WHY EUROPE?
WHY NOW?
Young Europeans are growing up in a world that's very different to their parents. Democracies are under strain. The climate is in crisis. Housing and affordability are out of reach for many. Nationalism is rising. AI is reshaping the world of work before they have even entered it.
At the same time, the loudest voices in their feeds are often the ones preaching easy answers and individualism: pulling young people away from their communities, from civic participation, and from the idea that collective action changes anything. The decade ahead won't be easy, and it's young people who will live with the consequences. Yet right now, decisions are largely being made without them.
This isn't just a social challenge. It's a democratic one. Everyone loses when young people are disengaged. Europe needs young people who are connected to their communities, who understand how to solve local problems, and who are given the agency and space to lead.
Save the Children's European Members are well placed to offer exactly this. We're already in their communities. We understand their lives. And we've committed to becoming a genuinely child and youth-led organisation. The Reimagine Save the Children consultation, which gathered more than 4,000 voices across 94 countries, returned one verdict louder than any other: stop just consulting young people, and start sharing power with them. Make youth leadership part of how we design, deliver, and assess our work, not an add-on. That commitment now sits with every Member to bring to life.
SHIFT IS ONE PROVEN WAY TO START DELIVERING ON THIS, RIGHT NOW.
ABOUT
SHIFT is Save the Children's youth accelerator model. Born in Myanmar in 2019 and scaled across our movement since 2021, it now operates in more than 25 countries, has supported over 1,700 young changemakers, and catalysed more than 150 community-led projects.
It trains and equips our staff and partners in a proven methodology that hands real power to young people. Human-centred design workshops with youth lead to activated community projects. Beyond addressing the issues young people care about, SHIFT builds something bigger: independent youth movements, and the leaders who drive them.
The model is delivered through highly scalable resource packages for rapid adoption (SHIFT Pro), intensive training that leads to full accreditation (SHIFT Master), and an AI platform that brings lessons from delivery at scale to facilitators everywhere (SHIFT Brain).
WHAT SHIFT OFFERS EUROPE
Shifting power where it matters. SHIFT is the vehicle we've built to consistently shift power to young people. It's fast becoming our signature approach, training adults to step back and let young people step forward. Projects are designed by communities, for communities. Local partners gain accredited facilitation skills that stay with them. This is how we work with young people, not for them. What works in 25+ countries will work in Europe too.
Reinforcing civic engagement and democracy. When a young person speaks with decision-makers, mobilises their community, or builds a social enterprise around solutions, they are practising democracy at its most fundamental level. They learn that their voice matters, that institutions can be engaged, and that local action creates change. Community leadership empowers young Europeans, strengthens the places they live, and seeds a generation of engaged citizens.
Connecting young people across borders, and beyond Europe. A European SHIFT network could connect changemakers across the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, and beyond. Youth will share their approaches and learn from each other. And it doesn't stop at European borders. Every young person in SHIFT Europe also joins a global network of changemakers in Bhutan, Kosovo, Malawi, Bolivia, Vietnam, and more, all tackling similar challenges in their own communities. SHIFT alumni have already spoken at COP, UK Government conferences, and international philanthropy forums. European youth gain global perspective. Youth in the Global South gain European peers.
Preparing young people for the future of work.
An estimated 92 million jobs globally will be replaced by 2030. The skills that will matter most, including critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and leading through uncertainty, are not built in classrooms. They're built by doing real things in real communities. SHIFT delivers exactly this. Young people finish with more than knowledge. They finish with experience. Real projects led, real budgets managed, real teams navigated. That kind of track record is what the future of work in Europe will reward.
Meeting the EU and donor demand for real youth participation.
Across Europe, there is growing recognition that youth participation must move beyond consultation. The EU now requires meaningful youth involvement in grant design and delivery. Foundations and corporate partners are prioritising it. SHIFT is a ready-made answer. It is not a promise to develop a strategy, but an operational model with evidence from 25+ countries. Members who can demonstrate a credible, embedded approach to youth partnership are better positioned to win funding, domestically and internationally.
INTRODUCTION
SHIFT Europe is an invitation for Save the Children Members to take SHIFT and make it ours. It's proven, operational, and already working.
That means three things at once.
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Each Member runs SHIFT in their own country, adapted to local context and local priorities. You get everything you need to launch: resources, training, strategy sessions, and access to our global network of changemakers.
