will be available for creating a new registration form for a youth organisation by end of July 2026.
The applicant’s registration must be validated by the EYF secretariat no later than the deadline of this call in order to apply.
Please note that the new online platform will be available for registrations of potential new candidates but also for accepting submissions of proposals from existing registered youth organisations only as from end of July.