In December, the EU4Youth programme launched a major new ‘EU4Youth Coordination and Policy Support’ project, aiming to support EU action on youth in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine).

The main goal of the two-and-a-half-year project is to enable young people from the EaP region to be proactive within their communities and to secure control over their futures. Areas of work will range from enhancing strategic partnerships and extending EU support on youth policy matters, to monitoring the EU4Youth programme’s overall progress, and communicating the success of EU-funded youth initiatives throughout the region.

The project is implemented by EY and GOPA, both seasoned in leading youth empowerment projects over the past five years. Behrooz Motamed-Afshari, team leader of the new project, shares his enthusiasm to continue enriching the lives of young people in the region: “Facing tough times and big changes in the region makes our work challenging, yet even more important. Through these challenges, we grow stronger together, bolstered by enhanced outreach, solid partnerships, and tangible results.”

Past projects implemented by EY and GOPA have already facilitated improved opportunities in education, entrepreneurship and civic engagement for young people across the EaP region. With the advent of this new project, there are high expectations for the generation of even more transformative ideas for youth empowerment and policy development.Beside the preparation of the EU4Youth Achievements Report 2023 and the planning of the EU4Youth Days 2024, one of the project’s first activities will be the launch of the new cycle of the EU4Youth Alumni Network, which brings together beneficiaries of the EU4Youth, Erasmus+ Youth in Action and European Solidarity Corps programmes, and the network of Young European Ambassadors from the Eastern partner countries. EU4Youth Alumni work to support a stronger engagement of disadvantaged young people from the partner countries, both in their community, and in EU mobility programmes.