Mission Statement

The challenges we seek to address

• Political disenchantment of young people & barriers for their participation
• Nationalism & rejection of a democratic, open and pluralistic European society
• Social injustice and exclusive power structures
• Right wing extremism, antisemitism & racism, including anti-Muslim racism, anti-Black racism & Gadjé-racism
• Lack of a platform for transcultural encounters and exchange of opinions – Shrinking civic spaces

The Foundation works continuously to address these challenges in its activities.

Our aims & sense of purpose

• We want to offer young people living in Europe platforms for encounters and exchange, learning and personal development;
• With active citizenship education, we want to offer young people opportunities to learn more about ways to actively participate in society, and to promote the notion of young people as changemakers;
• We want to draw attention to the interests, questions and challenges of European youth and to catalyse critical and constructive debates about societal issues amongst youth;
• We want to create space for empowerment for youth from underrepresented and marginalised groups and communities;
• We want to promote a feeling of mutual understanding beyond state borders;
• We want to raise awareness about all forms of discrimination and anti-democratic, anti-pluralistic attitudes in society;
• We want to foster a democratic, inclusive and radically diverse Europe.

Our mission

The Schwarzkopf Foundation strives to strengthen young people from all backgrounds to be active European citizens who, through engagement and the sharing of opinions, contribute to a pluralistic, democratic society of mutual understanding, solidarity and peaceful collaboration in Europe.

Our competences

We offer young Europeans opportunities for encounters, for knowledge exchange and personal development and for active participation. We promote the development of young people into politically aware and responsible individuals. We strengthen young and marginalized voices in European societies and draw attention to the interests and challenges of European youth. In order to achieve these objectives, the foundation works in different programme lines. Close to our target group and together with our youth-led networks, we work here with peer-to-peer approaches and target group-oriented offers.

Who do we work for?

We address young people from all over Europe, regardless of nationality, race, gender identity, sexuality, religion, socio-economic or educational background or any other status, including people from LGBTIQ+ communities, Jewish people, Sinti*ze and Rom*nja, Muslim people, BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), people disabled by the environment or people with stories of flight and migration. They shape the foundation’s programmes as participants, peers and multipliers.

Our approach

The Schwarzkopf Foundation is guided by the values set out in the vision – open-mindedness, pluralism, democracy and solidarity. These values also shape the way the foundation’s organisation, programmes and projects are managed. Living up to our values means:

1. Hearing young people first

   The foundation fosters open and close dialogue with young people across Europe. Its work is based on the issues and questions most relevant to our target group. A continuous involvement of young voices is ensured through youth councils in our different networks. This serves as a formalized and institutionalized mechanism to include young people’s perspectives and feedback into the foundation’s work, educational approaches and formats.  We are aware that not all young people have equal chances and opportunities of being heard and seen and are working towards breaking down these barriers.

2. Outreach & Inclusion for our target group

   To give all young people the opportunities to experience and help actively shape Europe without barriers, we aim to enhance the participation of people:

   – From diverse educational backgrounds, by providing different methods and formats for heterogenous learners and teachers.
   – From non-urban areas, by organising activities in and including participants from smaller cities and remote, rural areas.
   – Who are less engaged in civic life, by reaching out to young people who experience barriers to fully participating in society and civic life.
   – With underrepresented and minority perspectives, by reducing obstacles for participation, e.g. for persons experiencing different forms of belonging or who have experienced discrimination based on their religion, race, ethnicity and (non)-citizenship, sexual orientation, gender, and/or (dis)abilities.
   – With limited access to socio-economic resources, by reducing financial obstacles for attending events.

3. Learning through action and experience

   The foundation supports personal development by providing challenging opportunities and support. Through their participation, young Europeans gain valuable competences, understanding and knowledge as well as the confidence to have an impact on society.

4. Experiencing pluralism

   The foundation provides a learning environment and promotes transcultural dialogue in which multiple perspectives are represented, and where understanding, controversy and ambiguity are valued as well as practiced as part of the acceptance of pluralism.  The foundation also opens spaces in which new, positive references to one’s own cultures, languages and tradition can be created.  At the same time, the acceptance of pluralism also means that discriminatory practices need to be named, addressed, and challenged.

5. Creating meaningful alliances

   To reach out to and empower young people across Europe, we work closely with different stakeholders and decision-makers such as schools, universities, activists, civil society actors, politicians, media, as well as other foundations. The foundation also collaborates with various multipliers in civic education, in the private sector, in youth work and youth welfare.

   We work with organizations that share our values and are alliance partners in our work for a just, pluralistic and antiracist society in Europe. We creaete spaces for marginalized voices to be heard in a dominantly white discourse. In the next years, we want to become better allies and invest more ressources in empowerment work and cooperations towards organizations and groups that don’t enjoy the same social capital and networks yet. The key alliance partners are those who work on a positive self-reference of discriminated and marginalised groups, such as migrant self-organisations or people affected by discrimination.

   We invite decisionmakers to discuss current topics with young people from all over Europe. Additionally, we work with holocaust survivors who share their experiences with a younger generation and thus keep remembrance culture alive.

   However, the largest and most important network is formed by the young people themselves. In our youth networks European Youth Parliament, Young Islam Conference & Understanding Europe, young people from various backgrounds set the tone for our work.

6. Impact orientation

   Our programmes and activities are guided by their potential for impact. We plan and implement them with the aim of achieving clearly defined outcomes for our target groups and positive change for society at large. Whenever possible, we strive to analyse our outcomes and impact. This helps us to continuously become better at what we do and to transparently communicate to our participants and partners.

7. Continuous learning

   The foundation is a learning organization, adapting to (changing) political realities and developments. Staying informed on current matters is therefore central to the foundation’s work. Connecting to current debates, the foundation and its youth networks can get involved meaningfully and responsibly in political discourses and decision-making processes. Internally, the foundation routinely evaluates its work and processes and continuously learns and adapts, formalising strategies to streamline our approach and put learnings into practice.

8. Inclusive workplace & organizational culture

   The foundation is working on becoming an inclusive workplace that removes barriers and reflects societal diversity and differing life situations and lifestyles. The organization values individuals with diverse and differing experiences, skills, talents, priorities, values, views, and ways of life and aims to ensure that every employee has the potential to participate fully in the organization & every individuals needs are met wherever possible.