8 October, 2021

On 8 October 2021, Connecting Youth organized the panel discussion “What’s in for youth in the Economic and Investment Plan”, within the 7th edition of Tirana Connectivity Forum “Building Better Balkans Together”.

Throughout the year, Connecting Youth has advocated for greater youth involvement in sectoral policies, thus seeing young people not only as beneficiaries but rather as partners of change that can contribute from the planning stage of these policies. With the Economic and Investment Plan for the Balkans, throughout the region several projects will be implemented in which young people should be involved, starting from infrastructure projects, digitalization, human capital development, Green Agenda, etc.

The panel discussion welcomed Ms. Jagoda Shahpaska - Minister of Labour and Social Policy in North Macedonia, Mr. Albert Hani - Secretary General of RYCO, Ms. Dafina Peci - Secretary General of the National Youth Congress in Albania and Mr. Nedim Alibegovic - Secretary General of the Youth Council of Federation of BiH. The discussion was moderated by Ms. Gresa Smolica from Connecting Youth Platform.

As North Macedonia is a pioneer country in our region to implement Youth Guarantee - another flagship initiative of the EIP, the discussion started with Minister Shahpaska who shared with the audience the implementation process in North Macedonia, lessons learned and recommendations for the homologues in the Western Balkans Six. According to the Minister, the Youth Guarantee has served to provide employment, education and traineeship for thousands of young people in North Macedonia. Despite the inter-institutional need for cooperation, the Minister also highlighted the partnership with Civil Society Organizations as a key element for the successful implementation of the project.

On a regional level of cooperation, Mr. Albert Hani shared the work of RYCO and their efforts with school exchanges and programs to advance social entrepreneurship skills of youth in the region. Mr. Hani also emphasized that on the new strategy of RYCO they will consider all the key pillars of the EIP and Youth Guarantee to ensure youth in the region get the best out of all these investments.

Ms. Dafina Peci and Mr. Nedim Alibegovic, from our partner organizations of the Connecting Youth Platform shared with the audience the challenges youth in our region face when it comes to being informed and involved in policy-making. According to them, Connecting Youth has provided a platform for youth connectivity which informs and includes youth in different sectors of policymaking. They both emphasized the findings of the recently launched Position Paper of Connecting Youth “What’s in for youth in EIP”, which shows that while there is youth potential in the region, there is a need for cooperation between institutions and youth organizations to inform young people and to implement projects that are authentic and respond to the challenges and needs of youth.

Connecting Youth will continue its advocacy for assessment of EIP and youth involvement in sectoral policy making since the planning and implementation phase.

The discussion can be accessed here.

Photos from the panel discussion can be found here.

You can consult the position paper here.