Year of Grant: 2015

Location: Europe

European Students For Liberty (ESFL) provides support for pro-liberty students and student groups in Europe, empowering the next generation of leaders in the global liberty movement. It provides resources, advises students on effective leadership strategies, and connects students from across Europe with like-minded peers, leaders and organizations in the pro-liberty  community. ESFL’s activities help students to develop skills, seize momentum, and make the connections required to effectively advance the pro-liberty movement.

The Local Coordinators Program is a summer-long training program for selected European students eager to create a more liberal society. The primary aim is to incubate a new civil society and foster projects that will lead to more prosperity and economic education among the young generation in Europe. The ESFL Local Coordinators Program will train students in the philosophy of liberty, management and leadership skills, and prep them to start and support new and existing pro-liberty student groups in their local country. The ESFL Regional Conferences in Europe comprise 16 one-day events, conferences and seminars designed to introduce and provide a forum for students to become effective liberty leaders.

In order to be selected for the program, applicants are assessed on their philosophical commitment to liberty, intellectual influences and academic achievements. In 2014, SFL was able to scale up the Local Coordinator and Regional Conference programs by nearly 100% each. This significantly helped ESFL to reach out to more students who are interested in free-market ideas and entrepreneurship.

Such growth also enabled ESFL to showcase their work to potential donors and partners. As a result, ESFL was able to make significant inroads in building the student movement for liberty in Europe, which saw the formation of many libertarian student groups and the incubation of important projects.