Call for Applications: AU-EU Youth Action Lab Entrepreneurship Grants

Is your organization or (social) enterprise passionate about young people taking control of their own future?

The Entrepreneurship Grants aim to provide support to youth actors who work to strengthen the economic opportunities for young people!

The Entrepreneurship Grants provide grant opportunities between 30.000 and 50.000 EURO for which individual youth organizations and consortiums of youth organizations can apply to.

What do we mean with supporting economic opportunities of young people?

The entrepreneurship grants focus on youth-led actions that address a three-fold selection of key challenges young people face around the world in their economic participation and taking control of their own future:

1. Access to skills development opportunities that are according to the needs of young people and local economic realities and support the start-up of new youth-led enterprises.
2. The responsible growth of youth-led (social) enterprises that consider social and environmental boundaries.
3. An enabling environment for young entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. During this first grant call for proposals, the focus will be on the first topic: skills development!
4. We ask interested youth organizations or (social) enterprises to submit your ideas to advance meaningful skills development opportunities for young people!

What can you expect when you receive a grant?

• Your organization will receive financial support to implement your skills development project with young people in your own community and beyond
• Your organization will become part of a platform for you to share your solution with peers, decision-makers, and other stakeholders across Africa and Europe
• You will benefit from mentorship and other forms of capacity development support according to the needs of your organization

When is your organization eligible to apply?

• Your organization or (social) enterprise is youth-led (age 18 to 35) where young people are the decision-makers.
• In the case of an enterprise, you are either registered as a ‘social enterprise’ or an ‘enterprise’. In the case of the latter, you can showcase a clear social ambition and impact of the work of your company.
• You are a youth organization or (social) enterprise that is formal: you are legally registered in your country, and have an organization/enterprise bank account and a governance structure.
• You are located and registered in one of the 12 African Youth Action Lab focus countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (Somaliland region), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Your proposed activity takes place in one or more of the above 12 countries.
• Your annual budget or grants managed in the past should be a minimum of 10.000 EURO.

What kind of activities can you propose?

Your proposal can have a diversity of activities that build upon each other. We are excited to receive your ideas!

As general guidance, we can identify three broad types of activities:

Develop, test and implement new skills development curriculum for young people

For example: a new curriculum module that fills a distinct gap identified in advancing young people’s economic participation.

Scale-up and existing skills development delivery to reach a wider diversity of young people

For example: innovative methods to make skills development curriculums available to young people in remote areas.

Nurturing the exchange and coordination between (youth-led) skills development providers, local businesses and/or government actors

For example: Setting up learning exchanges between local businesses, young people and skills development providers.

The activities you propose can be a mixture of the broad types of activities above and do not need to ‘fit in one box’.

How to apply

• Carefully read the funding manual. (English | French | Portuguese)
• Make sure you meet the eligibility criteria.
• Develop your proposal as an individual organization or in collaboration with other youth organizations.
• Deadline for applications: 19^th of February

SUBMIT APPLICATION

Need help with your application? Join our webinars in January and February for Question-and-Answer sessions (dates to be confirmed very soon)!

Want to connect with other youth organizations and stay up-to-date on the latest info about the grants? Sign up to our online community on the Power to Voices Platform in two steps:

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