Apply for Youth 4 Outermost Regions (YOUTH4ORs) Project

Deadline: 09-May-24

The European Union is seeking your ideas and solutions to address the challenges in the outermost region and bring about concrete improvements.

The goal is to empower and inspire you to take an active role in your local community, aiming to improve the quality of life for everyone around you and boost local social, economic, and environmentally sustainable development with your ideas.

This call for actions is launched under the Youth 4 Outermost Regions (YOUTH4ORs) Project.

Open Calls

Young Individuals or Teams of Young People
- It offers financial support in the form of grants to young people aged 15-24, either applying individually or as a team. The applicants must be legal residents in one of the nine European Union (EU) outermost regions:
  - France: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion Island, Saint-Martin;
  - Portugal: Azores, Madeira;
  - Spain: The Canary Islands.
- The actions should contribute to improve citizens’ quality of life and foster local/regional development, adapted to the specific situation of each region.
  - Why is this call needed?
    Around five million European Union citizens live in the EU outermost regions located in the Atlantic and in the Indian Oceans, in the Caribbean Sea and in South America. While these regions are an integral part of the European Union, they face major challenges due to their remoteness, insularity (for most of them), small size, topography and vulnerably to extreme weather events.
  - To further support the outermost regions, in May 2022, the European Commission adopted a new strategy to support these regions and stimulate sustainable recovery and growth. The new strategy puts people first and highlights the challenges that young people face in these regions. Due to the high levels of unemployment and early school leaving – many young people in these regions are not in education, employment, or training – prospects for young people are often limited. In this context, developing a project empowering youth – in particular YOUTH4ORs – is one of the actions envisaged in the strategy. YOUTH4ORs draws inspiration from the European Year of Youth (2022), which emphasized the importance of listening to, involving, and supporting young people to become active citizens.
Non-Profit Associations or Educational Institutions
- It offers financial support in the form of grants to non-profit associations or educational institutions (public or private) that develop activities with or targeting young people aged 15- 24. The actions proposed by non-profit associations or educational institutions must be led by a team of young people aged 15-24.
- The applicants must be legally based in one of the nine European Union (EU) outermost regions:
  - France: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion Island, Saint-Martin;
  - Portugal: Azores, Madeira;
  - Spain: The Canary Islands.
- The actions should contribute to improve citizens’ quality of life and foster local/regional development, adapted to the specific situation of each region.
- Why is this call needed?
  - Around five million European Union citizens live in the EU outermost regions located in the Atlantic and in the Indian Oceans, in the Caribbean Sea and in South America. While these regions are an integral part of the European Union, they face major challenges due to their remoteness, insularity (for most of them), small size, topography and vulnerably to extreme weather events.
  - To further support the outermost regions, in May 2022, the European Commission adopted a new strategy to support these regions and stimulate sustainable recovery and growth. The new strategy puts people first and highlights the challenges that young people face in these regions.
  - Due to the high levels of unemployment and early school leaving – many young people in these regions are not in education, employment, or training – prospects for young people are often limited. In this context, developing a project empowering youth – in particular YOUTH4ORs – is one of the actions envisaged in the strategy. YOUTH4ORs draws inspiration from the European Year of Youth (2022), which emphasized the importance of listening to, involving, and supporting young people to become active citizens.

Funding Information

The minimum amount that can be requested for each action is EUR 5 000.
The maximum amount that can be requested for each action is EUR 10 000.
Each application must include a budget based on an estimation of costs in accordance with the following categories:
- Personnel costs (voluntary work of young people aged 15-24);
- Travel, accommodation, and subsistence (for instance, train/bus tickets, accommodation related with travel, meals associated with travel);
- Equipment (purchase and renting of equipment, infrastructure, or other assets);
- Other goods, works, or services (for instance, consumables and supplies, promotion, dissemination, translations, events, publications, catering, etc.).
The grant will cover 100% of the total budget requested as far as the costs are up to the maximum amount of EUR 10 000.
The indicative budget for this call for actions is EUR 325 000. They reserve the right not to award all available funds within this call or to potentially increase the budget, depending on the number of eligible applications received and their quality

Duration

Actions must have a duration of either 6 months or 10 months. The implementation of the selected actions will start on 1 September 2024.

Actions to be Proposed

YOUTH4ORs aims to empower young people to define and implement actions in their local communities. There are no pre-defined topics for these actions. You are encouraged to propose actions that address significant challenges in your respective local and regional communities.
You may also wish to link your action with EU priorities, for example: the transition towards a greener, more sustainable and more digital society and/or the European Pillar of Social Rights, to make Europe a fairer place, more inclusive and full of opportunities for everyone.
To give you some ideas, your actions could contribute to:
- environmental protection; biodiversity preservation and nature-based solutions, green energy transition and energy efficiency; oceans and blue economy; sustainable food production; green tourism; helping local communities and economic sectors adjust to cleaner practices, circular economy and waste management.
- digital solutions to local challenges; development of digital skills; uptake of digital technologies; low cost enabling digital solutions.
- equal opportunities and access to the labour market; gender equality and gender balance; diversity; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. Actions seeking to promote equality and inclusion are particularly encouraged.
Your action can include different activities, such as: workshops, trainings, events, meetings, campaigns, exchange of good practices; creative solutions; research/studies, and any other activities you may consider relevant. Your action can also include (preferably online) exchanges or joint activities with young people in other communities within your region, or with other EU outermost regions, neighboring countries and with the continental European Union. All combinations are possible.

Eligibility Criteria

Young Individuals or Teams of Young People
- Applicant
  - The application must be submitted by a main applicant 1) aged between 15 to 24 years old at the call closing date and 2) legal resident in one of the outermost regions. If the main applicant is under 18 years of age, a responsible adult/legal guardian must be identified. Each main applicant is allowed to submit one application. If multiple applications are received by the same applicant, only the last submitted application will be considered. Selected applicants will sign a Participation Agreement. For selected applicants under 18 years of age, the Participation Agreement will be signed by the responsible adult/legal guardian identified during the application phase.
- Team members
  - When actions are submitted by a team, the identified team members must be 1) aged between 15 to 24 years old at the call closing date and 2) legal residents in one of the outermost regions. For the team members under 18 years of age, a responsible adult/legal guardian must be identified.
  - Individuals can be part of one team/application only.
Non-Profit Associations or Educational Institutions
- Applicant
  - The application must be submitted by a non-profit association or educational institution (public or private) 1) that develops activities with or targeting young people aged between 15 to 24 years and 2) is legally based in one of the outermost regions. Each applicant is allowed to submit one application. If multiple applications are received by the same applicant, only the last submitted application will be considered.
  - Selected applicants will sign a Participation Agreement.
- Team members
  - The applicant must be supported by a team of young people 1) aged between 15 to 24 years old at the call closing date and 2) legal residents in one of the outermost regions. For the team members under 18 years of age, a responsible adult/legal guardian must be identified. Individuals can be part of one team/application only