Main insights and
programme overview

Young people remain a top priority on the European agenda. The EU’s commitment to youth is evident through initiatives like Erasmus+, the Youth Guarantee, and the EU Youth Dialogue, while in 2023 several pilot projects were launched worldwide as a result of the Youth Action Plan. Beyond the EU, young people are considered important actors for change in their countries. In line with the Youth Action Plan and the EU youth strategy, the EU4Youth regional programme continues to engage, empower, and connect young people in the Eastern partner countries, reducing youth unemployment and promoting active citizenship.

Marking the 6th year of the EU4Youth programme, this report highlights the results achieved in 2023. The investment of over 50 million EUR since 2018 has considerably strengthened youth employment and entrepreneurship, encouraged active citizenship, and supported international commitments such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.

The EU4Youth programme, the flagship initiative for EU support to young people in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – focuses on Education and Employability, Employment and Entrepreneurship, and Engagement and Empowerment. In 2023, the programme has demonstrated its strong capacity to adapt to local realities and political developments, while continuing to address youth issues in a dynamic fashion.

Responding to the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, the programme has also continued to repurpose funds, releasing 2 million EUR towards youth employment and entrepreneurship projects in Ukraine. This funding aims to strengthen youth resilience and to encourage active participation in Ukraine’s recovery.

The EU’s investment in young people in the EaP countries promotes democracy, stability, and economic development. By getting involved in decision-making, young people can push for democratic reforms and resist authoritarian influences, fostering a pro-European sentiment vital for regional stability.

Economically, investing in youth enhances employability, encourages innovation and supports social entrepreneurship, boosting local economies and creating new markets for EU goods and services. Socially, supporting youth promotes cohesion and inclusivity, also thereby reducing migration pressures.

With the EU4Youth programme, the EU will continue to support young people’s innovative visions, engagement, and participation, striving to give them better opportunities for the future, and supporting them to become more resilient in the face of global and regional challenges.

Launched in 2017 and led by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations(DG NEAR), the EU4Youth programme seeks to increase investment in young people’s skills, entrepreneurship and employability, and to encourage active youth engagement in democratic life.

Just as the programme itself, this report is structured around three key pillars:

Tailored to each of the Eastern Partnership countries, the programme has been systematically collecting and analysing its impact at the national level over the past six years. With the 2023 edition of the EU4Youth Achievements Report, there are now five comprehensive documents for policymakers, civil society leaders and educators designing and implementing youth empowerment initiatives and policy measures in the Eastern Partnership region.

Across the Eastern Partnership region, 2023 continued to be marked by ongoing conflicts and political instability. These developments not only affected policies and programme activities, but have also greatly impacted the lives of young people in the Eastern Partnership countries.

In spite of this challenging context, the EU4Youth programme continued to play a vital role in creating opportunities and empowering young people in the region, underscoring its capacity to adjust and evolve with changing circumstances.

While the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine forced projects to adapt to the new regional and local realities, leading to some activities being postponed or terminated, projects largely managed to redesign or reorient their actions. This guaranteed continued support to youth, including to those directly affected or displaced by the war.

Responding to the specific needs in Ukraine, the programme moreover allocated €2 million in direct funding to youth initiatives. Together with the other grant projects, these direct grants are meant to help strengthen the resilience of youth in Ukraine, while empowering young people to take an active part in rebuilding their economy and society.

Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia also continued their path towards EU membership in 2023. Following the decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022, EU leaders agreed to open accession negotiations with both countries in December 2023, while conditionally granting Georgia candidate status.

In the upcoming years, the EU4Youth programme will continue to reinforce ties between young people across the EU and the candidate countries, while also providing crucial policy support to assist these countries in their EU accession process, particularly in relation to Chapter 26 on education and youth.

EU4Youth activities in Armenia and Azerbaijan were overshadowed by the escalation of conflict in the second half of 2023, as Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh led to the displacement of a large number of Karabakh Armenians. While programme activities under Phase III proceeded in both countries, grant projects are facing a delayed start in Azerbaijan due to increasing technical and legal challenges.

The challenging political situation in Belarus continued in 2023, prompting the EU to extend its restrictive measures linked to internal repression and the regime’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine. State suppression of civil society also limited EU4Youth activities in the country, further narrowing the possibilities to effectively support and engage with non-state, local and regional actors, including young people.

Activities in 2023 were largely characterised by transition, with newly-launched projects following up on existing structures and initiatives. Taking into account the recommendations and lessons learned from previous programme phases, these additions will allow the programme to reinforce its efforts through a more deliberate and strategic approach and a wider outreach.

The beginning of the year marked the completion of the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Engagement Roadmaps’ (YER) project and the closing of the phase II grant projects. These were followed by the start of the eight phase III grant projects emphasising entrepreneurship, green and digital skills.

The Coordination and Support (C&S) project also ended in August 2023 and was followed by the launch of a renewed EU4Youth Coordination and Policy Support (CPS) project at the end of 2023. It works on strategic cooperation between major stakeholders and programmes targeting youth in the region, better alignment of the programme with EU and national policy priorities, and an enhanced visibility of the programme.

