Our partners

(AEYC) is an organisation that aims to connect youth centers across Estonia. With approximately 190 centres across the country, AEYC works to create a network of youth centers, support their activities on local level, and create partnership activities between the members on national level.

Through our work, AEYC supports new youth centers and youth workers, organises seminars and trainings to introduce new methods, facilitates information exchange, and contributes to national youth policy. AEYC develops local and international projects and partnership shaping youth policy at national and local level and is a trustful partner for Estonian State Government taking part in different commissions in ministries.

AEYC & Young People
‍Since 2008, AECY has worked with young people who are not in employment or education and helping them find solutions. One of the core pieces of our work is the development and implementation of the Youth Prop Up action plan, a program that is part of the wider Estonian Youth Guarantee National Action Plan which aims to support young people between the ages of 15 to 26 who have lost employment or left school. Through programs, AECY helps these youth reintegrate into society.

CESIS is a Portugese non-governmental, independent organisation concerned with promoting evidence-based, policy-relevant research at both the national and European levels. The mission of CESIS is to understand and promote social cohesion through establishing and implementing policies relating to social development, and encouraging citizen participation.

Guided by these objectives, CESIS promotes, carries out and supports research and action-research projects, consultancy and training activities. CESIS has a vast and widely recognised expertise on the main areas more directly connected with UPLIFT: poverty and social exclusion; social and economic inequalities; housing; family and generational dynamics, namely adopting a gender-sensitive approach; labour market and working conditions; and youth in urban areas.

CESIS & Young People
Over the years, children and youth have become a focus of CESIS’ activities. Different national and European projects have explored themes such as empowering and promotion of rights, protection systems, promotion of capacities and resilience against trafficking and/or exploitation. Additionally, over the past decades, CESIS has been developing community-based interventions in vulnerable neighbourhoods aimed at tackling social inequalities and catalysing change.

Sociedad de Gestion Urbanistica Eretza is an organisation under the Municipality of Barakaldo, that aims to promote urban rehabilitation as well as the protection of housing and urban areas. Established in 1997, ERETZA has acted on behalf of the city council to manage and promote protected housing, making decent and dignified housing accessible to parts of the population.Eretza also works to support young people in becoming economically independent by driving development in the social housing stock. Through Eretza, the City Council was able to install 388 elevators in buildings where these were lacking and carry out repairs on the facades and roof of 31 houses.

The Sepsi Local Action Group Association was founded in 2017 and is made up of the Municipality of Sfantu Gheorghe; the Caritas Alba Iulia Foundation; the Romanian Charity Service of the Order of Malta – Sfantu Gheorghe field office; the Amenkha Association; the Tega company; the Esely Association; the local Social Assistance Directorate; and, two private individuals.

Our mission is to drive the Local Development Strategy of Sfantu Gheorge through the community-led programming, with a particular focus on the area of Orko, the Ciucului quarter, and the Campul Frumos urban area. Our work includes making improvements to, and ensuring equal access of, basic infrastructure, education, employment opportunities, social services, legal aid and sense of community.

The Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF), was established in 1994 within the Faculty of the Social Sciences at Uppsala University. This was in response to a need for long-term research on housing and urban questions within the social science disciplines, voiced by the Swedish Parliament. Our research covers a wide variety of issues concerning urban development, housing and the built environment.

IBF & Young People

IBF has conducted research looking into inequality in education in relation to housing, housing access in different markets, and the introduction of free choice models and private actors in the educational system. Ongoing research on demographic segregation includes analyses of the segregation of children, including migrant children, in Swedish cities.

ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability is the largest global network of sustainable cities, and represents local and regional governments in European and global policy processes. With seventeen offices and more than 1,500 member cities worldwide, ICLEI is comprehensively involved at the local level.
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In Europe, ICLEI’s thematic programmes on “Governance and Social Innovation”, “Sustainable Economy and Procurement”, and “Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience” have developed numerous projects in cooperation with European cities and research institutions. ICLEI works closely with local and regional governments across Europe through pilot projects, training and consultancy, facilitation and event organisation, as well as the development of relevant tools, manuals and guidance.

ICLEI & Young People
ICLEI’s role as knowledge broker puts a focus on connecting municipalities with relevant stakeholders and communication with target audiences. ICLEI will, for example, make use of its extensive network of policy makers for outreach purposes, in order to connect young people’s voices with policy making at the national and EU level. Projects on social justice, inclusion, and resilience are part of ICLEI’s working portfolio.

