IFM-SEI prides itself being frontrunners in child and youth participation on world level as well as in our member organisations in all world regions. For many years, external organisations have approached IFM-SEI to support them in this work and it is a key criterion for member organisations to join IFM-SEI. Despite this, we cannot take it as a given that our structures always facilitate participation and there is always progress to be made in this area. A big obstacle is how to engage children meaningfully in our member organisations’ structures. Our members decided to develop this are of work so we can continue to be trailblazers of participation and youth leadership again.

The project targets existing governance bodies of youth organisations as well as young people aged 18-25 who are interested in taking on leadership positions. The leadership
academy will be tailored particularly to young people with fewer opportunities, who are usually much less likely to participate in decision-making, such as young parents, young workers, ethnic minorities or young people from poor economic backgrounds.

The aim of this two-year project is to strengthen youth leadership in 12 youth organisations in four world regions through two strands:

1. Good governance: This strand will work with established organizational leaders and young people to share governance practices and develop ideas on how to improve transparency and internal democracy inside their organisations, with the aim to improve youth participation in the leadership of outh organisations and the global umbrella organisation IFM-SEI.
2. Leadership academy: Young people (aged 18-25) will receive training and coaching in leadership skills, which will support them to take on leadership positions of groups and in boards of organisations.

And the specific objectives are the following:

1. To share experiences and critically self- reflect on internal governance processes in IFM-SEI member organisations in four world regions and develop a set of ‘democracy criteria’ as minimum standards for democracy and accountability in children and youth organisations.
2. To initiate internal reflection and change processes in 11 national children and youth organisations and one international organisation that will allow better participation of young people under 25 in decision-making positions.
3. To build the competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes) of young people under 25 for taking on leadership roles through tailor-made workshops a virtual coaching process that will also foster the promotion of key European values that are transferable in their future education, employment and personal development.
4. To promote the values of good governance and youth leadership in the youth field globally, as well as to other NGOs and institutional stakeholders through a dissemination campaign that will include a social media campaign for the democracy criteria, a web documentary and a practical youth leadership toolkit to support others in improving their practices.

The aim is sharing of experiences of current state of MOs

What will happen? 1 young person and 1 representative of each partner will tackle topics such as internal democracy, transparency criteria, methods to improve child participation, generational handover.

Partners organize internal workshops to reflect on the results of the good governance training and discuss how to take the work forward inside their own organisations

What and when? 3 young people per organization, for 8 days, with external trainers providing different kinds of skills training – workshops for example on communications, value-based decision-making, moderation skills…

Virtual coaching of the participants through experienced leaders from other IFM-SEI organisations

Networking events in partner countries to build partnerships with other youth networks and youth authorities to improve reach and effectiveness of the youth leaders

Toolkit development workshop to develop methods and tools for the leadership toolkit

Closing conference prior to give young people the opportunity to use their new leadership skills, as well as reflecting on 100 years of youth leadership in IFM-SEI.

Youth leadership toolkit

Web documentary

Journey of Leadership, showing what it means to be a good leader in a socialist youth organization through portraits of participants, quotes as well as reflection and training materials

With the support of