29 June 2021

2021 marks the fifth year of CY establishment. Throughout the last five years, CY has contributed to youth connectivity with many activities organized under the partnership with six umbrella organizations from the Western Balkans. After the five years of operation, CY is now preparing its three year strategy 2022-2024 which aims to reflect the platform’s bottom-up approach when tackling youth issues, to set an impact oriented approach and a systemic presence in the policy-making areas relevant to youth.

To facilitate the process of kick-ing off the strategy, CY has cooperated with the German Federal Youth Council (DBJR). The previous cooperation between DBJR and the platform resulted in an insightful paper on Youth Dialogue and how it can be implemented in the Western Balkans. Similarly, even during the strategy facilitation, DBJR was able to tackle important aspects of strategic thinking during the working groups with CY Partners.

The three workshops were conducted in the week between the 22nd and 29th of June 2021. These comprehensive workshops helped to assess the current state of the WBYC Platform, by getting a grasp of the needs and visions of the Platform’s member organizations and to get an idea of proposals for the Platform’s future mission, goals and activities.

Based on the past achievements and the current assessment of the CY, DBJR has compiled a list of recommendations that will be integrated into the new 2022-2024 CY Strategy. This strategy will reflect then on the action plan of the platform for the next three years, thematic areas of work, activities and joint partnerships regionally and beyond.