Youth Foundation

Curiosity creates innovation

We spark curiosity, support young people’s projects and develop innovative youth education programmes.

The task of the Youth Foundation is to identify future-oriented approaches in the field of youth education, to test them out in the field and to accompany and support young people’s ideas and projects.

Projects – Concepts – Ideas

The Youth Foundation advises, supports and documents around 140 projects every year. The focal point of these projects is to encourage young people to show initiative, volunteer, take responsibility for themselves and others and realise new ideas.

The Youth Foundation also develops its own concepts and projects either alone or together with partners. This is made possible through our own funds or via third-party funding. Thanks to its own line of programmes and activities, the Youth Foundation addresses current social issues, highlights areas of innovation and sets new courses for development together with partners in youth education and with young people themselves. The Qualipass (“certificate of qualification”), the educational campaign “Mitmachen Ehrensache” (Participation a Matter of Honour) or the platform “Menschenrechte – deine Rechte” (Human Rights – Your Rights) in the youth network are just some of the many examples.

The foundation helps to establish regional and national structures in the field of youth education. It is part of the Demokratiezentrum Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg Democracy Centre) and ensures the transfer of innovative model projects and project ideas. The Youth Foundation’s “Servicestelle Jugend und Schule” (Youth and School Service Agency) operates at the interface between schools and extracurricular youth education. One of the most important tasks of the Service Agency is to implement the “Jugendbegleiter-Programm“ (Youth Support Programme) in over 1,900 schools across the country.

Our third focus lies in issuing publications and work materials, as well as in events and further education courses on project management, networking, transitioning from school to a career, media activities and promoting democracy. We orient our services towards volunteers and professionals from the youth education sector and have various offers aimed directly at young people, such as the “Jugendauslandsberater” (youth abroad advisers), the “Umweltmentoren” (environmental mentors) or the “Vielfaltcoaches” (diversity coaches).

We publish an overview of our activities annually in the ProjektArbeit journal. Here you will also find a summary of our current publications and services, as well as key figures for the past financial year.