EPG Blog Series: Euforia

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This is the first instalment of Peace Child’s Effective Practice Guide blog series.

In this post, we’ll get swept up in ‘Euforia‘, a Switzerland-based initiative that has hints of green and the rare quality of being legitimately youth-led. Its programmes target teenagers through thirty-somethings, from in-school empowerment programmes to entrepreneurship workshops to a CHANGEmakers network.

Euforia pinpoints its start date at 5 May 2007. It was conceived in a Boston, Massachusetts, of all places, by a handful of Europeans on an exchange year. The group realised that there are a lot of opportunities for young people who are already engaged and active in society, but not very many opportunities for those who aren’t.

Euforia’s purpose is to give these not-yet-engaged young people a chance to discover their potential and make a real difference on issues that matter, like racism, poverty and climate change. Its programme ‘STEP into action’ goes into high schools to educate teenagers about sustainable development. Its event series ‘imp!act’ gives 50 young people the chance to meet up with experts and discuss project ideas. And ‘actNOW!’ is an educational workshop that empowers young people to engage with their community to make a better world.

Euforia is a successful youth-led initiative, indeed a ‘best practice’, if you will. It uses peer-to-peer training and employs hundreds of young volunteers for its events. Euforia has won awards from leading youth and economic organisations, and its programmes have reached thousands of Swiss young people, 50-70% of whom become more active after participating in a Euforia programme.

What does the future hold for Euforia? The organisation is showing no signs of slowing down. Its goals are ambitious (otherwise known as ‘big hairy audacious goals’ to Euforia), as it aims to reach 1 million young people by 2018.

We think it can do it.


Interested in blogging for us? Email editor@peacechild.org for more information today.

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