2025-05-28
| Belgrade

Youth and the 2030 Agenda public debate

“SDGs for All” Platform

The Center for Democracy Foundation and the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation organized a public debate titled “Youth and the 2030 Agenda” on May 28, 2025, in Belgrade, within the Social Pillar of the “SDGs for All” Platform.

The public debate was held as part of the advisory activities of the Expert Thematic Groups – “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls” and “Poverty Reduction,” within the “SDGs for All” Platform.

At the panel discussion titled “Youth and Sustainable Development: A Dialogue on the Opportunities Awaiting the Plan”, participants discussed how institutional policies and local initiatives can better respond to the needs of young people – through concrete mechanisms, multisectoral cooperation, and alignment with the 2030 Agenda.

The debate featured: Ivana Filipov, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Office; Maša Vračar, KOMS; Nataša Vučković, Center for Democracy Foundation; Nevena Letić, Knowledge to Work; Marina Savković, Roma Education Foundation; Danica Zdravković, Youth and Pro-Natalist Policy Commission, Medijana Municipality (Niš); and Dobrila Marković, OPENS. The discussion was moderated by journalist Ivana Stojanović.

The importance of the 2030 Agenda principle “Leave No One Behind” (LNOB) was emphasized. Young people are a heterogeneous social group with diverse needs, capacities, and interests. It is the responsibility of decision-makers – as well as other actors, including civil society, the business sector, and donors – to recognize this and respond with tailored programs and measures. It was concluded that systemic support and good institutional coordination are essential.

Through the work of the Thematic Group on Poverty Reduction within the “SDGs for All” Platform, the need to strengthen support for young people at risk of poverty and social exclusion was highlighted. According to the 2024 Monitoring Report, the Western Balkans region records one of the highest NEET rates in Europe, while measures like the “Youth Guarantee” are still not achieving full coverage or systemic impact.

At the panel discussion titled “NEET Young Women in the Labor Market”, an analysis titled “NEET Women in the Labor Market – Analysis of the Strategic and Legal Framework” was presented. Institutional approaches to reaching NEET young women were discussed, along with examples of good practice and the importance of integrating gender equality into employment and education measures.

Although Serbia has the lowest percentage of NEET youth (those not in employment, education, or training) in the Western Balkans region – only 15 percent – a gender gap is evident, with a significantly higher number of young women in this situation. Furthermore, young women are less active in seeking employment.

The discussion included: Danijela Stojanović, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs; Tanja Marković, researcher and lawyer; Mirjana Mirosavljević Bobić, project manager, Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation; and Mirjana Ognjanović, researcher, “SDGs for All” Platform – social mapping in 5 local self-governments. The discussion was moderated by Ivona Gvozdenović from the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation.

The work of the Gender Equality Thematic Group provided valuable insights that formed the basis for joint work during 2023–2025, focusing on: monitoring the implementation of strategic documents in the field of gender equality, economic empowerment of women, and the integration of the gender dimension into local and national policies.

The “SDGs for All” Platform enables a broad discussion among the Serbia’s non-state actors, including civil society, corporate sector, academic and research community, media and the citizens, on aligning Serbia’s development priorities within the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The “SDGs for All” Platform is supported by the Governments of Switzerland and Germany and implemented by GIZ, within the project “Public Finance Reform – 2030 Agenda”.