Are you a youth-led organization or group supporting initiatives led by or benefiting underrepresented and marginalised youth?

Call for Proposals

Are you passionate about

  • Voicing aspirations, issues or challenges facing under-represented or marginalised young people?
  • Organising (policy) events with relevant stakeholders voicing young people’s rights and priorities?
  • Increasing participation of young people in decision making processes, policy reviews and formulation?
  • Supporting development of policy solutions and alternatives towards the wellbeing of marginalised or under-represented young people?
  • Building coalitions and networks advocating for under-represented young people?
  • Supporting initiatives that are aligned to the national youth plans and the AU agenda 2063 that uplift marginalised and under-represented young people?

Then, the Representation grant is here to support you!

What do the Representation Grants seek to support?

It is a grant supporting initiatives led by underrepresented and marginalised youth in Africa with the overall goal of enabling young people to deliver the change they want in their communities. These grants will be managed by Restless Development Uganda – a non-profit global agency which supports the collective power of young leaders to create a better world.

The aim is to:

  • Strengthen the role of young people in designing and delivering the change they would like to see in their communities and beyond
  • Bring youth voices and solutions to policymakers at different levels, specifically the Africa Union and European Union!

How do you know if you are eligible to apply?

  1. Your organisation or group must be led by either underrepresented youth, and or targeting marginalised young people. Young people (15-35 years old) are the decision makers and beneficiaries, the founder or at least co-founders must be under 35 years of age, and at least 70% of staff should be young people below 35 years.
  2. For grants up to 10.000 EUROS (described as medium and large grants) you must be a registered youth-led group or organisation, community-based organisations (CBOs) or grassroots movements.
  3. Your organisation or group must be based in one of the 12 African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (Somaliland region), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  4. Your proposed activity takes place in one or more of the above 12 countries.

Size of the grants

  • The Representation Grants’ current first grant round are up to 10,000 EUROS.
  • Funding Period will be 12.
  • Up to 20 grants will be awarded in this first.

How to apply

APPLICATIONS FOR THIS GRANT IS NOW CLOSED. 

We will communicate on results soon.

For questions on this grant, please refer to the FAQ below, if your query is not found below, please email: representation@aueuyouth.com

APPLY NOW CANDIDATE-SE JÁ POSTULEZ DÈS MAINTENANT

Webinars

What is the AU-EU Youth Action Lab & what are Representation Grants?

Learn more about this grant type and how to create your consortium by registering to one of the following webinars:

Missed our webinar? View past presentation here: Resources

Need help with your application? Join our webinars in January and February for Question-and-Answer sessions (dates to be confirmed very soon)!

Want to connect with other youth organisations and stay up-to-date on the latest info about the grants? Sign up to our online community on the Power to Voices Platform in two steps:

Step 1: Sign up to the Power to Voices Platform by making an account: Sign Up Here

Step 2: Go to the AU-EU Youth Action Lab Community and click on ‘follow’ to become a member of the group, via this link: AU-EU Youth Action Lab Community | Power to Voices

Consortium partners:

FAQ

Need help on how to submit your application? View our guide here.

Applicants are invited to first refer to the Funding Manuals for each grant type and carefully read the Call for Proposal Text and any related documents published on the Youth Lab website. Questions, likely to be relevant to all applicants, can be found in this regularly updated document, classified by themes.

FAQs for Representation Grants

All Youth Action Lab grant types are created by youth and for youth. They aim to nurture organisations’ stability, financial security and organisational capacity.

Representation grants provide the opportunity for youth initiatives in Africa to apply for funding through a Call for Proposals (CfP) and implement ideas and solutions linked to global challenges. They are grants supporting initiatives led by underrepresented and marginalised youth in Africa with the overall goal of enabling young people to deliver the change they wanted in their communities.

Some more good news? Our application and reporting mechanisms are designed in a way that makes sense to youth initiatives. Read the [funding manual] for more information.

To apply for a Representation Grant, your organisation must meet the following requirements:

  • Your organisation must be a non-profit, operating as a Trust, Community Based Organisation (CBO) or as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)/Civil Society Organisation (CSO) with a clear social mission.
  • Your organisation must be youth-led: young people (aged 18-35) represent the organisation’s governance and have primary decision-making power over the organisation’s direction and programmes (100% is aged 18-35) and are directly involved in designing and carrying out activities (>80% is aged 18-35)
  • Your project must be youth-led: all staff (100%) working on implementing the project should be young people (aged 18-35)
  • Your organisation is formally registered in your country, has an organisation bank account and a clear governance structure.
  • You are located and registered in one of the 12 African Youth Action Lab focus countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (Somaliland region), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  • Your proposed activities take place in one or more of the above 12 countries.

These grants are called representation grants because they aim at supporting initiatives led by underrepresented and marginalised African youth. Youth face numerous barriers that prevent them from engaging meaningfully in things that matter to them, empowerment and connection.

Representation grants are called powershifting grants because of specifically 3 reasons;

  • Nothing about youth without youth – a Youth Advisory Board of the Youth Action Lab will review and select the proposals to receive funding.
  • The grants facilitate and nurture stability, resilience, financial security, and organizational capacity.
  • Application and reporting mechanisms make sense to youth initiatives.

The available budget is 10,000 Euros for each grant, with 20 representation grants available in number for this Call for Proposals, and each grant will run for a maximum duration of 12 months.

  • Representation grants will support youth-led initiatives challenging discriminatory acts and promote inclusion – especially among the underrepresented and marginalised young people.
  • Support movement building initiatives such as advocacy coalitions and networks right from grassroots;
  • Enable the participation of under-represented and marginalised youth groups in relevant (advocacy) dialogues voicing their aspirations and challenges.
  • Support development of research, analysis and knowledge products on topics relevant to young people’s priorities.
  • You need to carefully read the funding manual
  • You will need to make your application on the ON Grip platform

The assessment process of applications will take about four months. Therefore, expect to hear from us around April/May 2026.

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This website has been prepared with the financial assistance of the European Commission. The views expressed herein are those of the consultants and therefore in no way reflects the official opinion of the European Commission.

Newsletter

Sign up to know about the programme’s opportunities and events.

Stay connected

Follow us and get involved!

This website has been prepared with the financial assistance of the European Commission. The views expressed herein are those of the consultants and therefore in no way reflects the official opinion of the European Commission.

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