Under30 - The Youth Development Agency

To harness the hidden and too often wasted potential for youth development, a group of motivated young people with experience both as youth activists and within development agencies have set up a volunteer project: Under30 – The Youth Development Agency.

The overall objective of Under30 is to empower young people to become leaders in development cooperation.

Under30’s overall objective will be achieved by:
1. Building a global network of youth organisations active in development cooperation to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practices;

2. Bridging the gap between youth-led development initiatives and existing funding opportunities from public and private donors;

3. Improving the quality and professionalism of youth-led development initiatives;

4. Raising development stakeholders’ awareness of the role of youth in development.

Activities
Creation and development of a database of youth organisations active in development cooperation. Youth organisations active in development work will be able to register in a database by filling in a form available on the Under30 website. In this database, information about the organisation and its field of work is collected to enable future matching. The database will be available on Under30’s website for consultation by possible partner organisations and donors. Under30’s staff will constantly update the database with requests coming from organisations through the e-form or by other means. Under30’s outreach activities will target the registration of organisations into the database.
Identification of funding opportunities from public and private donors suitable for youth-led development initiatives. Under30 constantly monitors a wide range of funding opportunities and open calls for proposals, from public and private donors, and identifies those suitable for the registered youth organisations.
Dissemination of information on funding opportunities from public and private donors suitable for youth-led development initiatives. Upcoming calls for proposals are communicated to the network via monthly newsletters, Facebook and Twitter. Under30 acts as a ‘megaphone’ for calls for proposal to reach the grassroots and ensure broader participation.
Match-making of upcoming calls for proposals to the organisations registered in the database. If matches are not directly solicited by any of the network organisations, Under30 analyses both the upcoming calls for proposals and makes suggestions for matches.
Provision of administrative, procedural and quality support. If a match is accepted, or directly solicited by a youth organisation or project manager, Under30 provides administrative, procedural and quality support during the design of project proposals and the application process.
Provision of technical advice during the implementation and evaluation of the projects. Once the project is financed, Under30 follows the implementation and evaluation of the activities and continues to provide assistance upon demand by the beneficiary.
Capacity building activities to enhance member organisations’ project management, organisation management, networking and advocacy skills. On the basis of demand, Under30 will provide member organisations with ad-hoc advice and reference to learning material. Under30 occasionally promotes participation to international conferences and trainings.
Gathering and dissemination of lessons learnt and success stories. Under30 will be ready to react to an evolving agenda on youth. Through its match-making experience, Under30 will gradually develop a knowledge resource with existing successful youth-led projects and will periodically prepare policy briefs aimed at shaping major donors’ policy towards young people, as well as their general funding priorities.