Greg: building a youth-led movement through the ActionAid Youth Centrer

Together with a few friends, Greg formed a youth initiative, Emfylo, and created workshops to open up conversations around gender-based violence. This small initiative grew when Greg joined with the Youth Center, which Greg describes as 'a place where we empower each other and then each of us carries this empowerment forward into our own communities'.

Greg realised that he was part of wider change when he notes,

'We were not just organising activities anymore. We had become a community. And this is the real impact I see from the Youth Center. It does not only support individual people. It creates connections. It builds networks of people who care, who take action, who support each other and who continue creating change outside the walls of the Center. The people who come here become multipliers.'

Since 2020, ActionAid’s Youth Center in Thessaloniki has been creating a safe and inclusive space where young people can develop their skills, connect with others and transform their ideas into collective action.

In 2025, 711 participants were reached through youth-led initiatives and community events, creating opportunities for young people like Greg to design, organise and implement their own actions.