State of Youth Changemaking Call

Do you want to join the State of Youth Movement and start your own Chapter? Sign up here.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms every child's right to the highest attainable standard of health and living conditions that support mental and emotional development. Promoting children and youth mental health is also central to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3. 

However, mental health challenges among children and young people are increasing worldwide. Around one in seven adolescents experience a condition such as anxiety or depression, yet access to support, safe spaces and reliable information remains limited (read more in the latest KidsRights Index 2025 Report on Mental Health)

This is why we are calling on State of Youth Chapters to act! We want to enable children and young people to make a difference themselves : by being heard, acting and working together. 

Changemaking projects of State of Youth Chapters strengthening children's and youth mental health can include (non-exhaustive list):

• Workshops in schools on emotional regulation, stress management, and recognising signs of anxiety or depression.
• Training sessions for parents, caregivers, and teachers on how to support children's and youth mental well-being. 
• Creating youth-led safe spaces (offline or online) where children and young people can openly talk about mental health challenges.
• Community awareness campaigns to reduce stigma around mental health among children and young people. 
• Art,sports or creative expression programs that help children and young people process emotions and build resilience.
• Youth-led dialogues with local decision-makers about improving mental health support in schools and communities. 
• Development of informational materials (guides, videos, social media content) about mental health resources for young people.
• Organising community events that promote well-being, inclusion, and social connection among children, youth and families. 

State of Youth Chapters can also take a look at our SDG Activity Toolkit on SDG 3 Health for more inspiration on changemaking activities related to mental health.

We highly encourage you to involve younger children, up to 12 years old, in your project activities. 

To apply, you must:

1. Be a registered Chapter in the Movement Platform and have a completed profile.
2. Have a project focus within scope, eligible activities, and a realistic budget as described below. 
3. Have answered the End of the Year Membership Survey 2025 when you submit your project proposal. Even if you joined the Movement recently (end of 2025 or in 2026), we still want to hear from you in the survey!
4. Read the Changemaking Call Guidance Booklet: it gives you all the information you need to know before applying.
5. Prepare your application: Gather your project information, including a detailed description of activities, expected outcomes, and budget breakdown. 

Please note: If your Chapter was funded in the last International Children's Peace Prize Project Theme Fund on Peace and Education, you are not eligible for this call. This is to ensure the highest possible number of different Chapters can be supported by State of Youth.

Deadline: Submit your application by 28th June 2026 at 23:59 CEST.

Why should you apply?  

If selected, you and your State of Youth Chapter will benefit from the following:  

• A grant between 500 and 2500 Euros.  
• Learn from and being connected with the other projects in this call  
• Dedicated monitoring and evaluation support from the State of Youth team.  
• Guidance sessions (virtual) for grant management and project implementation.  
• Enhanced visibility for your project and State of Youth Chapter through our social media and website. 

If you have any questions that are not already included in the Guidance Booklet, reach out to us at action@stateofyouth.org 

Before completing this section, please read the Guidance Booklet. This will help you to answer the questions below!

Please note that the funding process can take some time, plan and prepare for your project well in advance to ensure that you receive your funds in time for your project start date. We suggest to plan at least 3 months in advance. 

You can read more about each SDG here: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

You can apply for a grant between 500 to 2,500 euros. Your budget below must be in euros (to the nearest estimate). You can convert your local currency to euros here: oanda.com/currency-converter/en/ 

Please note that during the payment transfer process, you may receive less budget due to fluctuations in currency exchange and bank fees. We recommend you take this into consideration while planning your budget already. 

At least 80% of your budget should go directly to project activities. This can include:

• Materials and supplies
• Campaigning and advocacy costs
• Equipment
• Event organisation
• Technical support

Direct costs are the things you spend money on to actually run your project - like buying materials, organising an event or printing posters. 

The remaining 20% can be used for indirect costs. 

Indirect costs are the background costs that keep things running - like bank transfer fees, or phone credit you use to coordinate with your team. 

A simple way to think about it: if you removed this cost and your project activity would still happen, it is probably an indirect cost. If the activity could not happen without it, then it is a direct cost. 

Example activities and budget table

You can complete the survey using this link.

You can log in to our Movement Platform here, check that you have updated your Chapter's goals, focus, description, image etc. 

You can take a look at the Guidance Booklet here.

Now you are ready to submit!