Ever since 2017, Connecting Youth works as a methodical initiative to promote the cooperation and dialogue between youth as means for a resilient and diverse region. The initiative is built upon an impact-oriented approach, sustainability, and systemic presence in the policy-making areas relevant to youth.

In partnership with six youth umbrella organizations in the WB6 and supported by the German Federal Youth Council, CY has endorsed the new 2022-2024 Strategic Plan.

In this three-year strategic planning, Connecting Youth platform brings a load of experience in identifying youth needs in the Western Balkans region and formulating proposals and recommendations to address those needs. The period that we leave behind holds everything from the social, to economic, political and environmental issues. Yet what brings them all together is how we tackled them, how we are planning on them, and how much we are including youth and society there.

While the region fluctuates from different challenges such as environmental/climate change, brain drain and weak economies, high levels of migration, and other socio-political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic - aimed to be tackled by the potential robust results of the Economic and Investment Plan (EIP) for the Western Balkans Six, the switch in including youth perspectives and contribution to address all these challenges is also seen from EU and regional-led side initiatives such as Western Balkans Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, European Year of Youth 2022, EU Youth Strategy 2019 - 2027, Tirana European Youth Capital 2022, Tirana Connectivity Forum, Young Bled Strategic Forum, EU Youth Dialogue, Conference on the Future of Europe, etc.

As such, the main priorities of Connecting Youth under this Strategic Plan consist of strengthening young people’s democratic participation in sectoral policies, enhancing youth connectivity in the region and advancing the capacities of youth organizations to uphold and represent their position.

We aim to nurture our priorities by informing youth on sectoral policies such as the planning and implementation of the EIP with all its flagship projects, strengthening youth participation in the EIP through evidence-based research, providing new multimedia tools that enable youth connectivity and mobilization across the region, in skills through capacity building programmes and maximize the impact of youth partner organizations work through our subgranting schemes.

Read the STRATEGIC PLAN 2022 - 2024 publication here.