Deadline: May 29, 2025
Applications are open for the Europe Challenge 2025/2026. The Europe Challenge is an annual programme that brings together teams from libraries and communities across Europe to address pressing social, digital, and climate challenges. Libraries are invited to develop, share, and implement creative solutions with support from the European Cultural Foundation and its partners through an open call.
The Europe Challenge is a unique growing network of European libraries that work together to enhance democratic participation and social and environmental well-being through citizen-led local change by connecting with each other across European borders.
Priority Topics
The Europe Challenge 2025/26 is seeking initiatives that address one or more of Europe’s key transitions: social, digital, and green. They are looking for creative ideas from libraries and community groups that contribute to building a more inclusive, connected, and sustainable Europe.
- Social: Initiatives that strengthen social inclusion, equality, active citizenship, and community wellbeing. This includes initiatives that support vulnerable or underrepresented groups, address low voter turnout, promote civic engagement and democratic participation, tackle issues such as inequality and polarisation, or focus on issues such as social isolation, mental health challenges, declining literacy skills and reading habits, or intergenerational divides.
- Digital: Initiatives that enhance European digital citizenship by promoting tactics, skills, and behaviors that enable individuals to engage with digital content critically and democratically. These initiatives should foster more meaningful interaction and proactive democratic engagement in the digital space. This includes efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation, bridge digital divides, and encourage safe and responsible use of technology and social media. They are especially interested in initiatives that foster digital literacy among young people, tackle issues like fake news, and address challenges arising from rapid AI developments.
- Green: Initiatives that promote environmental sustainability, climate awareness, and resilience within libraries and communities. This includes initiatives focused on environmental education, sustainable practices, and community-led climate action. They particularly welcome creative green/climate projects implemented on the ground, from community gardens to installing beehives around library spaces.
Benefits
The programme offers participating libraries and community groups the following opportunities:
- Funding of up to EUR 10,000 to implement a proposed project (optional).
- A series of online and in-person workshops and mentoring sessions.
- Additional peer-to-peer exchange opportunities, networking, and travel.
Eligibility
- The application must be submitted by two co-applicants: a representative from a library and a representative from a community group from an eligible country with a shared vision of how to change their community for the better.
- The library and community group have identified a local social, digital, or environmental challenge, and are ready to turn their idea into a practical solution that can be shared across their own locality and internationally.
- Not both co-applicants need to be registered as a legal entity. However, at least one of the co applicants must be registered as a legal entity.
- Both co-applicants must be represented by individuals who are at least 18 years old.
Selection Criteria
In addition to addressing one of the three priority topics (social, digital, green), proposals from Challenge teams will be selected according to the following selection criteria:
- Local relevance – the proposal addresses an urgent challenge for both the library and the local community. Additional involvement of local government or other local institutions is encouraged but not mandatory.
- Creativity – the proposal presents fresh, creative, and innovative ways to address a local challenge.
- Inclusivity – the proposal reflects the shared ambitions of the library workers and community members.
- Scalability – the proposal is implemented locally but with the potential to be scaled elsewhere.
- Climate sustainability – the proposal embodies a convincing understanding of fair and green (“just”) transition in Europe.
- European relevance – the proposal complies with European values of democracy, transparency, and inclusivity. It contributes to a positive European sentiment and solidarity regarding shared social, digital, and green challenges.
- Impact – the proposal is able to explain (and quantify) how it will have a positive impact on people and/or the environment (trans)locally.
Application
For more information, visit Europe Challenge.
