BUILDING CAPACITY AND MOMENTUM FOR RYCO – Regional Youth Cooperation Office

The overall goal of the project is to foster social cohesion and reconciliation, enhance attitudes of tolerance and reduce prejudice and discrimination among youth in the Western Balkans, through supporting RYCO in building its institutional capacity and partnerships with civil society, education institutions (schools) grassroots youth organizations and youth in general. The project strengthens RYCO as a regionally owned mechanism with the mandate to promote reconciliation, mobility, diversity, democratic values, participation, active citizenship and intercultural learning.

The project is implemented in partnership between RYCO – Regional Youth Cooperation Office, UNDP – United Nations Development Programme, UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund, UNICEF - The United Nations Children's Fund with the financial support of the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The project runs from October 2018 to December 2020, across the Western Balkans 6.

Through this project RYCO with the assistance of UN agencies aims to build capacities of its partner organizations and young people such as:

high schools in the region - to equip them with a toolkit and a manual for training and workshops in intercultural exchange, peacebuilding and dealing with the past, as well as to train a regional group of teachers as trainers on these topics. A fundraising guide and a “digital classroom” for teachers and schools will be prepared including several study visits and numerous networking initiatives among teachers
young people, especially hard to reach youth (with a special focus on girls and vulnerable youth) - by creating a regional manual on youth peer education on peacebuilding, establishing a group of youth peer trainers in the field of peacebuilding, training 300 youth and supporting 12 innovative ideas of and for youth in the region, as well as promoting their success stories from the Western Balkans.

RYCO will also build its own capacities:

enhance communications and visibility of RYCO through a new communication strategy and two regional events,
institutionalize monitoring and evaluation framework and other procedures aimed at making RYCO a sustainable and strong intergovernmental mechanism.
consolidate and effectively manage grants facility
conduct comparable research on youth perceptions across WB6

The project organizes youth-led networks, cross-border exchanges and workshops as a tool for youth engagement in peacebuilding and reconciliation and produces online information with the aim of encouraging knowledge sharing and awareness raising among youth in the region. Furthermore, the project strengthens evidence-base on youth’s perceptions about peace and conflict issues in the Western Balkans, and youth researchers’ and activists’ capacities in research and advocacy.

This project supports the engagement of grassroots youth organizations through cross-border programs that promote youth mobility, regional cooperation, reconciliation, diversity, democratic values, participation, active citizenship and intercultural learning. The project especially supports the empowerment of hard to reach youth and contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals specifically: SDG 3 on Good Health and Wellbeing, SDG 4 on Quality Education, SDG 5 on Gender Equality, SDG 10 on Reducing Inequalities, SDG 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and SDG 17 on Partnerships to achieve the Goals.