From 27th to 29th October 2025, the European Community Foundation Initiative (ECFI) brought together 55 people from across Europe, mostly under 35 years old, for the second edition of the ECFI Youth Fest, hosted by the Fondazione di Comunità San Gennaro in Naples, in collaboration with Assifero.
Over three days, participants explored two central questions:
- How can young people build the leadership skills needed to navigate uncertainty and work effectively within communities?
- How can community foundations foster meaningful youth agency and participation within their organisations and processes?
The choice of host could not have been more fitting. The San Gennaro Community Foundation stands as a powerful example of grassroots energy transforming a neighbourhood from within. Founded in 2014 in the Rione Sanità, one of Naples’ most complex and culturally rich districts, the foundation was born out of the vision that young people are not a problem to be solved but a potential to be unleashed. By listening to and acting upon young people’s visions and wills, the community foundation nurtures an ecosystem of relationships within the community and draws on beauty and art as drivers for deep personal and social change.
A key framework shared during the discussion was the Laura Lundy Model of Child Participation, developed by Professor Laura Lundy of Queen’s University Belfast. The model provides a clear structure for implementing Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) — which guarantees the right of every young person to express their views and to have those views taken seriously in decisions that affect them.
The Lundy Model is built around four essential elements:
- Space – providing safe and inclusive opportunities for young people to express their views;
- Voice – supporting them to articulate those views freely;
- Audience – ensuring their voices are heard by decision-makers;
- Influence – translating their input into meaningful impact on outcomes and decisions.
Among the main insights emerged:
- Define leadership and acquire new skills: Participants highlighted that leadership today must move from “I” to “we. ” Good leaders, they said, are not defined by hierarchy but by empathy, openness, and the ability to hold uncertainty. They build trust rather than control, listen rather than instruct, and treat people with respect regardless of status. Bad leadership, conversely, erodes confidence and stifles growth. The collective insight was clear: young leaders need spaces to practice leadership safely, learn from mistakes, and be trusted to rebuild trust.
- Intergenerational dialogue is a key element that needs to be fostered: Bridging generations was seen as essential for healthy organisations and community ecosystems. Participants called for more intentional spaces for intergenerational dialogue, where wisdom and innovation can meet. Mutual respect, not tokenism or competition, should guide these exchanges.
- Building youth agency – from intention to implementation: Orla Bowden, Foundation Scotland, during the panel reminded us that meaningful youth participation cannot be improvised. She invited all participants to first get familiar with and embody in their organisations the Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as the first step to get serious about youth participation. Afterwards, applying the Laura Lundy model can serve as a practical roadmap to create spaces where youth voice is embedded in decision-making, not appended as an afterthought.
- Go where the community is: Daniele from La Paranza Cooperative shared a powerful invitation: “Go out from the office and into the streets. ” Community building happens through presence, dialogue, and small daily gestures, sometimes as simple as having coffee with people or listening without an agenda. Trust is built on the ground.
- Find new spaces and channels to attract young people: Participants recognised the urgent need to meet young people where they are, both physically and digitally. In a time marked by rising mental health struggles, digital isolation, and fragmented communities, engagement requires creativity and flexibility. Rather than trying to involve everyone, organisations should focus on identifying and empowering young community leaders: those who can act as multipliers and inspire peers to participate.
- Listen without judgment and give agency to young people: Empowering young people means listening actively and creating tangible pathways for action. This can take many forms: micro-grants for youth-led projects, dedicated community spaces, make available social capital or influence within governance structures. Community foundations can become platforms for young people to dream, design, and deliver initiatives that matter to them.
This edition of the ECFI Youth Fest was more than a gathering: it became a laboratory of ideas, relationships, and intentional actions. It demonstrated the power of young people coming together to reflect, question, and reimagine the role of community foundations in shaping a more participatory future.
As ECFI, we remain committed to creating spaces and enabling conditions where these conversations can continue to grow. Our goal is to keep addressing the central questions around youth participation, leadership, and shared power, while supporting the exchange of experiences, nurturing emerging leaders, and building meaningful collaborations across Europe’s community foundation ecosystem.
