A Global Youth-Led Movement For Change
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
Engaging More Than 250 Million People Worldwide
The Youth Empowerment Fund is a partnership between the European Union (EU) and the Global Youth Mobilization (GYM), an initiative of the Big Six Youth Organisations (Big Six).
The Youth Empowerment Fund provides direct financial support for youth-led initiatives focusing on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at the local level.
The Global Youth Mobilization
The Global Youth Mobilization (GYM) is an initiative of the Big Six Youth Organisations – a network of the world’s largest youth organizations powered by millions of volunteers across more than 170 countries. It is a movement of young people taking action to tackle global issues to improve their lives and their communities.
Since its inception in 2020, the GYM has invested more than US$5 million to support 640 youth-led projects which has engaged more than 600,000 young people and reached over 3.6 million people in communities across more than 125 countries.
Unstoppable Together: Celebrating 2 Years of Youth-led Global Action
An estimated 1.2 billion young people have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic response measures. Disruptions to education, employment, health services and social support have changed the future of an entire generation.
To address these challenges, the world’s largest Big Six youth organizations initiated the GYM to harness the surge of youth-led activism and action, creative solutions, passion, and commitment, by investing much needed funds at a grassroots level and advocating for the role of young people in COVID-19 recovery and response efforts.
Calls from Young People:
Today’s generation of young people is facing unparalleled challenges and is disproportionately affected by worsening inequalities in society. Despite the challenges they face, young people are also a powerful force for change.
Through the Global Youth Mobilization, young people have told us to:
Upscale investment in youth-led community-based solutions
Empower young people by not only investing in projects financially but also in their potential
Connect young people and enable them to build strong, long-lasting and collaborative peer networks
Involve young people in high-level policy and decision-making
Our reach
To date the Global Youth Mobilization has invested $5 million to support 471 youth-led projects in 72 countries and funded 169 national projects, across 125 countries worldwide, through the Big Six youth organizations. Find out where they are and see how young people have taken action to improve their lives and the lives of their communities.
605,000
YOUNG PEOPLE REACHED
3,630,000
COMMUNITY BENEFICIARIES
654
NUMBER OF PROJECTS
News and Impact
Founding partners
