TIRANA – From Nov 29- Dec 2, 2022, 12 pupils from the Western Balkans region, six from the RYCO Superschools program, and 6 from the ZfA (Central Agency for German Schools Abroad) gathered in Tirana, Albania to participate in the Workshop “My city made different” organized by RYCO in cooperation with GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the “Superschool” project.
Throughout the workshop days, the pupils had the possibility to do a tour around Tirana, presented their hometowns, as well as got acquainted with the “Smart Cities” project of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. With the guidance of RYCO Local Program Officer Ms. Flutura Brakaj, the ZfA representatives as well as their teachers, the pupils participated in creative sessions where they brainstormed ideas for improving their own cities. Inspired by the insights of the Smart Cities worldwide, the young people had plenty of inspiration to improve their cities and developed many innovative solutions on how to transform the Western Balkans into more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient communities.
The pupils had the unique opportunity to present the best two proposals on the 1st of December to the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the premises of Sami Frasheri High School during his talk and discussion round with the 12 pupils from the region.
The German Federal President and Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office Ms. Anna Lührmann, had an official visit to Tirana, part of the agenda was also the aforementioned occasion with pupils. RYCO Secretary General Mr. Albert Hani and Deputy Secretary General Mr. Denis Piplaš had the honour and great pleasure to welcome the President before joining the session with the youth of WB. In the session with pupils were present also among the others the ambassador of Germany to Albania H.E. Mr. Peter Zingraf, Ms. Sonja Kurz – Country Director GIZ for Albania, and Mr. Jasmin Valjevac – Program Manager of Superschools from the side of GIZ.