10 reasons why to partner with GEYC for your upcoming European project

Embarking on an European project can be a transformative experience, but navigating the complexities of funding and implementation can be daunting. Working on 18-36 months projects is a challenge, thus it is important to choose well the partners that you would like to embark with you into this journey. This is where partnering with GEYC can make all the difference. In this article we are presenting 10 things we can bring to the table when embarking together in a new European project.

  1. Impact goes first through community engagement
  2. At GEYC, having a strong local impact is very important. Despite different funding schemes available, limited period of the implemented projects and lack of resources at the national level, during the years we have developed a community of over 11500 members and over 20 formats of activities that we implement regularly assuring their continuity (take a look in the "What we do" section of the website to explore them).

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    When it comes to online communication, GEYC's has about 1 million total views and 300k+ reach in 2024, being present on the following social media:
    - Website (217k views in 2024),
    - Instagram (8.8k followers, 140k reach, 800k views, 11k interactions in 2024),
    - WhatsApp (750 subscribers to the channel, 750+ members in the community),
    - LinkedIn (2.3k followers, 28k views, 15k reach, 900 reactions in 2024),
    - Facebook (17.5k followers, 67k views, 53k reach in 2024).

    Each year we propose over 150 youth local events aimed at community engagement, with a total cost of about 30k-50k EUR spread between various projects we are implementing. One of the most iconic events is the GEYC Caravan.

  3. Automation to increase efficieny and to focus on important things
  4. As part of our Digital portfolio, since 2020, we started our journey to automate our processes, increasing efficiency, reducing errors and time spent on repetitive tasks. Furthermore, each community member has a GEYCID that is allowing us to perform monitoring processes and to support each individual in their learning journey by providing the next key piece of puzzle in their path.

    We currently have over 20 active scripts automating our work, which we estimate saves the equivalent of one full-time employee's work every month. We utilize Google Apps Script, embedded with other Google Workspace technologies, and we can readily apply this expertise to your next project. For example, we can automate tasks such as online course registrations and certificate issuance. We can also establish a dedicated work package or objective for automation, where we can provide support to other partners in automating their processes.

  5. United Nations ECOSOC Special Consultative Status
  6. This means that we engage directly with the United Nations bodies in consultative processes, we participate in events and we can organise joint partnerships. Furthermore, GEYC has been the expert partner between 2020-2021 for UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office on digital youth participation. Thus, if the project you envisage aims at an international impact and it is linked to the SDGs, this can be relevant.

  7. Focus on Democracy and Human Rights
  8. When we say "Democracy and Human Rights", we say direct involvement of the young people in building the society they aim to have tomorrow. To this extent, we develop various participatory programmes in which we target at the same time the students, their teachers, we propose intercultural exchanges and we organise local events to consolidate the results and to reach the wider community, like we did in the CERV programme we led "DisinformACTION".



    Since 2023 we started an annual community gathering, Bootcamp Changemakers in which we bring together community members, more and less experienced to discover further the organisation, how they can get involved, to share their needs and interests and to develop together meaningful initiatives. This is how the last edition in March 2024 looked like:



    Furthermore, it is part of our current strategy to monitor and acknowledge community members that get actively involved in their communities and achieve great results. GEYC Changemakers is exactly about that, every 2-3 years we run a competition where we identify and award the most active community members.

  9. Focus on Digital
  10. The Digital field is one of the core directions for the organisation. It aims to digitally empower people by providing access to online tools, free education, and networking. It also focuses on increasing digital literacy among young people and youth workers. The organisation contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through its initiatives in the Digital field. Some of the key initiatives include:

