Through the Youth Fund of the Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe, We are supporting regional projects that will contribute to the improvement of youth activism, participation and policy making skills at the local and national level. We are increasing the political participation of women, empowering young people for changes in the community, for dialogue, fostering peace and integration, advocating for a green future and the Youth Guarantees.
Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe – RYDE is funded by European Union.
PROJECT: Future Bridges: Empowering Youth for Kosovo*-Serbia Dialogue
Organization: NSI – New Social Initiative, Kosovo*.
Project: Future Bridges: Empowering Youth for Kosovo*-Serbia Dialogue.
Overall Objective: The project endeavors to contribute to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia by engaging youth and civil society in inclusive dialogue initiatives and fostering innovative approaches to address societal divisions and mistrust. Specific Objectives: Empower Youth Leadership; Broaden Dialogue Horizons; Promote Intercommunity Understanding; Culminate Insights and Recommendations.
Key results achieved:
- Enhanced the capacities of young people from different ethnic and social backgrounds in Kosovo by engaging them in practical simulations of the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue, enabling them to develop negotiation, trust-building, policymaking, and advocacy skills and to better understand their role in advancing meaningful youth participation in dialogue processes through the Mock Negotiation Workshop and Youth Task Groups.
- Fostered dialogue between various stakeholders including youth and government representatives, civil society organizations, and international partners from Kosovo and Serbia at the final project conference in order to mobilize support for reconciliation efforts.
- Developed recommendations to enhance youth inclusion and the quality of reconciliation processes by promoting constructive narratives, institutional transparency, meaningful democratic participation, and reducing the political instrumentalization of youth
- Contributed to improving intercultural dialogue and intercommunity understanding among young people from both Serbian and Albanian communities by presenting authentic youth perspectives on dialogue, reconciliation, trust-building across divided communities, disinformation, and youth activism through a six-episode podcast series.
——————————
The Youth Fund „Local Youth Initiatives“
The Youth Fund „Local Youth Initiatives“ is a FSTP (financial support to third parties) i.e. sub-granting activity of the three-year regional project „Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe“ (RYDE), funded by the European Union in the period 2023-2026 through EU Civil Society Facility and Media Programme in favour of the Western Balkans and Turkey for 2021-2023 (IPA III). The RYDE project is being implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation from Serbia as a lead partner in cooperation with the partnering civil society organizations from the Western Balkans: Academy of European Integrations and Negotiations (Albania), Youth Act Center (Albania), Kosovar Stability Initiative (Kosovo*), Network of Progressive Initiatives (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info Center Foundation (North Macedonia) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development (Serbia).
Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe – RYDE
