THEMATIC AREAS
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
Young people represent almost 20% of the population of the EUSAIR area. They are an important target group for shaping the transition to an innovative, more sustainable and resilient development of the Adriatic Ionian region. The involvement of youth in transnational cooperation is a key issue for its future. The youth organizations work towards new projects on on local, regional and European level.
The youth organizations involved in AI-NURECC PLUS are working around three main schemes: regional exchanges, regional cross-border volunteering and on social entrepreneurship.
It is crucial to have youth in all the decision making processes that affect them. It is equally important to also involve civil society organizations from the region working with youth. AI-NURECC PLUS aimed to involve and stimulate the participation of young people in EU-related activities by developing their understanding and awareness of the EU policy making process, with a specific focus on the EUSAIR macro-regional strategy.
The Adriatic Ionian Youth Organisations Fora organised four events under the AI-NURECC PLUS initiative, namely: on October 26th 2021 online, on May 16th 2022 – during the 7th EUSAIR Annual Forum in Tirana, on January 26th 2023 in Skopje and on May 25th 2023 – during the 8th EUSAIR Annual Forum in Sarajevo, which allowed to develop an understanding of EU policy-making processes and joint territorial cooperation approaches.
RESULTS
- The Youth organizations, active in the AIE and AI-NURECC PLUS project signed a Letter of Intent for future cooperation in autumn 2023.
- The young thematic experts from the Adriatic-Ionian Youth Network (AIYN) prepared study papers on Circular Economy, Cultural and Creative Industries and Sustainable Tourism, as well as Communication and Social Digital Innovation.
The AI-NURECC YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
ACTION IN PRACTICE:
In the first project, there was an AI-NURECC YOUTH ACTION. This initiative aimed to:
- set up an integrated dialogue with main AI youth organisations to promote the EUSAIR macro region with the final aim of involving young people and introducing them to the decision-making processes, thus matching the existing gap among AI young generations and the EUSAIR institutional and technical structures;
- promote the implementation of intercultural learning initiatives;
- support the organisation of key AI-youth manifestations. It resulted in the following deliverables:
- organisation of an AI-NURECC Info-Day (in April 2018 );
- setting-up of the first edition of the EUSAIR Winter School (in December 2018);
- creation of an AI-NURECC teaching kit on EUSAIR Macro region and EU policies ( March 2019);
- organisation of the first edition of the EUSAIR’s Youth Games (in September 2019).