    • New Media Ambassadors (NMA): a complex online practical training of 8-12 weeks, based on gamification, aimed at developing participants’ digital skills, PR and social media know-how, intercultural competences, creativity and teamwork.
    • Pixels of Change: Empowering youth from Romanian highschools (14-18 y/o) to develop their digital competences in order to become active citizens in their communities through a series of 5 workshops.
    • UP2NEB: To engage, connect and empower youth workers from EU peripheral areas, equipping them with co-designed, practical learning resources and updated skills.
    • DEMPOD: Aims at empowering disadvantaged youth to use podcasts as a tool in their local contexts in order to increase their civic engagement and their participation in the democratic life.
    • NHE - The No-Hаte Embаssy: Aims at building the cаpаcity for youth orgаnisаtions, by trаining the youth workers in becoming no-hаte аmbаssаdors within their communities.
    • The Youth Creative Academy: Creating an оppоrtunity and space fоr cоllabоratiоn between different оrganisatiоns, with the aim оf stimulating the creativity, the cultural awareness, and expressiоn оf yоung peоple.
    • SMART-Y: To boost the realisation of the European Youth Goal #10 "Green and Sustainable Europe" via the startup of a transnational network of youth organisations active in EU rural areas.
    • EuroChangeMakers Project: This project discusses, reflects, and proposes solutions for the future of Europe.
    • #GenderIDTalks - ALF Virtual Marathon: This project promotes gender equality and raises awareness on women and gender stereotypes.
    • We, the Internet: This project involves citizens in a dialogue about internet governance.
    • Youth Workers 2.0: This project provides guidance and training for youth workers on how to use ICT tools.

    You can find more information on the portfolio's webpage.

  11. Focus on Skills - Entrepreneurship & Employability
  12. The Entrepreneurship and Employability field is one of the core directions for the organisation developing skills on the 4 European frameworks: LifeComp, DigiComp, EntreComp and GreenComp, as part of the cross-porfolio topic "Skills for the future" (2025-2030).

    We support the young entrepreneurs in our community by organising networking events, trainings using design thinking methodology and by focusing on the innovative entrepreneurial types: green, social and digital entrepreneurship.

    For example, through Fellowship programmes we manage to have a stronger impact on the professional development of our community members, where the fellowships on leadership and human rights were the most appreciated.

  13. Focus on Sustainability
  14. Besides our award-winning programme Eco Echo that proposes a 6 workshops curriculum for highschool students on raising awareness on sustainability challenges which we aim to develop further and expand to other countries, we propose the following when boarding a new consortium:

    • Sustainability Policy: either to lead the Sustainability Policy of the project embeding the ESG principles (ensuring it considers environmental impact, social responsibility, and good governance throughout its lifecycle), or even having a dedicated objective/workpackage and support all the partners involved to develop their own sustainability policy which is in line with the current environmental priorities of the European programmes and aims at increasing the organisational capacity. Click here to see GEYC's sustainability policy.
    • Inclusion Policy: either to lead the Inclusion Policy of the project ensuring that the most vulnerable groups are correctly addressed and impacted by the project, or even having a dedicated objective/workpackage and support all the partners involved to develop their own inclusion policy which is in line with the current social inclusion priorities of the European programmes and aims at increasing the organisational capacity. Click here to see GEYC's inclusion policy.

  15. Strong expertise on capacity building through cooperation and resources
  16. For example, take EmpACT, a series of two training courses for youth workers, project managers and youth leaders where the first one was dedicated to Project/NGO Management and the second one to facilitation or communications. We have developed 4 such sets of training programmes between 2019 and 2024 together with our partners from Coconutwork.



    Furthemore, we create a rich library of publications relevant in the youth field, take a look.

  17. Partnerships at the European level
  18. Since 2015, GEYC established the PRISMA European Network that now has more than 30 member organisations in over 20 countries from Europe, Western Balkans, Eastern Partnerhip and Mediteranean countries. Furthermore, every two years we are hosting a high-level event on policymaking: European Digital Youth Summit - EDYS, under the patronage of the European Parliament.



    For large scale projects, PRISMA European Network can join as an associated partner to support the dissemination and multiplication of results.

  19. Partnerships at the national level
  20. In our educational institution network we count over 100 schools and over 250 teachers. They embark every year in a set of activities dedicated to them. Furthermore, since 2013 we work directly with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Romania as well as thematic partners for each portfolio and about 15 student organisations whose members are part of our community.

    For the past four years, we have significantly enhanced our impact at the grassroots level by implementing tailored interventions within diverse Romanian communities, primarily in towns with populations ranging from 15,000 to 35,000 inhabitants, often including surrounding rural areas.

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GEYC - Group of the European Youth for Change

Organisation in Special consultative status with the United Nations - Economic and Social Council since 2023.

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