Transformational change starts from within. For SIA to reach its full potential, we needed to hold spaces for discussion with our entire community and reassess their needs to understand how we could best meet them. This builds the basis for a strong why. This strong why has to be qualified, allowing anyone who hears about SIA to quickly understand what it is we’re working towards.

Moreover, SIA’s work has been based for 15 years on a simple promise: empowering youth to make a difference. This promise remains, but lacks boundaries that help us orient the future of our work. By creating clarity of what those boundaries are and how we can work within them, we create a better path forward for our entire community.

There are many ways of showcasing an organizational identity, but we felt the Vision, Mission and Manifesto framework fit our context the best. The following statements set our direction:

Vision: We envision a world where youth drives the transformation towards an environmentally sustainable and socially just society with equal access to opportunities for all.

Mission: We empower youth to transform society through impact-driven entrepreneurial journeys in our international community.

Our manifesto is made up of 9 statements, split into two parts:

Our Beliefs:

• A better world is coming.
• Young people are remarkable.
• Impact-driven entrepreneurial action is transformative.
• Collaboration and diversity enable long-lasting impact.

Our Values:

• We create safe and supportive spaces where authenticity thrives.
• We always put young people in the driver’s seat.
• Learning by doing is in our DNA.
• We prioritize accessibility and transparency throughout our work.
• Community is at the heart of everything we do.

These statements are our new driving force, giving clarity to why we wake up every single day. They are the building block to our new theory of change, detailed in our next article of the Ambition 2030 series. 

This action is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.