Grassroots youth in the Eastern Partnership
Facing instability and social challenges in Ukraine, Armenia, and Sweden, this project builds a collaborative platform connecting grassroots youth organizations to share experiences, strengthen resilience, promote mental well-being, and better support marginalized and displaced young people across these regions.
Project Summary
Project period: July 2023 – August 2025
Partners: NGO “Armenian Progressive Youth”
Funded by: ForumCiv
The project sought to elevate the youth sector in Armenia through systemic change and mindset shifts in how young people and decision-makers meet, speak, and collaborate. It focused on four strategic areas:
- Building international and cross-sector partnerships
- Empowering disadvantaged youth through a Train-the-Trainer programme
- Increasing the advocacy capacity of the Youth Organisations Union of Armenia (YOU)
- Launching Armenia’s first Nationwide Youth Census to support fact-based youth policy-making
This statement reflects a challenge that this project set out to address over a two-year period through a partnership between Fryshuset (Sweden) and Armenian Progressive Youth NGO (APY), with support from ForumCiv.
In total, the project directly engaged:
- 700 vulnerable young people (aged 16–30)
- 270 youth leaders
- 30 YOU member organisations
- 40 youth-focused organisations and CSOs
- Local, regional, and national decision-makers
Context and Challenges
Despite making up 20% of Armenia’s population, young people have limited access to decision-making structures and face major systemic barriers to participation. Key issues addressed by the project included:
- Lack of legal frameworks supporting youth consultation or representation
- Discontinuation of youth governance bodies, such as the Youth Parliament (inactive since 2005)
- Post-2020 disengagement of youth from government following political and security crises
- Unequal regional development, with civic engagement often centralized in Yerevan
- Social and cultural obstacles, especially patriarchal norms that restrict engagement of young women and men from rural or marginalized communities
- Impact of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic on displaced and traumatized youth
The project emphasized that the absence of inclusive youth policies threatens Armenia’s democratic development and long-term stability.
Activities
Throughout 2023–2025, the project carried out a range of impactful activities:
- Train-the-Trainers (TTT) Programme focused on youth empowerment, critical thinking, media literacy, and leadership skills
- Travelling Workshops in all 10 regions of Armenia to engage vulnerable and rural youth directly
- National Youth Forum – a two-day event uniting youth, CSOs, and policymakers in dialogue and agenda-setting
- FactFests – public, community-based festivals designed to raise awareness and celebrate youth voices
- Armenian Youth Census – the first nationwide survey mapping youth needs, priorities, and barriers
- Policy and Advocacy Trainings for both youth workers and government stakeholders on inclusive, participatory methods
- Legislative Advocacy Campaign supporting ratification of a new Law on Youth, through structured dialogues, consultations, and engagement with national institutions
APY specializes in civic education, non-formal learning, and youth empowerment, with a strong focus on rural, marginalised, and NEET (not in education, employment, or training) youth. It has been instrumental in strengthening Armenia–EU youth exchanges and shaping youth policy through direct cooperation with government bodies.
Fryshuset brings decades of expertise in youth inclusion, rights-based approaches, experiential learning, and policy influence. It played a key role in designing the Train-the-Trainer model, building cross-sector bridges, and amplifying the project’s outcomes internationally through policy dialogue and knowledge exchange.
Impact
The project contributed to strengthening the Armenian youth sector by:
- Providing vulnerable youth with skills, tools, and confidence to become agents of change
- Gathering data to inform future youth policy via the first youth census
- Creating inclusive dialogue spaces between young people and decision-makers
- Advocating for a stronger legal framework supporting youth participation
- Laying the foundation for long-term collaboration between Swedish and Armenian actors working on youth issues
Updates & Reports
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| Fryshuset partners with Armenian Progressive Youth to empower young people |
Contact
📧 For more information, contact: development@fryshuset.se
📲 Follow the journey on Instagram — click the names to visit the profiles:
@fryshusetglobal & @fryshusetyouthmobility