Young Europe – Empowering Young European Citizens

ongoing

Young Europe – Empowering Young European Citizens (SF Young Europe) is a project by the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe (SF). It aims at empowering young Europeans (age 16 to 28) to become active and responsible citizens through platforms of civic and political education for encounters, exchange and debates about the most important European topics of today. SF implements programmes for democratic participation through youth networks European Youth Parliament and Understanding Europe, improves inclusion and diversity-oriented civic engagement through Young Postmigrant Alliances and stimulates activism and advocacy while connecting youth with decision-makers through discussion events and awards such as Young European of the Year and Schwarzkopf Europe Award. In 2025, key thematic focuses will be climate and environment, security and peace, digitalisation and AI, outreach and inclusion. European citizenship will be the umbrella topic for the year, as a key concept to be promoted across different programme lines, projects, and communication activities. Under those key themes, multiple specific activities and projects are set to take place in 2025 – including innovation competition in the field of sustainability and environment, or a newly-established Young Europe Security Conference. SF and youth networks organise more than 350 regional, national, and international events for encounters and youth policy work, close to 100 capacity-building events and more than 80 multimedia formats directly involving over 30,000 young individuals in 40 European countries. SF utilises well-established communication channels to reach main target groups (young people in Europe) and civil society members, educators, decision-makers, etc. and conduct extensive communication and dissemination, while reaching over 180,000 young people, focusing on inclusion and outreach activities for participants with fewer opportunities across the project.