AU-EU Youth Action Lab Innovation and Entrepreneurship Grants 2026

The AU-EU Youth Action Lab has opened its final Call for Proposals for youth-led organisations working on solutions to global challenges or advocating for stronger economic opportunities for young entrepreneurs. The programme connects youth initiatives across Africa and Europe and uses a powershifting approach in which young people help review and select proposals. Applicants must choose only one of two grant tracks. Innovation Grants provide EUR 42,000 for youth-led organisations to design, test, adapt, improve or scale an innovation linked to a global challenge. Eligible work may create local impact, contribute to longer-term systems, policy or practice change, support the SDGs or Agenda 2063, and generate learning that can be shared across Africa and Europe. Entrepreneurship Grants provide EUR 31,500 for youth-led organisations advocating for an enabling environment in which young entrepreneurs can start and grow businesses. The final round focuses on addressing structural barriers faced by young entrepreneurs through advocacy and related youth-led action. Both grant tracks run for 12 months, from January to December 2027. Selected organisations receive grant funding, mentorship and capacity-development support, and opportunities to share their work with peers, decision-makers and stakeholders across Africa and Europe. Applications close on 23 September 2026 at 13:00 Central African Time. Applicants should first read the relevant official funding manual, confirm eligibility, select one grant track, develop the proposal and submit it through the official application route. Innovation Grant questions may be sent to innovation@aueuyouth.com; Entrepreneurship Grant questions may be sent to entrepreneurship@aueuyouth.com.

Applicants must be youth-led organisations located and legally registered in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (Somaliland Region), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe, with proposed activities taking place in one or more of these countries. For both tracks, young people aged 18–35 must hold primary decision-making power: 100% of the organisation’s governance must be aged 18–35, more than 80% of those directly designing and carrying out organisational activities must be aged 18–35, and 100% of project implementation staff must be aged 18–35. The organisation must have its own bank account and a clear governance structure. Innovation Grant applicants must be formally registered nonprofit trusts, CBOs, NGOs or CSOs with a clear social mission. Entrepreneurship Grant applicants may be nonprofit trusts, CBOs, NGOs, CSOs or cooperatives with a clear social or environmental mission. They must have operated for at least 12 months. Where a social-enterprise activity exists, it must sustain and advance the mission rather than operate as an unrelated side business. Only one of the two grant opportunities may be selected. Applicants should read the official funding manual for their chosen track before applying.