YMCA Europe Leadership Academy 2026 will continue with the project “Subjects Matter: autonomous leaders for impactful and sustainable civil society spaces”.
The project was approved and will be co-funded by the European Youth Foundation.
The signature programme “YMCA Leadership Academy” has been taking place since 2017, and has prepared near 150 young leaders leading a change in local communities for thousands of other youth.
The aim of the Leadership Academy signature project is to enable young activists to promote active participation, inclusion, diversity, peace and intercultural dialogue through community projects and civil society organisations’ (CSOs) development as safe spaces for youth transformation and empowerment.
The key topics to be tackled:
- Agency/autonomy of an individual and the leader of a CSO
- Intercultural diversity and intercultural competences
- Ways of social proactivity and making change in society
- Social projects and how to design, implement, evaluate and follow up
Sustainability of projects and CSOs and how to ensure it through various mechanisms - Youth Representation, Succession planning, Democratic Governance in CSOs
- Partnerships development in the communities
- Digital tools enabling organisations to promote active participation, inclusion, diversity, peace and intercultural dialogue inside and outside the organisation
The project will consist of three main phases:
Phase One:
International Activity One, 5 days (April 2026):
Training on key competences of being autonomous as personalities and activists, intercultural competences and proactivity as key features of autonomy, civic engagement and social change, CSOs as spaces of civil engagement, design of community projects (Local Activities) as a way of social engagement, promoting active participation, inclusion, diversity, peace and intercultural dialogue in the communities.
Phase Two: Local Activities planned, delivered and evaluated by the participants of International Activity One based on the knowledge received. (May-October 2026). The Local Activities will include youth from marginalized communities and will promote active participation, inclusion, diversity, peace and intercultural dialogue.
Phase Three:
International Activity Two, 5 days (October-November 2026):
Training on how to evaluate the results of the organised local community projects, their follow up, learning which capacities a civil society organisation should possess for ongoing sustainable impactful work in order to promote active participation, inclusion, diversity, peace and intercultural dialogue in a systematic way.
Profile of participants:
Near 30 youth workers and leaders of CSOs, 18-30 years old, from near 25 different local communities (near 15 different countries) with a desire and the potential to become key leaders of their organisations: Board members and Staff.
More information and the Open Call will be launched in September 2026.
