Last year Connecting Youth was awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria with the Intercultural Achievement Award for supporting online and offline youth cooperation in the Western Balkans.
To receive the award our Executive Director of CDI, Ms Krisela Hackaj, was invited to Vienna this week for the ceremony of IAA 2021 and 2022!

Through this online platform and the offline approach, together with six partner organizations, CY is since 2017 contributing to enhancing youth position in policy-making and promoting youth connectedness throughout the region and with the EU.

The Intercultural Achievement Award (IAA) is a key project of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs that honours initiatives that successfully break new ground in intercultural dialogue, have mastered a specific challenge through intercultural action, and promote the dialogue of cultures and religions through their media presence.

As Secretary General of the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal mentioned in his opening speech “Many of the successful entries concentrate on younger people and the next generation, which we believe is a very pertinent thematic focus of tonight. Representatives of civil society, today we are expressing our gratitude for your contribution and recognise your innovative practices, they are essential for bringing us closer together and for paving the way for a better future for all of us.”

Connecting Youth was recognised by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs as an innovation that makes use of opportunities which positively shape intercultural co-existence.