Communication 

The EYE (European Youth Event)[1] is a biennial event that takes place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and online, and brings together thousands of young people from all over the European Union and beyond, to share and shape their ideas on the future of Europe. It is a unique opportunity for 16 to 30 year olds to interact, inspire each other and exchange their views with experts, activists, content creators and decision-makers, right in the heart of European democracy.

For this edition, the European Parliament is looking for one single grant beneficiary who will be in charge of the design, implementation and coordination of the outdoor programme in the EYE Village. To this end, the beneficiary will launch its own call for proposals among a wide range of youth and civil society organisations in order to provide them with a financial support for activities to be organised in the EYE Village, and will coordinate the set up and implementation of the outdoor programme.

The main objective of this call is the design, implementation and coordination of the programme in the EYE Village during EYE2025 aimed at:

• offering young people opportunities to learn about European democracy as the foundation of the EU and about the key role of citizens and civil society organisations in the democratic process;
• inspiring and engaging young people as European citizens through meetings with European decision-makers and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs);
• encouraging young people to become active citizens and engage in European democracy.

The expected outcomes of this call for proposals are the following:

• empower youth and civil society organisations in the process of the co-creation and co-organisation of the EYE Village
• leave a lasting impression among the EYE2025 participants of the relevance of EU decisions on their lives and feeling European
• encourage the EYE participants to generate and develop ideas for the future of Europe and to increase their involvement in the future of Europe
• encourage the EYE participants, especially those with fewer opportunities, or belonging to vulnerable groups, to become more active citizens and to stay in touch with the European Parliament.

Please note that the submission of proposals is done exclusively through the Funding & Tender opportunities Portal. Documents on this webpage are just for information purpose.

Applications can be submitted as from 11 July 2023 exclusively on the Funding & Tender opportunities Portal.

The objective of the call is the organisation by two different organisers of local EYEs taking place over a weekend in two different EU Member States before the European elections in 2024.

The aim of a local EYE is to activate and inspire young people, and make them part of a conversation with European decision makers at the local level and pave the way for a long-lasting engagement. It should bring the EP closer to young people in peripheral regions of Europe, promote European democracy and create a two-way communication, raising awareness on what the EP does for them as young people and at the same time collecting ideas and expectations of young people from the local and national levels on the future of Europe.

A local EYE is organised under the EYE spirit and branding, and designed to be accessible (for young people who cannot afford travelling to Strasbourg to the central EYE) and inclusive (local EYE in national languages). A local EYE is a stand-alone event. It should not be organised as a sub-event of a bigger event (e.g. local EYE as part of a bigger festival and reduced to a tent of the latter).

A local EYE should also offer a diverse range of activities to attract as many young people as possible, and should not be limited to a single type of activity (e.g. a Parliament simulation) in order to allow a diverse audience to take part and reach out to young people who are less likely to already be involved in EU actions. Activities should not all be organised by the beneficiary, but co-created together with other youth and civil society organisations as well as public entities at European, national, regional and local level. Co-creation of activities with the European Parliament is also to be planned. These activities can be complemented by European Parliament’s own initiatives.

A local EYE should, as much as possible, involve cross-border cooperation.

The expected outcomes of the action are to strengthen European citizenship among young people, make them aware about how the EU works and the democratic role of the European Parliament, and empower them to become active citizens.

This call for proposals provides for two rounds of applications with the following deadlines: 25 May 2023 (first round) and 28 September 2023 (second round).

Applicants may submit one proposal in each of the two rounds but may only receive one grant under this call for proposals.

The objectives of the actions financed under this call are:

• To grow awareness among European citizens from as diverse public as possible about the role and democratic values of the EU, provide understanding of the benefits that the EP provides, how EP affects our daily lives and why it is therefore important to vote by participating in the forthcoming EE24, also in the context of the together.eu community (delivering democratic engagement).
• To support increased non-partisan civic engagement of European citizens and organisations from as diverse groups as possible while promoting the idea of the importance of voting, thus encouraging active involvement (also as change-makers), with focus on mobilising voters in the run up to European Election Day(s), also in the context of the together.eu community.

Action proposals to receive financial support under this call must be submitted in one of the following two action categories:

• Civil society engagement actions (cf. point 2.2.1 of the Call).
• Engagement actions by change-makers (cf. point 2.2.2 of the Call).

The expected results of the actions financed under this call are:

• Build capacity and strategically engage with other civil society organisations (at national or local level) and active citizens (potential and existing change-makers) to support and facilitate their engagement activities and provide them with information and tools to effectively spread the message in favour of democratic participation (through together.eu community) in light of the forthcoming EE24.
• Raise awareness of citizens about the benefits brought by European parliamentary democracy, the powers the EP has to affect our daily lives, and why it is therefore important to vote in the EE24. Actions should inform the citizens on why and how to participate in EE24, to advance civic education and to build an informed and engaged electorate (also through together.eu community).
• Empower organisations and active citizens (change-makers) to increase participation in voting by mobilising their networks and communities further (through together.eu), as well as support and facilitate their initiatives.
• Support civil society organisations, change-makers and their networks and communities in the final voting phase (few days prior to EE24 and on the European Election Day(s)[1]).

Overall, all actions should and are expected to increase the number of citizens and organisations registering[2] to together.eu and encourage their active participation in the together.eu community.

[1] Election day(s) are a key moment in communicating European Elections. The 'days' aspect refers to the fact that citizens go to the ballot which represents a final opportunity to vote.
[2] "Sign up" stands for the process of first time registration, which means to create a new account on the together.eu platform.