Deadline: Varies and Ongoing
The Nordic Committee for Children and Young People (NORDBUK) is the Nordic Council of Ministers’ advisory and co-ordinating body for issues relating to children and young people.
NORDBUK funds projects involving children and young people and has established a dedicated programme for this purpose. The main objectives of the grant programme are to strengthen children and young people’s organising capabilities, to enhance their influence and participation in political processes, as well as nurturing a sense of Nordic identity.
The target group consists of children and young people under the age of 30 in the Nordic Region.
What activities are funded?
Activities that involve children and young people in ways that enable them to influence the planning, running and evaluation of the project.
The funding covers:
- activities that encourage Nordic children and young people to work together
- time-limited activities, e.g. seminars, courses, conferences, camps, publicity materials and cultural events
- activities that put Nordic cultural, political and social issues on the agenda
- activities that help set up and maintain networks and ways of working together that promote the other aims.
Note:
- Funding is not available for international projects except those that involve working with the Baltic states or North-West Russia. However, funding may be awarded to projects that involve Nordic co-ordination of international events. Projects that only involve children as an audience are not eligible.
- Projects that commenced before the deadline for applications are not eligible.
Who is eligible to apply?
- Funding is awarded to organisations, networks, and other legal entities that consist of or work with children and young people at national, regional or local level.
- Applicants must be resident in the Nordic Region and have the administrative capacity to manage the funding.
Applications are accepted from:
- children’s and young people’s organisations
- youth clubs and centres
- twinned towns/councils or similar
- school pupil and student organisations and societies
- groups of school pupils
- Sports clubs, trade-union organisations and private individuals are ineligible.
Amounts
Applications are accepted for amounts ranging from €7,500 to €25,000. At least 15 % of the funding must come from another source, and may consist of in-kind funding, e.g. voluntary work or similar.
The total applied for from Nordic funding sources (the Nordic Culture Fund, NordPlus, etc.) must not exceed 85 % of total project funding.
Assessment criteria
1. The Nordic Dimension
Funding is awarded for activities that:
- involve equal partners from at least three Nordic countries
or
- involve equal partnerss from two Nordic countries, as long as one of the parties involved is from Åland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland or the North Calotte (which in this context refers to the counties of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in Norway, Norrbotten in Sweden and Lappi in Finland).
Applications will also be considered that involve working with the Baltic states and North-West Russia.
The Nordic Dimension is evaluated according to the following criteria:
- helps nurture a sense of Nordic identity
- focuses on active participation by young people in the civic life of the Nordic Region
- enhances understanding and knowledge of Nordic cultural heritage and history
- facilitates dialogue and promotes openness and inclusion
- improves language comprehension and knowledge about the diversity of Nordic languages
- fosters affinity between children and young people from different Nordic countries
2. Children and young people’s participation in general and their participation in democratic processes
The assessment criteria include:
- whether the activities facilitate active and creative participation by children and young people
- whether it is mainly children and young people who devise, develop and run the project from initial concept all the way to the final evaluation
- whether the activities encourage democratic participation and help young people exert influence/be heard
- whether the activity reaches out to a large number of children and young people – NORDBUK prefers projects that attract a wider audience than just those those directly involved in it
3. The inclusion of geographical, cultural, social and political minorities
This refers to activities that:
- reach out to marginalised young people or minorities
- serve the needs of linguistic and cultural minorities in the Nordic Region
- cover a wide geographic area.
Click here to apply for the various grants
