About Us

Co-leads

We are an initiative that is co-led by five youth-led organizations from around the world. Together with other partners, we are here to challenge and support youth-focused donors and NGOs to partner and fund young people more intentionally and equitably.

How was this group formed?

Some of these organizations joined the initiative through an open call that received over 500 applications from youth-led organizations globally. Others were already engaged as youth partners through FP2030.

The initiative was born thanks to start-up funding from FP2030, which made it possible to bring this vision to life. Since then, we’ve received additional support from a foundation focused on adolescent health and wellbeing, as well as from CRIF.

All current funds are hosted by Copper Rose Zambia, which leads financial decision-making in collaboration with the four other co-leads—ensuring transparency, shared ownership, and youth-driven priorities at every level.

“We believe youth-focused NGOs and donors are ultimately accountable to young people. We believe we can build an ecosystem that makes this true — and that once we trust one another, anything is possible. We are driven by the urgency to end the systemic inequities that persist in relationships between youth-led organizations and the institutions meant to support them.”

What values drive us?

Trust

Anything is possible, when we trust each other.

Accountability

We owe it to each other.

Collaboration

We need each other.

Inclusivity

There is no other right way forward.

We are working towards unprecedented partnerships between youth-led efforts and youth-focused donors and NGOs – where young people’s rights are respected, and the “new normal” is achieving long-lasting change through trust-based collaboration.

What is the problem we are trying to solve?

Power imbalances and prejudice hurt our collective ability to improve young people’s lives. A lack of trust and collaboration between youth-led efforts and youth-focused donors and NGOs currently result in:

Inequitable partnership agreements that often put young people in uncertain and compromising situations.
Funding mechanisms that overlook organizations that know local young people best.
Out of touch “capacity building” programs that waste resources; and the list goes on...

Unless we learn to work differently together, our collective ability to improve young people’s lives will remain limited.