About Samfés
Samfés, Youth Work Iceland is an Icelandic non–governmental organization founded on the 11th of December 1985 at Fríkirkjuvetur 11 in Reykjavík.
Samfés has 124 members, who consist of youth clubs and youth houses all over Iceland working with young people in the age 10-25.
Our main goals are to…
- Promote active youth participation
- Increase communication and cooperation between youth clubs and youth houses on domestic and international forums
- Mediate information about youth work and its importance to modern society
- Take lead in the discourse about youth work and legislations concerning youth in Iceland
- Support two influential youth councils
- Participate in projects that promote prevention and other pedagogical values
Samfés hosts a number of annual events, where both youngsters from all over Iceland, as well as youth workers, get a chance to meet up. Our events include song, dance, rap and design contests, educational conferences, national congresses and a two-day music festival in the capital of Iceland.
There are 118 youth clubs in Iceland – for children aged 10-16. Youth houses, for ages 16-25, are six in total. We estimate that 60% of Icelandic youth take active part in their youth club’s programme.