The Center for Democracy Foundation organized, within the project Regional Youth Compact for Europe, a regional school for youth "POLITEIA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation", which was attended by students and young professionals from the Western Balkans and Turkey.
Politeia School was held in a new, digital format, with the participation of thirty interested and dedicated young people, a large number of renowned lecturers and experts, decision makers and representatives of the academic community from the region and Europe.
The Executive Director of the Center for Democracy Foundation, Nataša Vučković, said in her closing speach that the Politeia School is still a way to move forward together - as many youth education programs, exchange of opinions and experiences, encouragement of cooperation in the Western Balkans and give young people the opportunity to speak for themselves and their voice is heard better. All public policies should include the youth dimension as mainstream, just as they should include the gender dimension.
The Center for Democracy Foundation will continue to organize various programs within the Politeia Institute. This course gathered thirty young people from the entire region of the Western Balkans and Turkey over three weeks. Unfortunately we worked online, but we will meet live in mid-July, exchange impressions and continue to plan cooperation and joint projects. Once again, thanks to all students who applied and actively contributed to the Politeia course being interesting, stimulating and creative. Thanks to all lecturers and moderators. Many thanks to our donors, the European Union and the Balkan Fund for Democracy, said Natasa Vuckovic.
Through a panels and discussions, with participants of the Politeia School spoke: Ms. Liselotte Isaksson (Head of Sector – Civil Society, Social Inclusion and Human Capital, DG NEAR), Snežana Samardžić Marković (Director Genera Director General of Democracy of the Council of Europe), Jan Zlatan Kulenović (Director of Programs, Regional Youth Cooperation Office - RYCO), Antonella Valmorbida (Secretary General, ALDA – The European Association for Local Democracy), prof. dr Dragoljub Mićunović (Chair of the Board, Center for Democracy Foundation and former Speaker of the FRY Parliament), Kori Udovički (President of the Governing Board, CEVES, Belgrade and former Minister for Energy and Mining in Government of the Republic of Serbia), Aleksandar Kovačević (Expert on energy, Serbia), prof. dr Vladimir Janković (Manchester University, UK), Linda Çavdarbasha (Deputy Minister of Envirnonment of the Republic of Kosovo*), Ana Marjanović Rudan (policy consultant, Praxis Develpment, Serbia), Jasmina Murić (Head of Human Recources, Ministry for Labour, Employment and Social Affairs), Jovan Protić (Ilo Office in Serbia), Đorđo Cvijović (Regional Youth Cooperation Office - RYCO), Marijana Koceku (WPS Albania), Katica Janeva (ALDA, North Macedonia), Ivan Vejvoda (Institute for Human Science, Austria), prof. Gordana Đurović (Faculty of Economics, University of Podgorica, Montenegro), dr Vesna Pusić (former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Government of the Republic of Croatia), prof. Andreas Gross (former MP and Chair of the PACE Political Committee, Switzerland), prof. Eralda Çani (Law Achool, University of Tirana and former Deputy Minister of Integration for Albania), dr Natalija Mićunović (Institute of Social Science, Serbia), Mirna Jusić (PhD candidate in Public and Social Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles Univeristy, Czech Republic), Aleksandra Vladisavljević (Gender responsive policies and budgeting consultant, Serbia).
"POLITEIA Western Balkans School for Youth Participation", realized from 7. to 29. May 2021 through the new regional digital educational POLITEIA platform. POLITEIA is intended for young people who want to improve their knowledge, contribute to the development of society in which they live, connecting with young people in their country, in the Western Balkans and in the European Union.
POLITEIA School is a program that the Center for Democracy Foundation has been successfully implementing for more than two decades. Since the first "Politeia School for Civil Society" held in 1997, where students have acquired knowledge about democracy and European values. Until today, several thousand young people have been trained and empowered in our courses to actively participate in social and political processes. Politeia is recognized as one of the highest quality informal school in this region.
This project is implemented with the financial support of the European Commission and co-financing of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and USAID.