WESTERN BALKANS/JAPAN – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) are implementing the youth exchange “Western Balkans meet Japan: A Bridge into the Future”, on 10-18 May 2021, and invite 11 undergraduate or graduate students aged from 20 to 25 years old, coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*,
read moreServing as youth representatives on the RYCO Governing Board offers a chance to make your voice heard in relation to issues that matter to us all and to contribute directly to the decision-making processes that help shape responses to such issues. Such a chance is proof that effective youth participation only happens when young people
read moreWESTERN BALKANS – As the year draws to its end, it is time to look back and reflect on our work done for and with youth in the region, as well as on future plans and efforts. 2020 brought many challenges and impacted our work greatly. The developments of the COVID-19 pandemic trembled established certainties
read moreDear Applicants, We would like to express our gratitude towards all of you who have shown the interest and made efforts to take part in the fourth RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals. The Call was built upon the results and experiences of the three RYCO open calls from 2017, 2018 and 2019 but also
read moreWESTERN BALKANS – The ROUTE WB6 Team is launching the Regional Volunteers Web Platform, an online tool to support young people, civil society organizations and local communities across the region. The platform will serve both as a resource center in its first stage but also as a matching tool to allow both young individuals and
read moreTIRANA/SARAJEVO/SKOPJE – The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) is organizing a series of national annual events across the region aiming to present its achievements in 2020 and plans for the upcoming year. The events are organized within a regional campaign A Better Region Starts with YOUth supported by the Federal Republic of Germany. The first
read moreALBANIA/BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA/MONTENEGRO/SERBIA – Within the second RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals, co-financed by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, the Center for environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina in partnership with Streets for cyclists in Belgrade, Bajkultura in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Biciklo.me in Montenegro and GO2 in Albania, implemented the project “From sustainable mobility to sustainable
read moreWESTERN BALKANS – The eleventh meeting of the RYCO Governing Board took place online on Wednesday, 23 December 2020. The meeting discussed the organization’s plans and activities in 2021, opportunities for cooperation with credible partners in the region and beyond, projects to be financed within RYCO 4th Open Call, recruitment process for the new Secretary
read moreWESTERN BALKANS – RYCO and UNICEF, supported by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, concluded successfully the second part of a five-day teachers training on “Intercultural Dialogue, Peacebuilding, Constructive Remembrance and Reconciliation: A Toolkit for Teachers in the Western Balkans”, which gathered 22 teachers from the region. Due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the training
read moreWe spoke with the Director of the Franz Vranitzky Chair for European Studies at the University of Vienna Rainer Gries who is leading a team of researchers conducting a study on young people in the Western Balkans and their participation or non-participation in regional youth exchange programmes. This interview focused on the history, politics and
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