What is Pulse-Z?
Pulse Z is a digital democracy project, co-funded by the European Union, for young Europeans, focusing on those with interests in politics, journalism, and multimedia. It aims to empower young people to voice their opinions on European issues, engaging in activism through journalism and content creation on their channels — their way, their voice, their channels. Pulse Z is a collaborative platform with a central content hub, along with events, training, and entrepreneurial opportunities, allowing young Europeans to contribute to mainstream media and apply these skills in global youth initiatives.
We aim to recruit over 3,000 young people from more than 20 EU countries as content contributors, with well over half a million reached through our communications activities.
Partners: JA Europe (coordinator), Matrix Internet, Europsky Dialog, YMCA Europe, Ciao People, Europejskie Media Spolka, Euractiv Romania, European Youth Press.
Scope of work
- JA Europe is requesting proposal from organizations to conduct youth outreach to the project and organize youth events.
- Youth Outreach: recruit min. 200 youth (age18-25)) who are interested in journalism and media creation to sign-up in Pulse Z, go through training and submit content
- Youth Events: organize one youth event with 100 youth who have
submitted content
- Eligibility criteria: The call is open for legal registered and existing entities in the country where activities will be established. Activities can only be organised in EU Member States. The applicant must be a youth led or serving organisation
- Funding: total funding available is 140,000.00 EUR; minimum of 10 grants will be awarded (one grant per country); max amount per grant is 14,000.00 EUR. Co-financing from other sources is encouraged, but the proposed activities cannot be part of ongoing projects. The funding to selected activities will be paid into two instalments: 50% upon agreement signature and 50% upon completion of activities and approval of narrative and financial report
- Timeline: youth events will need to be organized between 01-May and 30- June 2025; outreach starts as soon as grants are awarded (March 2025)
- Requirements: The applicant will have to submit an activity proposal as per Activity Proposal guidelines outlines below. The awarded grants are expected to sign agreement with JA Europe before the activities take place and submit a narrative report and a financial report based on the costs actually incurred and supporting the budget submitted on this grant.
- The financed Third Parties do not become a partner of the Pulse Z project consortium.
- Evaluation criteria and process
| Criteria | Description | Points 0-10 |
| Previous experience | Evidence of having successfully delivered similar events in the past, demonstrating reliability and capacity for execution. | 40 |
| Quality of the proposal | Clarity and completeness, and the extent to which the proposed event aligns with the stated objectives. | 40 |
| Cost-effectiveness | The balance between cost and the expected benefits, ensuring the proposal is reasonable and efficient in its use of resources | 20 |
- A committee comprising three members from JA Europe project team will review the submitted proposals and assign a score to each criterion outlined above.
- The proposals with the highest total score will be selected, provided they achieve a minimum of 70% of the total possible points.
Application Process
- Interested organisations are invited to submit a project proposal in English language by 31/03/2025.
- Application should be submitted to JA Europe: offers@jaeurope.org and be clearly marked “Pulse Z Third-party support”.
- Applications must be in English language and include following elements:
- Activity proposal including implementation plan, timeline, and resources required.
- Safeguarding principles and documentation that will be applied during the activities
- Information about the applicant organisation, including relevant experience.
- Proposed budget. Budget template can be downloaded HERE.
- Timeline:
| Milestone | Timeline |
| Call announcement | 30 January 2025 |
| Application submission window | 31 January- 31 March 2025 |
| Evaluation period | 1-2 April 2025 |
| Notification of awardees | 3rd April 2025 |
| Subcontracting process and legalisation | 4th-13th April 2025 |
| Implementation period | April-June 2025 |
For further information or questions please contact Ana Lucia Ricaurte (ana.lucia@jaeurope.org)
Annex 1. Activity proposal guidelines – youth events
- Concept: a “Creative Retreat” or “Innovation Challenge” to foster connection, learning, and content creation.
- Objectives:
- Build connections among youth interested in active citizenship, journalism, and advocacy;
- Deepen knowledge of content creation and entrepreneurship;
- Foster the creation of high-quality content for Pulse Z
- Timeline: youth events will need to be organized between 01-May and 30-June 2025; outreach starts as soon as grants are awarded (March 2025)
- Locations: all EU Member States except Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Romania where the activities are already taken place by other partners.
- Participants: min. 100 young people per event
- Duration: min. 1 day (8h)
- Venue Requirements: Dynamic spaces with areas for:
- A larger main gathering area
- Free spaces for networking, collaborative creation, individual time
- Space for simultaneous workshops to take place
- Methods: prioritize youth-Centric methods
- Interactive and short sessions to maintain engagement;
- Balance autonomy with structured guidance;
- Combine inspiration and technical sessions
- Potential Schedule (if one-day event):
- Morning:
- Icebreakers & team-building
- Challenge launch
- Workshops offerings
- Afternoon:
- Content creation with coaching.
- Workshops offerings
- Peer-to-peer and professional feedback
- Morning: