PODGORICA – RYCO Program Officer Ms Bojana Bulatović and RYCO Local Branch Officer in Macedonia Mr Albert Hani are taking part in the Second Europe-Western Balkans Youth Meeting: The Berlin process – a new impetus for youth work that is taking place in Podgorica, Montenegro. The 3-day-long event focuses on youth work and youth policy in and with the Western Balkans in the fields of youth participation and engagement, social inclusion and civic/citizenship education.
RYCO Program Officer took part in the panel discussion entitled “A look at the overall context: policy processes with relevance for the youth sector” together with researcher Ms Lana Pašić and representative of the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Youth Program, Youth Outreach Tools and Traineeships Ms Anita-Toien Johansen.
Ms Bulatović stressed that a mechanism for structured dialogue with youth sector should be established in order to fully use the potential of the Berlin Process and the prominent place that youth has in it. Moreover, she informed the participants of the meeting that RYCO first Strategy (2019-2021) is in its final phases of development.
Beside the representatives of the RYCO Secretariat, the event was attended by Youth Representatives in the RYCO Governing Board Ms Dafina Peci and Member of the RYCO Advisory Board from Serbia Mr Nikola Božanović.
Through a series of pane discussions and working groups’ meetings, the participants are aiming to collect information about youth work and youth policy-related initiatives and projects that have been undertaken to take stock of and make more visible what has happened in the youth work and youth policy field in the past years.
Moreover, the will assess the outcomes of implemented projects and initiatives, share inspiring practices, and look into how to further promote and enhance their impact as well as how to explore the added value of European partnerships and projects in this context. Finally, they are going to define some key messages addressed to policy makers, practitioners and programs, in particular Erasmus+, to inform the London Summit of the Berlin process in 2018, the new strategy of the European Commission for the Western Balkans as well as other relevant processes.
Photo: SALTO YOUTH South East Europe Resource Centre