‘’Serbia's accession to the EU - more opportunities for young people (?)’’ was the title of the public youth debate that took place on the 19th of April in Knjazevac. Debate has been prepared as a part of the activities of the Community multi stakeholders` platform in Knjazevac, organized within the project ‘’Regional Youth Compact for Europe’’.
Activities related to this activity started a month prior to the final event when a public call for participants has been published. Additionally, information about the possibility for youngsters to get involved with the project ‘’Regional Youth Compact for Europe’’ has been spread among the young people attending high schools in Knjazevac with the help of professors.
Interested group of 10 youngsters participated in four preparatory workshops that followed. With the support of the workshop leader Svetlana Petrovic, a pedagogue with the experience of leading a high school debating club, they were introduced with the characteristics and different formats of debates, along with various methodological tactics.
Participants were encouraged to develop, through practical tasks, critical thinking, necessary for debating as well as for presenting content based on argumentation and counter-argumentation. They also worked on developing or improving skills for public presentations. Young people showed high motivation for this kind of approach to handling various topics of relevance to them and their peers.
Final activity was the opportunity for two teams, with 3 debaters each, to showcase skills gained during the workshops while discussing will Serbia's accession to the EU open more opportunities for young people or not. Debate was closely followed by the audience of 10 young people who were also taking on the role of passive judges. This was also an opportunity for them to reflect on their own position on this topic and the arguments they have to support it.
This activity was organized in the framework of the project “Regional youth compact for Europe” implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation, Balkan Network for Local Democracy, CRTA, Youth Act and Sodem. This project is funded by the European Union and the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
