On 14 - 15 July 2022, under its 2022 Action Plan, Connecting Youth implemented a capacity-building programme for partner organizations and their member organizations, with the support of Hanns Seidel Stiftung and cooperation with the European Youth Forum.

The training was facilitated by Mrs Marija Pantelic, an Expert from the European Youth Forum Pool of Trainers and Experts, as well as through a presentation session by Mrs Inge Brees, Director of Policy, Advocacy and External Relations at the European Youth Forum. The Capacity Building Programme responded to the Connecting Youth strategic objectives, by investing in skills and advancing the capacities of youth organizations to uphold and represent their position.

Throughout the two days, participants delved and explored the concepts and definitions of advocacy, lobbying and campaigning. During the sessions, participants learned to identify stakeholders, as well as their mapping and inclusion throughout the policy-change process. Drawing from the successful advocacy examples of the European Youth Forum, the participants learned new insights when it comes to the competencies of EU institutions, their structure and activity; and similarly on competent institutions for the Western Balkans, with a focus on youth issues and policies.

Among the objectives of the programme was to further strengthen the cooperation between Youth Councils and their member organizations, hence the sessions continued with building step-by-step advocacy plans in different areas concerning youth in the WB6. With the aim of achieving the success of an advocacy initiative, the journey from the problem to the solution was examined, starting from the objective tree models, researching facts and data, the formation of the message, the framing of the narratives and their communication.

Finally, the participants learned about public policy cycles, the life of each cycle, and how to deal with each one, while putting into the table the importance of monitoring and evaluating of advocacy activities toward a certain policy or issue to be addressed by youth organizations.

This Capacity Building Programme manifests the cooperation between the Connecting Youth Platform and the European Youth Forum, after a successful advocacy visit of the Platform Partners in Brussels in May 2022, with the aim of promoting its objectives and the work carried out in monitoring the EU Economic and Investment Plan from the youth perspective.