TIRANA – The RYCO Local Branch Office in Albania joined the OSCE Presence in Albania in organizing the last edition of Youth Trail 2022 “What Youth Can Do on Environmental Governance?”, which took place from 23-27 October 2022 in Tirana and Shkoder.
This last edition gathered around 30 young people from the Western Balkans, environmental activists, and professionals to discuss environmental cooperation and proactive community engagement on environmental issues as well as how youth can contribute to the broader and sustainable development of environmental governance.
During the official ceremony in Tirana, the young participants were greeted by the RYCO Deputy Secretary General Mr. Denis Piplas who highlighted RYCO’s role in ensuring sustainable peaceful societies and building safe communities through the active involvement of young people in activities that promote mutual understanding, such as the Youth Trail editions between OSCE in Albania and RYCO LBO in Albania.
In the continuation of the program, the Youth Trailers were introduced to the work of RYCO programs by the Acting Head of the RYCO LBO in Albania Ms. Flutura Brakaj. In particular, they were encouraged to see RYCO as a space in which they can contribute to sustainable development through either the Open Calls for CSOs on the topics of environment, or through our RISE project, where social entrepreneurship enthusiasts come together to learn, grow, make a change, and have a social impact.
Furthermore, in the course of the five-day program, besides getting to know each other and the city of Tirana, young participants had the chance to expand their knowledge, brainstorm, and find creative and innovative solutions to environmental governance issues from different angles on a national, regional, public, private, and civil society level. Moreover, the program combined content-driven sessions from the valuable speakers and partners who attended and contributed to the event, group work, expert and institutional presentations, and a field trip to the city of Shkodra.
The Youth Trail was implemented by the OSCE Presence in Albania in close collaboration with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office, the Municipality of Tirana, Tirana European Youth Capital, and the National Youth Congress and with the support of the Austrian Development Agency, the Embassy of Greece to Albania, and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the OSCE.
