• 2021-05-31

„POLITEIA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation“

Regional Youth Compact for Europe project

The regional POLITEIA School for youths residing in the Western Balkans and Turkey was held 

The Center for Democracy Foundation organised the regional POLITEIA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation within the Regional Youth Compact for Europe project. Young experts from the WB and Turkey participated in the school.

The Politeia School was held from 7 to 29 May 2021 in a new, digital format, with approximately 30 participants, interested and dedicated young adults, a large number of prominent lecturers and experts, decision makers and representatives of academia within the region and Europe, where quality discussions were held on current topics of relevance.

Nataša Vučković, Executive Director, the CDF, announced in her closing address that the Politeia School continues to be a guide along the path we must take together moving forward – to provide as many educational programmes for youths as possible, exchange of opinion and experience, to encourage collaboration with Western Europe and to afford youths the chance to speak their minds and to allow their voices to be better heard. All public policies should include a youth dimension as a mainstream approach, and in the same way they should include a gender dimension.

The CDF will continue to organise various programmes via the Politeia Institute. Over a three-week period, this course gathered together 30 young people from all over the Western Balkan region and Turkey. Unfortunately, we had to work online but as soon as mid-July, we will get together in person to exchange impressions and continue to plan collaboration and joint projects. I would like to once again thank all the students who applied and actively participated to ensure that the Politeia course would be interesting, encouraging and creative, I would also like to thank our donators from the EU and the Balkan Trust for Democracy, said Nataša Vučković during her closing address.

The Politeia School attendees were addressed by the following speakers through panel debates and discussions: Liselotte Isaksson (European Commission, DG NEAR, Head of Sector, Society, Social Inclusion and Human Capital), Snežana Samardžić Marković (Director General of Democracy, Council of Europe), Jan Zlatan Kulenović (Director of Programs, Regional Youth Cooperation Office, RYCO), Antonella Valmorbida (Secretary General of the European Association for Local Democracy, ALDA), Prof. Dragoljub Mićunović, PhD (President of the Board of Directors of FCD, former MP and President of the Chamber of Citizens of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia), Kori Udovički (President of the BoD, CEVES, Belgrade, and former Minister of Energy and Mining of the RS Government), Aleksandar Kovačević (Energy expert, Belgrade), Prof. Vladimir Janković, PhD (University of Manchester, Great Britain), Linda Çavdarbasha (Deputy Minister of Environment, Government of Kosovo*), Ana Marjanović Rudan (Public Policy Consultant, Praxis Development), Jasmina Murić (Head of Human Resources, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, RS Government), Jovan Protić (ILO in Serbia), Đorđo Cvijović (Regional Youth Cooperation Office RYCO), Marijana Koceku (WPS Albania), etc. 

The following group shared their knowledge and experiences through lectures and interactive conversations with the young attendees: Ivan Vejvoda (Institute of Social Sciences, Vienna), Prof. Gordana Đurović (Faculty of Economics, University of Podgorica, Montenegro), Vesna Pusić, PhD (former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Government of the Republic of Croatia), Prof. Andreas Gross (former member of the Swiss National Council and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), Prof. Eralda Çani (Faculty of Law, University of Tirana and former Deputy Minister for Integration in the Government of Albania), Natalija Mićunović, PhD (Senior Research Associate, Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade), Mirna Jusić (PhD student at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Public Policy, Karlov University of Prague), Aleksandra Vladisavljević (Gender Policy and Budget Consultant), among others.

The POLITEIA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation was held via the new regional digital, educational POLITEIA Platform intended for youths who wish to improve their know-how, contribute to the development of the society in which they live, connect with other youths in their country, the Western Balkans and the European Union.

The POLITEIA School is a programme that has been successfully implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation for over two decades now. From the first Politeia School for Civil Societies held in 1997, where participants increased their knowledge of democracy and European values to today, our courses train and encourage thousands of youths towards active participation in social and political processes. Because of the exceptional group of lecturers chosen to teach at this school, the interactive teaching methodology applied, and the exceptionally qualified participants, today the school is recognised as one of the highest-quality, informal lecture programmes available in this region.

The project is financially supported by the European Union and co-financed by the Balkan Fund for Democracy and USAID.

Center for Democracy Foundation