Description
The project addresses the need for youth advisory councils to be set up with municipalities and municipal youth plans be adopted and implemented. The project aims at developing the leadership skills of young people from 10 municipalities to put pressure on local authorities to develop youth policies. First, 10 information days will be held in 10 South-East municipalities to raise the awareness of young people and decision-makers about the project. Second, youth web portal will be created to inform the stakeholders. Third, 60 young people will acquire skills during a 4-day training to develop youth municipal plans and sit on advisory councils. Fourth, focus groups will be held in the 10 municipalities to prepare a SWOT analysis of the municipal needs. The project will benefit young people, local decision-makers and the local community in general. The partner will support the project with its expertise and experience in organizing focus groups and using good governance mechanisms.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the need for youth advisory councils to be set up with municipalities and municipal youth plans be adopted and implemented. At the beginning of the project about 95% of the young people who took part were not aware of the Youth Act and its mechanisms for drafting youth plans by young people. In the course of the project the situation changed. Youth organizations were set up including informal ones which actively got involved in the debates addressing youth policies. In addition, prior to launching project activities the majority of municipal representatives stated that they prepared municipal youth plans without the involvement of young people and representatives of youth organizations. The situation also changed as decision-makers in 7 out of 10 municipalities achieved and promoted youth participation for dialogue in the drafting of the future municipal youth plans. As a result the foundation was laid to draft plans meeting the real needs of young people in this area with regard to employment, free time, informal education, social inclusion, etc. An opinion was drafted in the course of the project with proposals about the new National Youth Programme (2016-2020) and was presented for public discussion to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Two guidance documents were prepared, i.e. Collection with Best Practices for Youth Inclusion and Guide for Youth Participation in the drafting of Municipal Youth Plans. A web portal was launched (
http://www.labyoyht.eu), aimed at joining the efforts for the sustainable development of integrated concept for the future municipal youth plans which will be further developed after the project end.
Summary of bilateral results