On Monday, December 23, the final conference of the “Youth Are (For) the Solution” project, supported by the BOLD network, was held in Kraljevo. The conference featured the presentation of the publication “Solutions from the Perspective of Youth: Youth Initiatives for Local Development,” which resulted from a chronological review of activities throughout the project’s duration. The publication begins with a report on mapping the needs of youth in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasizing the importance of developing project writing skills. In addition to the needs mapping, the publication includes recommendations from project writing expert, Zorana Milovanović.
A significant portion of the publication is dedicated to the initiatives of program participants, which were developed based on the previously mapped needs. The initiatives are divided into two groups: nine initiatives that emerged during the Winter Hub and twelve initiatives developed during the Summer Hub. During the conference, some of the workshop participants presented projects that originated from these workshops, supported by expert mentors. The projects cover a wide range of topics, from economic empowerment of youth to increasing youth participation in decision-making, to sustainable food waste management.
The conference included three panel discussions, during which Winter and Summer Hub participants presented their projects. The first panel, focusing on social inclusion and the rights of marginalized groups, included speeches by Milena Stoilović, Leonid Petrović, Dragan Vulin, Alija Kontić, and Anđela Zec, and was moderated by Ivana Ristivojević. The second panel addressed topics related to youth activism, education, and participation, with speakers Ilda and Dalila Šabović, Dragana Radosavljević, and Mina Milošević, moderated by Aleksandar Jovanović and Nenad Bušić. The third panel focused on environmental protection, hate speech prevention, and peace promotion, with speakers Lara Marković, Milica Prpa, Maja Ilijević, Jovica Milojević, and Andrej Bukilić, and was moderated by Časlav Jovičić.
After the panels, Erin Cannan, Vice President for Civic Engagement and Deputy Director of Bard CEE, addressed the attendees, presenting the call for participation in the BOLD 2025 Youth Leadership Program and encouraging everyone to share the call and apply for the continuation of the BOLD project. All details about the new BOLD call can be found HERE.
At the end of the conference, participants were awarded certificates of participation, presented by Nenad Bušić, President of the Youth Forum and member of the project team, and Uroš Popadić, Program Manager at the European Movement in Serbia. They thanked everyone who participated in the project and expressed their satisfaction with the results of this fifteen-month project, which helped empower new change-makers.
This project is implemented by the European Movement in Serbia and financed through a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Serbia.
You can find the link to the publication HERE.
You can find the link to the photos HERE.
