On 12 August, International Youth Day is celebrated every year to talk about the challenges young people face, value their contributions to society, and support their role in building a better future.
The theme of International Youth Day 2025 is “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond”.
Localizing the SDGs refers to the process of adapting and implementing the global goals within specific local contexts, aligning them with community needs while maintaining consistency with national and international commitments. This approach is vital to ensure that development is inclusive, participatory, and sustainable. When young people are empowered to engage in this process, they become catalysts for innovation and resilience in their communities.
This year’s theme highlights the vital role of young people in bringing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to life at the local level. Rather than being passive recipients of development efforts, young people are driving change as leaders, innovators, and key contributors within their communities.
Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population. By 2030, the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that make up the 2030 Agenda – the number of youth is projected to have grown by 7 per cent, to nearly 1.3 billion.
NGOs are key partners in the UN’s efforts to empower youth. With their grassroots connections and local knowledge, they understand young people’s challenges and design programs like education, training, or mental health support. They also create inclusive spaces for youth expression and advocate for youth rights on national and international levels.
Today, on the occasion of International Youth Day we want to share with you our best tips for writing proposals for youth projects to support all the amazing NGOs working in this sector.
Make sure you include your beneficiaries in the project planning
It is always important to include all beneficiaries in all stages of project planning and implementation. It is of particular importance when working with youth though because one major goal should always be to empower youth. Make sure you amplify the voice of your beneficiaries and help them find their way, instead of imposing your ideas on them. Youth projects should always be youth-driven and will be much stronger this way.
You can use various participatory approaches to collect your beneficiaries’ inputs and to include them. Make sure your organization has youth representation on the board, as this will also strengthen your position when applying for grants for youth projects.
Take a holistic approach
When you work with youth, it is very important to take a holistic approach to every area you want to work in. Different areas are interconnected, and particularly for youth projects, it is important to keep these interconnections in mind. It does not make sense to improve education when you don’t work to create employment as well. Income-generating measures only make sense when they are just and equal for all genders. Political empowerment goes hand in hand with economic empowerment.
Try to keep in mind all the consequences and influences of your project and think in detail about the assumptions and risks of your project. You do not want to start a project that might have a negative impact further down the road.
Think about useful partnerships
Partnership always makes sense when you want to apply for grants. If you consolidate resources of two or more organizations, they can last much longer. Experiences and expertise can be shared and bigger challenges can be tackled. This is even more so the case with youth projects.
Many youth-driven organizations are young – not only their members but the organization itself. Donors do not like to give big grants to brand new organizations. Also, administration, budgeting and project management are best learned with time. Partnerships with more mature organizations from the same area or field of work can make a lot of sense. The smaller organization can benefit from the knowledge and expertise, and donors might be more inclined to support such a project.
Stay up to date
Staying up to date is always important, but when you want to work with youth, it is crucial. The digitalization of the world is moving ahead very quickly, and young people will have to live and work in a completely different world than the one the older generations knew. Being up to date with methodology and technology is very important to be able to design meaningful projects for youth.
Think about an outreach plan early on
When you apply for a grant for a youth project, you should start thinking about your outreach plan early on. Document all your steps with pictures and video, so you can use your social media channels to share your project with other interested people. Next, to use classic channels like newspaper and radio channels, think about modern modes of distribution of information as well. This could be a Facebook post, a tweet or an Instagram video – whichever channel works best for your beneficiaries and partners.
Happy International Youth Day!
Check out this article as well where we combined out best tips to write a winning proposal: 10 Top Tips to Write a Great Proposal