Young People and Local Stakeholders Jointly Develop Recommendations for Improving Public Policies
The Center for Democracy Foundation organised Youth Policy Labs in Subotica, Niš and Vranje, as part of the “Your City – Your Voice” project, dedicated to improving public policies and services in the areas of culture, employment, and young people’s mental and reproductive health.
Following the previously implemented training sessions for young people and civil society organisations, the Youth Policy Lab represented the next step – a space in which the identified needs and problems of young people were translated into concrete proposals for improving local policies and practices.
The Youth Policy Lab process in all three cities was implemented in two phases, with two sessions held in each local community.
During the first phase, participants were presented with the findings of the previously conducted analyses of relevant public policies, followed by discussions on the problems and needs of young people and priorities for further work. Young people, civil society organisations, representatives of institutions and other local stakeholders jointly discussed what needed to be changed and what possible courses of action could be taken.
In Niš, the focus was on youth employability and the position of young people in the local labour market; in Subotica, on young people’s participation in cultural life and the development of cultural policy; and in Vranje, on young people’s mental, sexual and reproductive health, access to support and services, and the availability of information for young people.
The joint work in this phase focused on identifying priority problems and possible courses of action as a basis for further formulating recommendations. The aim was to ensure that the recommendations did not remain merely an expression of young people’s needs, but that they more clearly defined what should be improved, which measures could contribute to change, and which local stakeholders could be involved in their implementation.
During the second phase of the Youth Policy Lab process, based on the findings of the analyses, recommendations and comments collected during the previous activities, participants were presented with working versions of concrete advocacy initiatives for each of the three cities. These were jointly reviewed, discussed and further developed so that they would respond as closely as possible to local needs and to realistic opportunities for further advocacy.
As a result, three initiatives were developed through the Youth Policy Lab process:
- in Niš – an initiative to establish a Local Partnership for Improving Youth Employability in the City of Niš;
- in Subotica – an initiative for a Programme for Improving Young People’s Participation in Cultural Life and the Development of Cultural Policy in the City of Subotica;
- in Vranje – an initiative to establish a Youth Health Council of the City of Vranje.
In this way, the Youth Policy Lab was not a one-off consultation, but a process that moved from analysing problems and identifying needs, through formulating recommendations and engaging in dialogue with local stakeholders, to concrete proposals for improving local public policies.
The Policy Lab brings together young people, civil society organisations, local institutions and other relevant stakeholders, creating space for dialogue on solutions that can contribute to better support for young people in local communities. In this way, young people are not only beneficiaries of existing services and policies, but active participants in improving them.
Following the completion of the two phases of the Youth Policy Lab process, the finalised advocacy initiatives were presented to relevant local stakeholders and further promoted through public advocacy activities, with the aim of bringing young people’s recommendations and proposals into local institutional dialogue and contributing to concrete changes in the community.
DOWNLOAD: Advocacy Initiatives for Vranje, Subotica and Niš
(The advocacy initiatives are available in Serbian.)
The Center for Democracy Foundation develops and implements the Youth Policy Lab methodology, drawing on its experience from the large-scale regional RYDE project (“Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe”), which fostered cooperation and connections between young people, civil society organisations and decision-makers in developing proposals for improving public policies. The knowledge gained and lessons learned were applied through the “Your City – Your Voice” project, where the structured dialogue model was adapted to local needs, demonstrating its potential to become a sustainable mechanism for involving young people in public policy development in local self-government units.
The project “Your City – Your Voice” is implemented within the project “EU National Resource Centre for civil society in Serbia” of the Belgrade Open School, financially supported by the European Union.
Center for Democracy Foundation
