RYCO Pilot Capacity Building Training Ends

PODGORICA – RYCO Pilot Capacity Building Training for the first beneficiaries of the organization’s open call for project proposal ended on Friday in Podgorica, Montenegro. During the five days long training, we gathered the representatives of 34 civil society organizations and high schools from the region, the lead applicants of the shortlisted project within the first RYCO Open Call.

The main aims of the training were to create a common understanding and common ground among the participants regarding RYCO in general, and more specifically, regarding the values of RYCO and the quality of the future projects. Moreover, the training aimed to live together an intercultural exchange and to enhance contact and exchange among the participants as project organizers and between them and RYCO and its representatives, but also to identify and to address key challenges for the organization of youth exchange in the Western Balkans and to jointly discuss approaches to deal with these challenges in order to ensure the quality of the future RYCO-projects.

During the opening ceremony, the participants were welcomed by the representatives of the RYCO Head Office and Local Branch Offices, as well as by Ms Lia Magnaguagno, Democratization Program Manager at the OSCE Mission to Montenegro. She pointed out that the OSCE Mission to Montenegro is glad to be part of the process and values the close partnership with RYCO Local Branch Office in Montenegro and RYCO in general. She pointed out that RYCO and the OSCE share many common values such as democratic development, regional cooperation, promotion of tolerance, reconciliation.

Ms Magnaguagno pointed out that the cooperation is well-supported by the Italian OSCE Chairmanship that, in good continuation of last year’s Austrian chairmanship,  considers youth to be one of the priorities.

On the other hand, at the closing ceremony of the training that was held on Thursday evening, the participants were addressed by the RYCO Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General, Mr Đuro Blanuša and Mr Fatos Mustafa, who both expressed their happiness that the first project will start being implemented in the following days. Furthermore, they encouraged the participants to give their best during the projects implementation period, as their success will be the success of RYCO itself.

Finally, the participants were addressed by Head of the OSCE Mission in Montenegro Ambassador Maryse Daviet. She underlined the importance of RYCO for the region and its societies and expressed her gratitude that she had the possibility to meet the representatives of the civil society organizations and high schools from the Western Balkans who will be the first ones to be supported by RYCO and implement their projects aiming to bring the youth of the region closer together.

The training is organized with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Franco-German Youth Office and the Crossborder Factory,

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