Meaningful Youth Engagement

This project puts youth at the centre for 3 activities throughout the year. ICYE has worked directly alongside, with, and for youth on peacebuilding and social change for almost 75 years. Over the course of the past several years, however, we have faced increased challenges in reaching young people, and particularly in getting them to maintain their commitment, e.g., stay engaged as volunteers after they return. This project works towards empowering young people in ICYE to be more active, to feel confident speaking out about their needs and to engage more strongly in the Federation’s decision-making processes.

Main aim: To contribute to meaningful youth engagement, to enhance the respect for youth participation in decision making and to shape an inclusive and safe environment for them to engage.

Sub- objectives:

Empower and build the capacity of young people to lead actions in the volunteering sector, specifically advocacy and networking;
Sensitise participants on topics around decolonisation, combating discrimination and exclusion;
Raise awareness among wider stakeholders on meaningful youth engagement in IVS;
Develop, promote, advocate for and implementan action plan for youth engagement.

Project Activities:

Youth Engagement Workshop (21-27 March 2025) in Aarhus, Denmark

Members of the ICYE Youth Engagement Committee (YEC) met for their second in-person meeting. The meeting took form as a 5-day workshop on empowering young voices in decision making. Besides the YEC members, other young people from the ICYE Federation and CCIVS attended the meeting, which took place from 21th – 27th March 2025 in Aarhus, Denmark.

The main objectives were to train and develop strong communication skills and youth engagement strategies, with a strong emphasise on the themes that are important to the ICYE Youth Engagement Committee, such as democratic values, diversity & inclusion and decolonisation.

Furthermore, the participants worked on the three goals described in the YEC Action Plan:

1) Engaging more young people before, during and after their volunteering,

2) Ensuring the active participation and engagement of youth at different levels of the ICYE Federation and 3) Decolonising the narrative and language on volunteering in the ICYE Federation.

Advocating for Youth Engagment (14-18 July 2025) in Brussels, Belgium

Continuing the path of several previous projects aimed at decolonising the International Voluntary Service (IVS) movement, this advocacy training brought together 20 participants from 18 different countries representing various IVS networks (CCIVS, ICYE, SCI) to refine and carry out a concrete advocacy plan.

The meeting took form as a 5-day workshop on building the skills needed to advocate for more equitable funding, power relations, and distribution of resources in the field of volunteering. The ICYE Youth Engagement Committee (YEC) took the lead on getting participants up to speed on the existing policy papers and advocacy work in two online preparation calls.

The group in the end sent suggested changes to the existing advocacy asks of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which target the European Commission’s Multi-Annual Funding Framework 2028-2034. This tangible experience in advocacy work will be taken forward into future advocacy work within the framework of our strong coalition of young advocates for decolonising IVS.