It becomes part of how you engage young supporters, deliver domestic programmes, and show donors, both public and private, that Save the Children is a leader in supporting independent youth movements.
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Members who join don't operate alone. They form a cluster that shares what works on domestic adoption, supporter acquisition, and donor positioning; co-invests in a growing network of young changemakers across borders; and speaks with one collective voice to EU institutions, regional funders, and the federation itself.
SHIFT is one way Europe stops being a collection of independent Members on youth participation and starts being a movement.
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European Members aren't just adopting a product. They're co-owners of it. This isn't just an investment in scale. It's an investment in our staff and partners to deliver what we said we wanted to be: a genuinely child and youth-led organisation. It frees the global team to keep improving the product and gives European Members a true stake in SHIFT's future.
Direct links into the global SHIFT youth community, connecting local young people to a global changemaker network
HOW SHIFT EUROPE IS FUNDED
Here's where SHIFT Europe does something genuinely different.
Each Member makes a pre-committed contribution of $50,000 per year to SHIFT Global (hosted by SCI). That contribution is what makes them an Angel Investor. It funds the shared infrastructure that keeps SHIFT operational, continually improved, and available to the movement. It sustains the global team, the development of SHIFT Brain, and the ongoing management of SHIFT as a movement-wide asset.
The $50,000 isn't a sunk cost — it's seed capital. Members activate the global assets domestically: they embed SHIFT in national programmes, build it into international grant awards, and use it to unlock new partnerships and supporters. The income this generates covers the commitment and reinvests back into local SHIFT delivery. The more a Member activates, the more self-sustaining their domestic SHIFT programming becomes.
Here's what Members get. SHIFT becomes an extension of their own team. That means:
Full access to SHIFT resources, tools, and facilitation training for domestic and partner staff
Access to SHIFT Brain, the AI learning tool currently in development
Full use of SHIFT content and case studies for marketing, fundraising, and supporter acquisition campaigns
Strategy sessions with the SHIFT global team on domestic application and local partnerships
SHIFT Master and SHIFT Pro support for any country office or programme when SHIFT is built into international awards
For less than the annual cost of a single staff position, Members get a proven model, an experienced global team, a growing AI platform, and infrastructure that would take years and millions to replicate.
This is how the model looks in practice.
THE PROOF
In 2026, Netherlands and the UK stepped up as our founding Angel Investors. Here's how Netherlands is integrating SHIFT and leveraging its investment into untied revenue.
2026 SHIFT Contribution: $50,000 USD
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SHIFT integration into Speaking Minds and Youth Ambassadors projects. Staff trained, full resource ownership, global network accessed.
Recovered Value: +$15,000
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SHIFT Master integrated into two International projects. SHIFT Pro in two additional projects. Global SHIFT team support training and implementation.
Recovered Value: +$35,000
Investment fully recovered. Below becomes upside
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Youth-driven supporter campaigns leverage positive stories to target acquisition of 500 new regular givers. At $18/month average, that’s $108K recurring + $25K in one-off donations.
Potential Income: +$133,000
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Liliane Fonds Foundation has unlocked a future pipeline of revenue as SHIFT is offered to their youth and disability partners.
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Access to a global network of activated changemakers for advocacy and media. Save the Children becomes a brand known for our grassroots support.
Summary
Invested
Recovered
Net 12 month cost
Potential revenue
Brand, advocacy, media
–$50,000
+$50,000
$0
+$133,000
Increased awareness, stronger advocacy
THE ASK
Join Netherlands and UK in Becoming a Founding Member of SHIFT Europe.
Commit $50,000 USD to SHIFT in your 2027 budget.
This is funding that can then be recovered over twelve months through domestic and international activation. We're asking Members to see this as year one of a longer journey. SHIFT Europe’s impact will continue to grow as more Members join and collaborate.
Your commitment does more than activate SHIFT in your home country and connect you to a regional network. It helps fully fund SHIFT itself across our movement. Over the next few years, SHIFT will become more scalable and will collectively aim to:
Distribute our model and resources to at least 5,000 staff and partners.
If each adult trained in SHIFT supports 25 youth each year, with these skills and tools, Save the Children will create acceleration opportunities to 125,000 youth leaders every year.
At this scale, each Member's $50K contribution reaches youth at the effective rate of just $0.40 per youth — every dollar invested cascades through trained adults to reach 2.5 young people.
Contact:
Andy Nilsen, SHIFT Global Director
andy.nilsen@savethechildren.org