About us

Our Mission

The European Youth Energy Network (EYEN) is the Federation uniting energy-focused youth organisations in Europe.

EYEN’s mission is to place youth at the heart of the European energy transition by reshaping youth engagement, streamlining the voice of young people and creating the space for them to act.

Our Story

We are passionate and experienced in the European energy sector and in youth engagement. After participating in the 10^th Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, Canada, as youth delegates, we noticed something was missing. There was a lack of youth participation in high-level debates and ministerial meetings concerning the European energy transition. In order to change this, we decided to found EYEN.

EYEN has been working closely with DG ENER and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) via the SDG7 Youth Constituency (SDG7 YC) to establish and develop the network. In June 2020, we helped develop the first ever European Youth Energy Day. Following our Youth Shaping the Climate Pact event in December 2020, we wrote a policy paper on “Gaps and ideas for youth engagement”. Our proposals were received by DG CLIMA, who then invited us to contribute for the Climate Pact. In March 2021, EYEN won the SOLVE THE GAP Hackathon with the OpenPolicy Europe project. Find out more:

Meet the volunteers behind EYEN

We are made up of young professionals and entrepreneurs who dedicate some of their time to building and strengthening the network of networks.

Board

Our board is responsible for the day-to-day decisions, the coordination and management of the organization. We cooperate with relevant stakeholders while preparing and implementing the long-term strategy of the network.

Secretariat

The backbone of EYEN’s daily operations. We organize ourselves in five separate working groups: Governance, Human Resources, Membership, Partnership & Funding, and Communication.

The backbone of EYEN’s daily operations. We organize ourselves in five separate working groups: Governance, Human Resources, Membership, Partnership & Funding, and Communication. The director of secretariat links our board vision to the the operational work of the secretariat, and manages its staff.

Governance

We are responsible for the construction and discussion of the structure, right, dues and functioning of the network. We are in charge for the creation of the EYEN statutes and by-laws but also for the conception of how the different bodies that constitute the organization work with each other, nomination, elections and their functions.

Human Resources

We are the people responsible for EYEN’s people! From your first contact in EYEN after your application to join us, to the onboarding process and taking care of our volunteers!

Membership

We are the bridges of EYEN. On one hand, we connect youth organizations with governmental, industry and third-sector bodies in the energy field. On the other hand, we connect individuals with established youth organizations and their ongoing activities. This will all happen on both an European and national levels.

Partnership & Funding

We collaborate with other organisations to help bridging the gap between youth and the energy sector. We are also the people working for EYEN to have the financial resources it needs to function, by searching for and applying to different scholarships and funding programmes, as well as establishing contact with potential sponsors.

Communication

We are the interlink between you and the European Youth Energy Network. Given that, we develop EYEN’s character and presence, to promote our activities and offer you content, events or workshops. We are realizing this by creating our website as your single stop market for correct and updated information, content and direct links to your most valuable potential partners, so that we can empower you to become yourself the voice of the energy transition and foster discussions and debates.

Task forces

Some projects require cross-functional teams, where members from different working groups collaborate with each other. When that happens, we create a dedicated task force to that event or project.

Advisors

The EYEN Advisory board is made of people who have already contributed in youth engagement sectors either at local, national or European level. The advisors support EYEN with our knowledge, experience, network and perspective. They act as reality checkers for EYEN initiatives and also share opportunities from the business and institutional worlds with the network.