WESTERN BALKANS – The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), in cooperation with the University of Vienna, the Sigmund Freud University Vienna and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH ORF Promotion of EU-Integration on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), publishes the publication A Better Region Starts with YOUth.
With this publication, we are aiming to present you the key milestones of our work since the very beginnings of the RYCO establishment process, the influence RYCO youth exchanges have on the Western Balkan young people and youth workers supporting them through these exchange programs. Moreover, you will find inspiring stories of our Governing Board members, both those who are representing young people and those representing the governments of the region, impressions of our Advisory Board members, as well as stories of those working on the RYCO’s mission everyday – our team members and numerous partners.
The central part of this publication is a scientific research conducted by the team of researches from the University of Vienna. The research focuses on young people in the Western Balkans and their participation or non-participation in regional youth exchange programs supported by RYCO.