• 2019-04-03
• |  Danilovgrad

Students from Western Balkans Ready to Actively Engage in Reforms

Students, young professionals and scholars gathered in Danilovgrad (Montenegro) to participate at the first regional course of the Politiea Western Balkans School for Youth Participation from April 1-6, 2019. The Politeia Western Balkans School is organized within the project Regional Youth Compact for Europe, a regional initiative of 14 organizations from the Western Balkans, EU and Turkey and supported by the European Union and Balkan Trust for Democracy.

A group of twenty five regional Politeia participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Northern Macedonia and Kosovo*. are recruited through an open call distributed through universities, CSOs, youth organizations and social networks. They will upgrade their knowledge in the area of EU integration, reform design and monitoring and potential for increased youth participation through a participants-oriented methodology including a variety of workshops, lectures and team work. In particular focus will be the rule of law, fight against corruption and socio-economic development as topics of the highest concern for the young people in the region.

“We want to learn by doing and share our experience with young people from the region. Dialogue is important throughout the region, including the dialogue among the young. So, I expect to build a friendship network and learn how to be more active in monitoring what our governments are doing”, said Marjana Koceku, a student from Albania.

The regional Politeia is based on two decades long experience of the Politeia School for Democracy and Civil Society created by the Center for Democracy Foundation from Serbia, with nearly 2,000 alumni network. The first POLITEIA School for civil society took place in 1997 in Serbia during the large civic and student protests where the students were able to learn and adopt democratic and European values. It is recognized as one of the leading non-formal education programs in the Western Balkans because of its successful recruitment of students, great choice of lecturers and trainers and the innovative methodology.

Follow the highlights of POLITEIA lectures and workshops on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profile @Centaronline, on our website www.centaronline.org, and also on the project page www.alda-balkan-youth.eu/Youth-Compact.

(*Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99)