The Global Youth Empowerment Fund

Founded by JCI and the UN SDG Action Campaign, the Global Youth Empowerment Fund has been granting up to US $5000 to youth-led organizations since 2016.

In 2018, we received 583 submissions from 78 countries.

We granted US $23,767 to projects like these.

Yuwalaya | Lalitpur, Nepal

Yuwalaya developed an extensive study of 30 high schools in Nepal, revealing high levels of dating violence. Respondents reported being criticized, insulted, yelled at, forced to perform sexual acts and pressured into having sex. The outcome of this study was used to develop advocacy activities amongst diverse stakeholders and social media campaigns to raise awareness. 900 young people will participate in an orientation on Global Goal #5: Gender Equality were participants will learn about gender equality, gain self-defense skills and explore how to eliminate dating violence experienced by women and girls.

Compartiendo Nuestras Bendiciones ONG | Panimaquin, Guatemala

Compartiendo Nuestras Bendiciones ONG created the K’aslem Ya’ project, meaning Water of Life, after one of the two main sources for water in the hamlet of Panimaquin, Guatemala completely dried up. Consequently, local homes can only gain access to water from rainfall, which is infrequent, especially during the dry season. K’aslem Ya’ addresses water scarcity by building rainwater harvesting systems for homes. Each system uses new materials as well as over 1300 eco-bricks—recycled plastic bottles filled with inorganic waste—preventing over 65,000 pounds of garbage from landing in public dump sites or being burned. Additionally, K’aslem Ya’ will be planting 2000 trees and training families on proper water hygiene, as well as how to maintain and repair their rainwater harvesting systems.

YIDA: A Youth Initiative for the Development of Africa (Uganda)

Check out our full report for more information on the Global Youth Empowerment Fund and its grantees!