Kick off of  projects grants for the European Youth Parliament for Water (EYPW)

At the 13th European Youth Parliament for Water held at the Burier Gymnasium in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland, young people from all over Europe gathered  to work together on natural and anthropological causes of water related disasters. This event rejoiced Federal Councilor Didier Burkhalter, who announced project grants by Switzerland for the implementation of the work of the delegates of the 13th European Youth Parliament for Water. Following this announcement, a call for proposals launched by Solidarity Water Europe to all European delegations on 1 September 2016.

As part of the mission of the Youth programs of Solidarity Water Europe, the objectives of the project grants are to encourage and solidify learning of information and knowledge, provide experience of democratic functioning and implement learning .

Under the agreement with the SDC, a maximum of CHF 50,000 over two years will be allocated among the selected projects. Grassroots, advocacy or awareness-raising / education projects emphasizing cooperation between delegations were encouraged to strengthen exchanges and synergies around certain issues. While the main theme remains Water and Risk Management, issues related to Objective 6 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have also been taken into consideration in the development of projects submitted.

Project Submission Process

The deadline for the submission of projects was pushed to 31 October 2016. Solidarity Water Europe made itself available to all delegations for technical support and advice. As the grants coordinator, SWE has worked to help young people improve their projects as much as possible before the deadline. This technical support is provided by a member of the organization and outside the selection committee. Since then, several projects have been collected. Some in collaboration with other delegations or organizations from a neighboring country, while others are set up in one region only for logistical reasons.

The selection committee is presently reviewing the projects submitted.