Funding for your project? Start with Youth in Action!

The Youth in Action programme is the European Commission's mobility and non-formal education programme for young people and those working with them, in a leisure-time context (outside school).
The YiA programme promotes active European citizenship, youth participation, cultural diversity and the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.

The Youth in Action programme offers various opportunities for young people to set up projects with an international dimension: e.g. group exchanges, voluntary service, democracy projects and group initiatives. It also provides funding for support activities for youth workers to increase the quality of their youth projects.

The Youth in Action Programme is open to young people and youth workers in the so-called 'Programme Countries'. These are (currently) the EU members, the EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) and the pre-accession country (only Turkey for the moment, more could join).There are some (limited) opportunities to set up projects with neighbouring partner countries (South-East Europe, Eastern Europe & Caucasus and the EuroMed countries around the Mediterranean Sea) and beyond.

There are several types of projects that can receive funding. The funding rules of the Youth in Action programme are largely based on a simple system of flat rates and fixed amounts, depending on the number of participants, the activity, its duration, etc.

• Youth Exchanges (where groups of young people come together)
• Group Initiatives (local projects originating from youth groups)
• Democracy Projects (encouraging young people to take part in the democratic process)
• European Voluntary Service (young people volunteer in another country)
• Training & Networking for youth workers (training, seminars, job-shadowing, feasibility visits, partnership building, evaluation meetings, etc.)

> Find out more about the Youth in Action programme in the Programme Guide, or contact the YiA National Agency in your country.

> The European Commission has also posted a YiA promo-film online at Youtube

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The Youth in Action programme & young ethnic minority women

The Youth in Action programme should be open for 'ALL' young people. And if certain groups of young people with fewer opportunities are not reached, special efforts should be made to create easier access for them to the opportunities offered by Youth in Action.

Young ethnic minority women are often at a disadvantage compared to their peers. In many European countries, the Youth in Action programme is not used by young ethnic minority women.

Of course the same general rules apply for you as for any Youth in Action project, but you can get some extra support for a project working with young ethnic minority women, if justified.

• Exceptional costs: if you have extra costs because you are working with young ethnic minority women, you can claim these expenses in your application e.g. extra costs for security (in unsafe areas), for renting equipment that wouldn't otherwise be available, for specialised youth workers or translators... It's up to you to ask - within reason.
  
• In Youth Exchanges, bilateral exchanges (between only 2 countries) are reserved for new organisations or inclusion groups. This allows you to do 'simpler' projects (fewer countries) because you have other complications due to the situation you work in.
  You can apply for an Advanced Planning Visit to prepare your project with your different partner organisations, to organise the exchange in the best possible way, have a look at the infrastructure in the host city and find solutions to potential problems.
  Youth initiatives run by young ethnic minority women themselves (projects for them, by them) are allowed to have a youth worker coaching them when needed (and extra money for this).
• The regular duration of a European Voluntary Service project is between 2 and 12 months. However, for inclusion projects, this can be for periods of 2 weeks onwards, up to a maximum of 12 months, if there are valid reasons for it.
• There is the possibility of making an Advanced Planning Visit, together with the young ethnic minority woman volunteer, to get acquainted with the EVS hosting organisation and project.
• If the EVS volunteer needs extra attention, reinforced mentorship can be funded, if requested and justified in the application form. In addition, the volunteer can be younger than 18 (16 or 17) if there are reasons for it.
• Every country in Europe is different. Therefore your Youth in Action National Agency will have to judge if your requests are reasonable, considering your 'disadvantage' in your context. It's up to you to explain why. Find here a list of these agencies
• More about specific measures for inclusion in the European Commission's 'Inclusion Strategy for the Youth in Action programme' find here.

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