The story of YEPP
Our work is rooted in a programme which was launched in 2001 by a group of European and US foundations, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and the Institute for Community Education of the International Academy Berlin under the auspices of the Network of European Foundations (NEF). The goal of the Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme (YEPP) was to find ways to empower young people at risk of social exclusion in disadvantaged communities across Europe and to bring about sustainable change. 

Based on a set of agreed overarching goals and principles, the YEPP Programme was implemented 2001 to 2011 in 18 local sites composed of communities in Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. It was extensively evaluated through external evaluation, as well as through a method of internal participatory monitoring & evaluation. The findings revealed that the “YEPP Concept of Change” approach fostered youth and community empowerment in the local sites in Europe as it encouraged local stakeholders to set up Local Support Groups. The Local Support Groups were self-governed initiative groups. They were composed of NGOs, representatives of municipalities, community residents, schools and local foundations, as well as business representatives and, most importantly, young people themselves. The groups worked on addressing youth-related issues together with young people – and not for them. Supported by a YEPP Local Team of two professionals, Local Coordinator and Evaluation Facilitator, the Local Support Groups established an inclusive and participatory working culture, initiated community projects and infrastructural measures for sustainable local change, fostered the philanthropic culture, organised capacity-building, fundraised locally and transferred the learning results into the YEPP Community Network at transnational level. The community projects were developed in a wide range of areas: economic, (social enterprises, start-ups, job centres); social (community services for marginalized groups, street work, counselling); educational (Kindergartens, study clubs and after-school services, projects with vocational schools); cultural (promotion of tourism, theater & dance, music festivals), as well as sports & leisure (football tournaments, kayak trips, swimming). Some Local Support Groups transformed into a formal structure and registered a non-for-profit association or community foundation.

The YEPP Programme Team supported the change process in the local sites through site visits, coaching, capacity-building activities and transnational exchange. Together with the local sites, the YEPP Programme Team implemented a holistic multi-level approach at local, regional, national and transnational level.

To know more about the YEPP Concept, watch Angelika Krüger talking about The history of YEPP:

In 2012, YEPP International Resource Centre (YEPP IRC) was set up at the Institute for Community Education (ICE) of the International Academy at the Free University of Berlin (INA) gGmbH. YEPP IRC committed to the vision of the “YEPP” Programme and continued the mission at local and transnational level. In September 2017 YEPP IRC changed the name to YEPP EUROPE.

In October 2020, YEPP EUROPE celebrated its 20 Year Anniversary. In light of this, “20 Years of Youth and Community Empowerment Across Europe — Concept. Development. Impact” was published. This highlighted the history of YEPP EUROPE and the stories of young people and stakeholders who have been involved with YEPP EUROPE in the past 20 years. Read the report here.