The first year of the “Balkan regional platform for youth participation and dialogue” project is coming to an end. Coordinated by ALDA, and implemented by the seven LDAs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, together with the ALDA Skopje Office from Macedonia, this project aimed on increasing awareness on youth participation, youth activism and the possibilities for young people to create and influence the policies closely related to them.
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The main focus of the Balkan regional platform was to tackle the questions of youth policy and dialogue in the region, by creating a sustainable cooperation network for the public authorities and civil society, both on local and regional level.
Twelve months later, after the implementation of various activities on different level and with different stakeholders, the partners of the project have achieved their goals of the year one. Protecting the fundamental right of participation, they will continue to work on the promotion of social and economic inclusion of age groups that risk marginalisation and in particular youngsters. This is a challenge not only for the young people in general, but also for the “adult” and experienced local organisations working hand in hand with the local communities in order to facilitate this process.
The partners have truly learned a lot during this first year. In the very beginning the Platform of CSOs partnered with the local authorities. Then the eight teams of Youth Engagement Workers were created in each community. They worked hand in hand with their organisations, reinforced their knowledge and were equal with their peers. Their ideas were herd, they took photographs, they filmed videos, and met the local government in their countries. They also shared their experiences among their fellow workers and in their communities.
The partnership of the LDAs who already had strong professional (and personal) relations was reinforced. They created the Network, they created partnership strategies and they worked on the better understanding of what youth participation involves in the Balkans, and how it can be implemented. They worked on developing mechanisms and tools for each respective country in order to improve and at times even establish the youth participation.
Looking at the accomplished objectives for this year, the partners of the platform are focusing the lessons learned for this first year. The capacity building of youth is a long term engagement and process. In that process the Local authorities are crucial stakeholder in the public policies. The civil society can also contribute in bridging and engaging more stakeholders and encourage the active participation of youngsters.
The project Balkan Regional Platform for youth participation and dialogue was created with financial support from EC within IPA Civil Society Facility – Regional networks. The project is coordinated by ALDA and locally implemented by 7 Local Democracy Agencies from Mostar, Zavidovici, Prijedor (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Subotica and Knjazevac (Serbia), Niksic (Montenegro), Peja (Kosovo) and ALDA Skopje (Macedonia). For more information please visit the official site of the Balkan Regional Platform for youth participation and dialogue.
