Deadline: March 31, 2026
Applications for the GYM Youth Empowerment Fund (YEF) 2026 are now open. Youth Empowerment Fund (YEF), a partnership between the European Union (EU) and the Global Youth Mobilization (GYM), an initiative of the Big Six Youth Organisations (Big Six), provides direct financial support for youth-led initiatives focusing on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at the local level.
The Youth Empowerment Fund also aims to reach young people from under-represented backgrounds, including those facing challenges relating to their socio-economic background, gender, disability, marginalization, climate change, and more. Hence, many Youth-Led Solutions support young people and their communities in overcoming these situations of vulnerability.
Benefits
- Access to Funding: The Youth Empowerment Fund seeks to break down barriers to funding to youth initiatives and organisations and engage, empower and connect young people to create local solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. An individual person or an informal group of young people can apply to get small scale micro-grants for their projects between 500-1500 EUR, while registered youth-led organization may apply for funding up to 5000 EUR.
- Capacity Building Opportunities: In addition to funding, they provide successful project awardees with capacity building opportunities such as workshops, access to community of youth experts and guidance for their project implementation journey.
- There is also the chance for outstanding project teams to join an Accelerator Program to scale up their ideas. The Accelerator Program offers additional funding opportunities, access to a global network of youth leadership, intensive training, support from experts, and other opportunities to scale projects further.
Eligibility
- Open to young people aged 14 to 30 from eligible countries.
- Eligible projects should be addressing global challenges aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Application
Applications for the Youth Empowerment Fund are now open until 31 March 2026, 23:59 hours UTC.
For more information, visit GYM Youth Empowerment Fund.
