TakingITGlobal

Background

TakingITGlobal (TIG) is a Toronto-based international organization with 17 staff led by youth and empowered by technology that has enrolled 100,000 members across the globe.

TIG runs one of the worlds most visited online communities for young people interested in learning more about and becoming more involved in community and international development.

TIGs capacity to facilitate local and global dialogue among youth and between youth and decision-makers on themes related to community and international development has been recognized and funded by a wide range of UN agencies, corporations, NGOs and educational institutions.

Full Description

In developing its Youth Engagement initiative in 2005, the Foundation contracted TakingITGlobal to undertake a mapping of youth engagement organizations across Canada. The preliminary findings indicate that young people and youth-led organizations across Canada would benefit from improved online mechanisms (high tech) for learning and collaborating combined with local opportunities for networking, capacity building and action taking (high touch).

The Creating Local Connections Canada project will enable dozens and eventually hundreds of youth-led organizations in Canada to engage a larger and more diverse youth constituency, to learn from one another and from more experienced adult-led organizations, and to mobilize support for specific projects. It will also complement the Foundations grant to four comprehensive community youth engagement initiatives, providing an online platform for learning, mentoring, evaluation and knowledge management.

Over a period of three years, TIG will expand and deepen the Canadian section of its global youth portal and assist young people in local communities to map community issues and the flow of resources. It will also nurture the skills and partnerships necessary to take local action, using the youth portal as a gathering and informing space.