Enhancing Youth Cooperation and Youth Exchange in the WB6

The project is implemented by RYCO and funded by the European Union. It takes place across Western Balkans 6, from March 2019 to November 2021.

In cooperation with youth representatives of the RYCO Governing Board, this project will come up with a model for exploring the views of young people regarding the types of projects and approaches to intercultural learning that they would favor in RYCO grant schemes. Taking into account the diversity of young people, they will be consulted on what motivates them to apply and to participate in youth mobility programs, and what are the existing obstacles to their participation. The consultations will take the form of an online survey together with a series of youth consultation meetings that will be organized throughout WB6.

The inputs from young people will be analyzed and fed into the design of a call for project proposals that will support the best CSO initiatives that contribute to the process of reconciliation in the Western Balkans region by having young people:

1. Engage in intercultural learning and dialogue with their peers from WB6;
2. Address their differences concerning the region’s past and challenge inherited narratives through guided processes in a safe environment;
3. Participate in decision-making processes that shape their local communities as well as the social and political development of their respective society and the WB6.

Recognizing that youth mobility provides a multitude of benefits on individual (change of values, attitudes and behavior) and social level, this project will strive to better inform young people about mobility opportunities and benefits of exchanges through organization of events and campaigns, and the production of an Awareness Raising Strategy on youth mobility and its benefits.

Finally, the project will support youth organizations and young individuals to enhance their capacities in better voicing their needs, contributing, and benefitting from an enabling environment with reduced prejudice and discrimination.