Changemakers
for Youth

The programme is for young social entrepreneurs from Egypt, Germany*, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Switzerland, and Tunisia who use diverse, bottom-up approaches to strengthen youth agency and directly mobilise their peers.

We welcome changemakers from a variety of backgrounds who are leading tangible youth-led initiatives with proven impact and addressing pressing social, educational, economic, and environmental challenges in their communities.

We intentionally bring together a diverse cohort because the challenges young people and our societies face require intersectional and coordinated approaches across different sectors, communities, and fields.

*Changemakers and their organisations may be based anywhere in Germany, but their project must create tangible impact in Eastern Germany.

While ChangemakerXchange runs opportunities for changemakers worldwide, individual programmes usually focus on specific regions and countries. This makes logistics manageable and helps participants build stronger connections and collaborations with changemakers from neighbouring countries.

For this specific programme we focus on the countries where the activities of both Drosos Foundation and ChangemakerXchange overlap, in order to provide the best possible value, networks and resources to the participants.

Changemakers for Youth is an initiative by ChangemakerXchange, an international non-profit organisation with a mission to provide inclusive, supportive and collaborative spaces for changemakers, social innovators and activists from across the world.

The initiative is supported by Drosos Foundation.

For partnership enquiries, please contact Matthias at .

To apply, you must:

• Country: You must currently live and/or have impact in Egypt, Germany*, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Switzerland or Tunisia. 
• Age: Be 18–35 years old.**
• Role: Hold a leadership or decision-making role in an active social or environmental venture or organisation addressing youth development. You do not need to be the original founder, but we cannot accept applications from employees or volunteers without a leadership role.
• Application: Submit a complete application before the deadline.
• Language: Have sufficient English to participate fully, as the programme and Summit are conducted in English.
• Youth focus: For this particular programme, regardless of its specific area, your initiative should strengthen the agency and skills of young people, empower youth, be youth-led or have youth as the key target group.

*Changemakers and their organisations may be based anywhere in Germany, but their project must create tangible impact in Eastern Germany

**Changemakers of other ages may be eligible for other ChangemakerXchange opportunities.

We consider:

• Need and opportunity: A clear understanding of the challenge being addressed.
• Stage: Ideally, the initiative has been tested and has some traction. Early-stage initiatives may also qualify if they show strong potential and ideally have completed a pilot.
• Impact: Evidence of impact or clear potential for future impact.
• Scale: Potential to grow, be replicated, inspire others, or contribute to systemic change.
• Innovation: New or contextually innovative approaches.
• Programme fit: Alignment with the programme’s principles and focus.

We look for applicants who align with ChangemakerXchange values, demonstrate an entrepreneurial and creative mindset, and are motivated to co-create and collaborate.

Diversity is central to our selection. We aim to build cohorts that are diverse across demographics, geography, lived experiences, skills, and approaches. Applicants from marginalised contexts and those working through intersectional approaches are particularly encouraged to apply.

Participants are generally expected to cover their own travel and visa expenses  to make it to the Summit city.

ChangemakerXchange covers accommodation, catering, local transportation during the Summit, venue and materials, facilitation, post-Summit capacity building, and community engagement activities for the duration of the Summit and programme.

Participants can apply for a travel stipend that may fully or partially cover eligible expenses such as flights, train or bus travel, visa fees, mandatory travel insurance, and necessary layover accommodation. Any travel support is assessed on an individual basis and is subject to available funding.

Local transportation to and from your departure point (for example, taxi or public transport to the airport), as well as meals and accommodation outside the official Summit dates, are not within the eligible expenses and are the participant’s responsibility.

If covering your travel costs would prevent you from participating, please indicate this in your application and confirmation form.

Applications are first checked against the eligibility criteria and reviewed by multiple members of the ChangemakerXchange team and community.

Eligible applications are then assessed based on factors including the initiative’s stage, impact or impact potential, innovation, sustainability, programme fit, and the applicant’s values, mindset, motivation, and readiness to participate.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a 30–45 minute online informal interview. Final decisions also consider the diversity and overall composition of the cohort.

All applicants will be informed of the outcome. Due to the high number of applications, we unfortunately cannot provide individual feedback.

After submitting your application, you should receive a thank-you message and a notification email from with a summary of your responses. Please check your spam or junk folder.

If you receive neither, contact .

All applicants can expect to hear from us around mid-January regarding whether they will proceed to the interview stage.

No. Selection is based on the individual applicant. If you can no longer attend, your place cannot be transferred to a co-founder or colleague.

Unfortunately, no. The Summit is designed as a complete journey, and participants must commit to attending all sessions and days. Full participation is also required to join the ChangemakerXchange community.

We aim to make our programmes and Summits as accessible and inclusive as possible, including for participants with physical and cognitive disabilities.

Where possible, we accommodate individual accessibility needs and can prepare a personalised onboarding toolkit ahead of the Summit. For specific questions, contact .

• We aim to build cohorts that are diverse across gender, demographics, class, ethnicity, geography, approaches, and perspectives on youth development.
• We actively welcome feedback on how we can make our programmes more inclusive, non-discriminatory, and anti-racist, and are committed to creating a safe(r) space for participants.

Yes. We can provide supporting documents such as an invitation letter and hotel confirmation.

However, participants are responsible for completing their own visa application, and ChangemakerXchange cannot intervene directly with embassies or consulates.

Community members can access opportunities to connect, learn, collaborate, and amplify their impact, including:

• Private community groups and networking opportunities
• Community engagement and learning activities
• Partner opportunities, including grants, coaching, and pro-bono support
• The Global Facilitation Pool
• Opportunities to become a Community Host
• Opportunities to contribute to or be featured through relevant partner platforms

Our community continues to evolve based on the needs and feedback of its members.

ChangemakerXchange provides a space to connect with peers, learn from different approaches, develop collaborations, and become part of a global community of changemakers.

Many members describe CXC as a place where they have gained new perspectives, strengthened their work, developed lasting relationships, and found a strong sense of belonging.

Please contact and use “Changemakers for Youth” as the subject line.