Established in 2004, SUPPEDITO is an organisation providing training and consultancy services, in the field of social inclusion of marginalized communities – with particular experience working with Roma people. We work mostly with local public administrations, research institutes and NGOs.
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SUPPEDITO has a long-standing collaboration with CARITAS – one of the largest private social service providers in Romania. SUPPEDITO provides CARITAS with expertise on how to engage the hard-to-reach Roma communities.
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Training is aimed at decision makers (mayors, local counsellors) and practitioners (social workers, health mediators, educational mediators) in the field of inclusive development; participatory social service development for marginalised groups; participatory local development strategy building; community and institutional facilitation. Consultancy is provided for policy analysis and for the development of social interventions.

TÁRKI is an independent, private organization that specializes in applied social research. Its research focus ranges from social stratification, social inclusion, labour markets, income distribution, consumption and lifestyle patterns to attitudes in Hungary and in Europe.

TÁRKI has its own fieldwork apparatus that is capable of carrying out regular Hungarian surveys and of managing large-scale international researches. TÁRKI is the Hungarian partner of a number of international social science projects, such as the International Social Survey Programme, the World Values Survey, the European Social Survey and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

UP19 Urban Research and Consultancy Ltd. (UP19 Stadtforschung und Beratung) was founded in 2019 as an independent social research and consultancy agency based in Berlin. UP19 provides its services to research organisations, urban, regional and federal ministries and public administrations, as well as cities and non-profit organisations active in urban social development and housing.
UP19 focuses on research around sustainable social development and on collaboration between policy, governance and various social groups. User orientation in organisational change, participation and inclusive communication are core elements of UP19’s mission.
With the launch of a citizen’s advice bureau, UP19 is working to tackle discrimination in the housing market. With expertise in quantitative as well as qualitative empirical research, UP19 strives to conduct action-oriented research that connects theory with practice.
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UP19 & Young People
An offspring organisation of the partnership, UP19 has conducted research on the lived experience of young people, with particular focus on gender inequality in the context of policy, programme and practice evaluations. Currently, UP19 is also working on a youth programme at federal level, working to involve young people in the process of urban policy development.

The University of Tartu is Estonia’s leading center of research and training, and home to the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences (IEES) and the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) – both of which will be involved with UPLIFT. Both faculties have a high capacity and competence in the fields of urban studies, urban governance, sociology, social work and policy including research on social and ethnic inequalities. The institutes have a varied portfolio of international research projects, e.g. on socio-spatial and intergenerational inequalities, neighbourhood effects, young people’s participation in social and political life; NEET-youth action-research. These projects have spanned collaborations with public bodies, often affecting local and national action plans.

University of Tartu & Young People
IEES and ISS both have extensive experience researching the demographic factors that contribute to urban inequalities – including the intergenerational transmission of poverty. As such, research has been conducted on the backgrounds of at-risk young people, to gain a better understanding of the effects of poor housing, social and spatial disadvantage. UPLIFT will sit alongside a range of other projects exploring socio-spatial urban inequalities – for example DIVERCITIES, DEPRIVEDHOODS and “Understanding the Vicious Circles of Segregation”.

Woonstichting De Key is a social (non-profit) housing association with over 37,000 rental units in the Amsterdam metropolitan area. With waiting times for regular social housing in Amsterdam taking up to 14 years, De Key offers affordable and accessible housing for young people in the urban centre. All of our contracts are temporary (5 years) and only available for people under the age of 28. We aim to offer a first stepping stone into the housing market. Young people can live, work and relax, whilst working towards their next step: another home in- or out-side Amsterdam, rented or owned independently.

The UPLIFT intervention will be the Startblok inspired Lieven project.

The Young Foundation’s mission is to develop better connected and more sustainable communities across the UK. As a UKRI accredited Independent Research Organisation, social investor and community development practitioner, we combine all our skills and expertise to further that mission.
We amplify the stories and lived experiences of people in our communities, using this as a spur to drive locally-led community action and enterprise. Using what we learn across different communities, we are able to identify patterns of need and opportunity to then work with national partners to support new ideas and tackle shared national challenges.

The Young Foundation & Young People
The Young Foundation has a history of working with young people to tackle social inequalities and catalyse change. Amplify Youth is one of our flagship programmes that supports young people to carry out their own research and then design activities and interventions to tackle the issues that matter to them most. Our research with children and young people includes recent projects exploring the experiences of young people and families during the transition from primary to secondary school, both in a major social housing estate in London, and in the North of England. We also run The Young Academy, an accelerator and investment fund tackling educational inequalities, and the Let Teachers SHINE Accelerator to support teachers developing innovative classroom-based projects that reduce educational disadvantage.