MEET UP!
© Gio Matchavariani
© Gio Matchavariani
MEET UP! is a funding program run by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future (EVZ) under the cluster “Education Drives the Future”. In addition to boosting international youth exchange and training for specialists, it promotes youth engagement and the systematic participation of young people in decision-making processes.
From 2014 to 2020, it operated as MEET UP! German-Ukrainian Youth Encounters, and from 2021 to 2023 as MEET UP! Youth for Partnership, involving all countries of the Eastern Partnership. During that time, with support from the Federal Foreign Office, the EVZ Foundation funded more than 350 youth encounters, specialist exchange programs, and microprojects.
MEET UP! On Wheels in Adigeni, Georgia
© Association New Droni
MEET UP! On Wheels is a dynamic initiative that empowers young people in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan through education and dialog. The Georgian NGO Association New Droni 2024 is traveling for a year across towns and villages in all three countries in the MEET UP! bus, connecting with youth and youth organizations, and running numerous interactive workshops, non-formal education activities and info sessions on international youth exchange programs. It also awards microgrants to young people committed to creating change in their communities. Meanwhile a social media competition promotes campaigns focused on sustainability, intercultural exchange, remembrance culture and civic engagement. The project will conclude with a final event that brings the various initiatives together.
The project connects with different youth organizations across all three countries – in urban and rural areas alike. Its main focus is on building networks between civil society organizations and young people. Through their microprojects, these young people reach their local communities directly – while connecting with broader audiences via social media campaigns.
MEET UP! On Wheels is all about building bridges between communities, supporting youth agency, and encouraging cooperation in the South Caucasus region. By funding microprojects, the initiative enables young people to pursue small-scale changes in their communities that can eventually have a big impact. This kind of support empowers young people to take part in shaping change at the local level.
Duration of the project: October 2024 to September 2025
Project sponsor: Association New Droni 2024, Georgia
Countries reached: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Project website: droni.org/eurobus/
Instagram: eurobus_caucasus
Facebook: eurobuscaucasus
It's important to provide educational opportunities for the local youth, empowering them with knowledge and skills that can inspire positive change in their community and help them envision brighter futures.
Impact Forum in Chișinău
© Igor Schimbator
What’s it about?
The MEET UP! Hub is an initiative launched by the organization Public Association “EcoVisio”. It aims to strengthen the skills of civil society actors, contribute to the EU integration process, and support national goals related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a regional impact forum, a two-day hackathon and a train-the-trainer course for NGO experts, the Hub supports youth-led initiatives and civil society organizations founded by young people. Microgrants help young changemakers develop and implement sustainable and socially minded projects.
Who is involved and who does the project reach?
The Hub connects with young and active individuals, civil society groups, initiatives and experts from Moldova as well as those from Ukraine that are currently residing in Moldova. The funded microprojects include environmental activities, sustainability campaigns and empowerment projects that enable young people to reach their communities directly.
Why is the Foundation supporting this project in particular?
As a central gathering point for new connections and new directions, the MEET UP! Hub sees itself as a lively, interactive space for knowledge-sharing, collaboration and community engagement. It serves as a launchpad for ideas, encouraging young people to initiate and collaborate on sustainable, cross-disciplinary and innovative projects.
Duration of the project: November 2024 to May 2025
Executing organisation: Public Association “EcoVisio”, Republic of Moldova
Instagram: ecovisio
Facebook:ecovisio.moldova
In connection with its funding of MEET UP!, the EVZ Foundation supports professional dialog in the form of job shadowing. This approach fosters international knowledge-sharing among professionals, strengthens networks, and helps NGOs become more effective, creative and resilient. It also helps people gain a better grasp of global challenges and find innovative solutions.
Microgrants are small, low-threshold financial support for committed young people that enable projects to be implemented quickly and in line with needs. They are particularly effective because they tackle direct local problems, enable the development of skills, promote innovation and creativity, strengthen commitment and personal responsibility and increase trust and participation in the community. Microgrants are aimed directly at young people between the ages of 18 and 35. In 2022 and 2023, a total of 57 local and international microprojects were carried out as part of the MEET UP!
The microprojects were funded by the Federal Foreign Office.
In this podcast, actors Viktoria Lewowsky and Tatjana Schoeler follow in the footsteps of queer Jewish artist Therese Giehse. Listen in here.
© Aghaly Sadirly
The documentary “Memories Untold” presents a moving look at the long-term impact of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict on local communities. Find out more.
This microproject uses gamification to bring history to life in an engaging, exploratory way for young people. Available in four languages, the game aims to revive the memory of women who played key roles in shaping and advancing Georgia’s integration into Western political culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Play the game here!
© Chiara Linzenmeier
As many as 1,500 activists, journalists and opposition members are currently imprisoned in Belarus for political reasons. This German-Belarusian microproject provided participants with information about the human rights situation in the country and raised awareness of the ongoing repression.
© Kekalove Adaptive Fashion
The fashion show KEKALOVE by Mahammad Kekalov is about more than just stylish, comfortable clothing: above all, it promotes inclusion, empowerment and participation in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to the fashion show itself, the project created space to discuss the rights of people with physical disabilities in Azerbaijan and launch a large-scale awareness campaign.
The short film unaware tells the story of 18-year-old Saniia from Ukraine who was forced to flee her home due to the Russian invasion.
© Nare Hovhannisyan
Young people from the Armenian village of Aramus are reviving their abandoned cultural center through upcycling, creating new artworks that draw attention to environmental issues in rural areas.
© Kai Otte
Young musicians and actors created a stage play based on biographies, letters and other historical sources to draw attention to the ongoing patterns of migration, displacement and war.
A film about the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which was bombed and extensively destroyed in the wake of Russia’s invasion. It focuses on the the people of this city and their day-to-day lives on the front line. This microproject was produced by the German–Ukrainian creative collective UNDER CONSTRUCTION and serves as the Ukrainian counterpart to the project About our Cities – War Edition: Hamburg. Take a look!
© Nino Zazunishvili
Young people from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine developed a board game to help explore human rights and political repression in an engaging, hands-on way.
