For countries without a tradition of philanthropy, empowering young people to effect positive social change in their communities is a challenge. A multi-donor demonstration project in the former Soviet Union country of Azerbaijan placed real-life opportunities for decision-making and resource allocation in the hands of young people throughout the country by: 1) training groups of young people to identify pressing local issues and community change agents, manage a grantmaking process, and evaluate their grants; 2) providing the funds for grants to be made by the youth groups; and 3) linking the participants to other youth fund networks around the world to share lessons learned and develop additional capacity. Lodestar joined with the Eurasia Foundation, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to fund the original project, which later expanded into Armenia and Georgia.
Grant Information
Grant Amount: $76,000
Year Granted: 2008
Timeframe: Grant awarded over multiple years
Grantee: Eurasia Foundation
Location: International
Grantee Website: Eurasia Foundation