Funding programme

Erasmus+ is the EU funding programme for education, training, youth and sport for the period 2021-2027. Read more about ERASMUS+ here.

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Call overview

This call aims to support the international cooperation and policy dialogue in the field of youth and non-formal learning.

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Call detail

Capacity-building projects are international cooperation projects based on multilateral partnerships between organisations active in the field of youth in Programme and Partner countries. The action will aim to:

• raise the capacity of organisations working with young people outside formal learning;
• promote non-formal learning activities in Partner countries, especially targeting young people with fewer opportunities, with a view to improving the level of competences while ensuring the active participation of young people in society;  
• support the development of youth work in Partner countries, improving its quality and recognition;  
• foster the development, testing and launching of schemes and programmes of non-formal learning mobility in Partner countries;  
• contribute to the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2019-2027) including the 11 European Youth goals;  
• foster cooperation across different regions of the world through joint initiatives;
• enhance synergies and complementarities with formal education systems and/or the labour market.  

ADDITIONAL SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES FOR PROJECTS TARGETING REGION 9 (SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA)

The general objectives outlined in the section above also apply to projects targeting Region 9. In addition, for Region 9 only, this action will also contribute to achieving the goals of the Youth Mobility for Africa flagship initiative. This initiative is part of the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package to increase strategic engagement between the EU and Africa on learning mobility and youth on both continents. The initiative contributes to the Youth Action Plan in External Action (2022-2027) and the commitments made at the 6th EU-African Union Summit in 2022. In this framework, Capacity Building in the field of youth, targeting Sub-Saharan Africa, aims also to support projects that promote the mobility of young people with a view to promoting their active participation in society as well as to helping them acquire and develop competences for life and for their professional future.

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Activities

The activities proposed must be directly linked to the general and specific objectives of the action and they must be detailed in a project description covering the entire implementation period. Finally, in the context of this international worldwide action, project activities must focus on building and strengthening the capacities of youth organisations and young people principally in the partner countries covered by the action.

Examples of activities include:

• the development of tools and methods for the socio-professional development of youth workers and trainers;
• the development of non-formal learning methods, especially those promoting the acquisition/improvement of competences, including media literacy skills;
• the development of new forms of practical training schemes and simulation of real life cases in society;
• the development of new forms of youth work, notably strategic use of open and flexible learning, virtual cooperation, open educational resources (OER) and better exploitation of the ICT potential;
• the organisation of events/seminars/workshops/exchange of good practice for cooperation, networking, awareness raising and peer-learning purposes
• the organisation of mobility activities for young people and/or youth workers in order to test tools and methods developed by the partnership. Please note that mobility activities must be secondary to the main objectives of the action, and must be instrumental to and underpin the achievement of these objectives.

Additional compulsory activities for projects targeting Region 9 (Sub-Saharan Africa)

For proposals targeting Region 9, Youth Exchanges and/or Youth Participation Activities must be included in the application, as described below.

Youth Exchanges

Youth Exchanges are meetings of groups of young people from different countries – for this action, from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, on the one hand, and from Sub-Saharan Africa countries, on the other hand - who gather for a short period to implement jointly a non-formal learning programme (workshops, exercises, debates, role-plays, simulations, outdoor activities, etc.) on a topic of their interest. A quality Youth Exchange:

• is based on clearly identified needs of the young participants; it relies on their active and direct involvement the preparation, implementation and follow up of the activities;

• involves diverse groups of participants and builds on this diversity;

• encourages the participants to reflect on topics of common interest and values;

• must have in place effective procedures and arrangements to promote and guarantee the safety, protection and non-discrimination of the participants, especially in case of underage participants;

• ensures the recognition by the participating organisations of the non-formal and informal learning outcomes of the participants.

Youth Participation Activities

Activities outside formal education and training that encourage, foster and facilitate young people’s participation in democratic life. They consist of workshops, meetings, seminars or other events gathering young people from different countries (both from Sub-Saharan Africa and from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme) and offering them space for information, debate and active participation on issues relevant to their daily lives. These activities aim to:

• provide young people with opportunities to engage and learn to participate in civic society;

• raise their awareness about common values and fundamental rights and contribute to the achievement of one or more of the 11 EU Youth Goals;

• increasing young people’s resilience to disinformation, misinformation and propaganda;

• empower young people to have influence on policies that affect their lives, by bringing them together with decision makers at local, regional, national and international level.

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Eligibility

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must be:

- legal entities:

• NGOs (including European Youth NGOs and national Youth Councils) working in the field of Youth;

• public authorities at local, regional or national level;

• Public or private companies (small, medium or large enterprise (including social enterprises) may also participate but not as coordinator.

- legally established in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme, or in third countries not associated to the Programme from region 9 - Sub-Saharan Africa:

• Angola
• Benin
• Botswana
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Cabo Verde
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo
• Congo - Democratic Republic of the
• Côted’Ivoire
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Eswatini
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Madagasca
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia
• South Africa
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Consortium Composition

Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 4 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities), which complies with the following conditions:

• minimum 1 legal entity from an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme;

• minimum 2 legal entities from 2 different eligible third countries not associated to the Programme belonging to the same eligible Region mentioned above.

Organisations from different eligible regions cannot participate in the same projects. Cross-regional projects are not eligible. Affiliated entities and associated partners do not count for the consortium composition

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Budget

The maximum EU contribution per project is EUR 450 000, including the Youth Exchanges and Youth Participation Activities.

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Project duration

Projects should normally last between 12 and 36 months (extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment).