Danube Youth Council

Currently, the application form is open for all Danube Region countries except Slovakia and Germany / Bavaria.

You can find the application form further below on this page. It will remain open until 10 September 2025.

The general application rules allow you to apply if you:

• are interested in shaping the future of the Danube Region and want to work together with EUSDR National Coordinators, Priority Area Coordinators and their Steering Groups to bring the Danube Region forward in 12 thematic fields;
• are at least 18 and younger than 30 for the whole duration of your one-year mandate;
• are a permanent resident of one of the 14 participating states/regions of the Danube Region Strategy;
  In the case of Germany, only residents of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are eligible.
  In the case of Ukraine, only residents originating from the following four regions are eligible: Chernivetska Oblast, Ivano-Frankivska Oblast, Odeska Oblast, and Zakarpatska Oblast. Ukrainian applicants originating from these 4 oblasts are eligible, regardless of their current location.
• have a good understanding of the English language;
• are ready to commit for one year to the Danube Youth Council. This commitment includes the participation in approx. 3-4 physical meetings, virtual exchanges, the work in small groups on proposals and projects and the voluntary participation in events, meetings of EUSDR core stakeholders and further youth activities. On average, you should be able to dedicate at least one hour per week to your DYC activity.

The selection of DYC members shall foster diversity in various dimensions. Therefore, attention is paid to a balance of young people from the 14 EUSDR participating states of different genders and with different educational or professional backgrounds.  If you have experience in youth organisations or volunteer work, we would like to know about it, however it is not a prerequisite.

The open text questions in the application form serve to assess the applicants’ command of English language, and to verify that the applicants are aware of the scope of the DYC mandate. Applications showing a poor command of English language, or applications where no text answers have been provided at all, will be excluded from the selection.

Among all applicants who fulfil the formal eligibility criteria (age, permanent residence in one of the participating states of the Danube Region, knowledge of English, etc.), the selection of candidates is then carried out by random sample. This means that the applications are not ranked based on the content of the answers provided in the open text questions.

Per Danube Region country, two young representatives are selected.

If you are not selected for the Danube Youth Council but would still like to get the chance to join the DYC at a later stage, you may indicate in the application form your willingness to be added to the reserve list. In this case, we will get back to you if, within one year, the mandate of a member of the Danube Youth Council representing your country expires or they decide to cancel their mandate.

No obligations will arise for you as a consequence of being part of this reserve list.

DYC members are selected for a mandate of one year.

After one year, they have the possibility to extend their mandate to a second year (1+1 rule). Extending the mandate to a third year is not possible. This is to allow a larger number of young people to become members of the DYC.

The involvement of present and future generations in the shaping of our societies has been high on the political agenda on a local, regional, national and European level already for several years before the establishment of the DYC. In 2010, the EU initiated its own Youth Strategy. In 2016, EU Leaders endorsed the need for action in support of youth in the Bratislava Roadmap. Since then, various EU policies and initiatives have aimed at giving leverage to young people in Europe:

• the Youth Guarantee
• the Manifesto for young people by young people to shape the European cooperation policy
• the Eastern Partnership
• the European Year of Youth 2022 and the
• Youth for a just transition – A toolkit for youth participation in the Just Transition Fund