Finally, the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Engagement and Empowerment’ project began in the second half of 2023, with the objective of further strengthening the involvement of young people in policy dialogue and decision-making processes.

Amidst the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the programme repurposed funds within the framework of the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship’ project. Through direct grants to non-profit organisations, the programme responded to the societal and economic repercussions of war, strengthening resilience amongst youth and encouraging their active participation in the country’s recovery.

In 2017 and 2018, the European Commission’s DG EAC / EACEA gave grants to 102 small projects involving over 600 organisations from 37 countries, including the six Eastern partner countries. The projects focused on capacity building for youth organisations and youth workers.

In 2024, a new wave of small grants will be awarded under the ‘EU4Youth Engagement and Empowerment’ project to facilitate innovative pilot projects at the local level, focusing on climate change, the inclusion of disadvantaged youth, and country-specific topics.

In two phases between 2018 and 2023, EU4Youth provided grants to ten large regional projects focused on increasing the employability, (social) entrepreneurship and participation of young people in society.

In 2023, eight new large grant projects were launched under the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship’ project, focused on supporting youth employment and entrepreneurship in the green and digital economies.

Due to repurposing efforts to mitigate the consequences of the Russian full-scale war in Ukraine, EU4Youth has since 2023 been providing direct support to initiatives in Ukraine. These aim to foster societal and economic resilience in the country. Actions include support to youth centres, assistance for persons with disability, rehabilitation for young veterans, as well as investments in post-conflict education and trauma programmes.

Ensured the smooth coordination of the overall EU4Youth programme by supporting the monitoring, communication and visibility of the programme activities.

Continues to provide coordination and policy support for the programme in alignment with EU and national policy priorities by supporting strategic partnerships, programme monitoring and successful communication across the Eastern Partnership region. This service contract also coordinates the EU4Youth Alumni Network, provides sectoral expertise for better alignment with policies and initiatives, and supports key thematic activities addressing young people.

Completed in 2023, the project has promoted youth participation, youth employment partnerships and youth social entrepreneurship. It has advanced the development of evidence-based policy responses to the challenges faced by young people, and promoted their involvement in policy discussions, using roundtables and policy labs in the region to facilitate youth engagement in policy making.

Co-financed by Lithuania, through a delegation agreement with this EU Member State’s agency, the project promotes the active participation of youth in both democratic life and labour markets. Building the structural capacities of key institutions, activities cover partnerships among public employment services and other stakeholders to address youth employment issues, promoting youth involvement and facilitating knowledge transfer and exchange with the EU experience on the Youth Guarantee.

Implemented by GIZ, with co-financing from Germany, the project builds on the work of previous project phases to actively involve young people in policy dialogue and decision-making processes. It does so by strengthening the ability of youth organisations and public institutions to engage in participatory and structured policy dialogue at local, regional, and national level, while also improving the quality and outreach of youth work in the region.

Increases the understanding of EaP youth about European politics and governance and fosters multi- cultural learning through scholarships for the College of Europe in Natolin. It supports European Interdisciplinary postgraduate studies for an estimated 75 young people from the Eastern partner countries.

In 2023, the EU4Youth programme continued its efforts to foster youth employability in the region. Aligned with the European year of Skills in 2023, the programme focused on strengthening cooperation and partnerships with institutional stakeholders, while also reinforcing competence development activities to assist young people in an evolving labour market.

140 different stakeholders from government, administrations, CSOs, and the private sector participated in youth employment partnerships.

Eight grant projects launched under the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship’ grant scheme started their activities by the end of 2023. They are set to improve career development and employment opportunities for youth in the coming years by strengthening young people’s entrepreneurial competences and their green and digital skills.

15 young students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Georgia graduated from the College of Europe programme in European Interdisciplinary Studies at the Natolin campus thanks to scholarships provided by the programme.

80 EU4Youth Alumni gained first-hand experience in youth work, implementing 45 initiatives centred on supporting vulnerable youth in their community.

To drive systematic changes for improved youth employment and entrepreneurship support at both national and local levels, the EU4Youth programme also focused on enabling national governments to develop better policy frameworks. It helped introduce youth guarantee-type measures, strengthening cooperation with Public Employment Services (PES), and fostering the creation of a positive business environment.

An interactive Telegram game and several podcasts were developed to inform stakeholders about fair working standards and best practices to strengthening youth employment.

The Entrepreneurial Competence Framework for Youth and the self-assessment tool EntreGram4Youth were launched to allow young people to test and validate their skillsets.

Several policy recommendations related to education and employability were developed, covering best practices in the fields of apprenticeships and entrepreneurship policies related to digital, green, and social businesses.

Youth engagement and empowerment, with particular attention paid to disadvantaged groups, remained a key priority and cross-cutting feature of most activities in 2023. In addition to young people’s active involvement in the grant projects, as well as in the EU4Youth Alumni Network, the ‘EU4Youth: Youth Engagement and Empowerment’ project, which began in 2023, has laid the foundations for substantial capacity development support in the EaP countries, promoting networking, exchange, and mutual learning between key actors within and beyond the region.