Event report

Based on the results of its first edition, the AIYOF2 was organised into two sessions. Based on the AI-NURECC PLUS goal of establishing a dialogue with macroregional stakeholders, the first session gathered the main EUSAIR youth-focusing organisations as well as EUSDR representatives. The session focused on the role of youth in territorial cooperation and in macroregional decision-making. Participating organisations illustrated the opportunities available to young people as well. A "Networking and debate" session saw the active contribution of youth organisations from Sweden, Albania, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Their representatives actively discussed the topic of circular economy as linked to the role of young people in supporting the uptake of its principles across the region. The event was moderated by Ms. Maria Luisa ESPOSITO, EU Project Officer at the Secretariat of the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion. The firstsession of the AIYOF2 was opened by Ms. Astrid AULNETTE, Information and Communication Officer at DG REGIO (European Commission), who presented the many EU initiatives that support youth involvement in macroregional strategies and Interreg programmes. She presented in particular the background, implementation activities and results of the actions that brough to the elaboration of the Manifesto for Young People by Young People to Shape the European Cooperation Policy. Moreover, she illustrated the many initiatives that will be organised in 2022, under the Commission’s coordination, as part of the European Year of Youth. These will include Tirana European Youth Capital, Youth4Regions, Youth4Coop Summit, to name a few. Ms. Maja HANDJISKA-TRENDAFILOVA, Head of Programme Department at the Regional Cooperation Council – RCC (Bosnia Herzegovina) presented the WB Youth Lab Project, a EU-funded three-years project that was kicked-off in January 2020 with the goal of creating a longer-term structured dialogue between youth organisations and national administrations, and jointly devising youth-centred policy planning, development and implementation. To this end, the project has been developing a co-creation process called Youth Policy Lab Methodology allowing Western Balkan youth to work together with decision-makers to issues such as employment, entrepreneurship, education etc. The session was enriched by the participation of by Ms. Claudia SINGER, Coordinator of EUSDR PA10 Institutional Capacity and Cooperation, who presented how the 14 Danube countries have been promoting youth cooperation and engagement of youth as a strategic objective for the sustainable development of the Danube region. Ms. Singer presented the Guidance Paper for Youth Participation, and the several youth participation initiatives, including the Danube Youth Platform for Education, the Youth Participation Days, the Integration of Youth Organisations in the Strategy‘s Working Groups and networks, the Danube Youth Council and the Danube Youth Network and, last but not least, the recently held Youth.DanubeSalon. The salience of youth participation in decision-making processes was stressed by Mr. Kreshnik LOKA, Head of Local Branch at the Regional Youth Cooperation Office – RYCO (Albania). Mr. Loka presented RYCO’s model of youth participation, which could be positively replicated by all main stakeholders working with youth, EUSAIR included. In order to meaningfully engage young people in its activities, the organisation has in fact included youth representatives in its Governing Board. Mr. Loka also shared three main RYCO programmes providing mobility, volunteering and entrepreneurship opportunities for Western Balkan youth: the Regional Exchange Scheme for High Schools (Superschools), the Regional Cross Border Volunteer Program (ROUTE WB6), and the Regional Incubator for Social Entrepreneurship (RISE WB6). Mr. Martín GUILLERMO-RAMÍREZ, Secretary General of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) provided an overview of the Youth Volunteer Initiative (IVY), a pilot initiative promoted by the DG REGIO in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps and managed by AEBR. Since 2017, IVY offers financial support to young people (18 and 30 years old) to volunteer in cross-border, transnational or interregional Programmes (Interreg, IPA-CBC and ENI-CBC) and related projects. Through the IVY, young people really get to expand their knowledge and skills and to experience territorial cooperation. The IVY initiative is particularly interesting for Adriatic Ionian youth, as IPA countries are eligible. Ms. Aspasjana KERXHALLI, Representative of the Tirana Municipality, and Ms. Dafina PECI, Director of National Youth Congress (NYC) and Tirana EYC 2022 Lead Organization (Albania) presented the Activ∞ (Activate) programme that is going to be officially launched next January 2022. The presentations were an occasion to shed light on how the EU supports cities in rethinking youth involvement aimed at shaping the social, economic, political and cultural life of their local community. The Activ∞ Youth programme will include thousands of events and by participating Albanian youth will have the chance of discussing pivotal issues such as the environment and health, to create an innovative economy and to embrace European values as well. The programme will be a unique occasion to increase youth trans-national exchanges in Tirana as well, as funds to youth projects, including cross-border ones, will provided through open calls. Tirana will be the best context to organise the AIYOF3, which will revolve around the topic of Creative and Cultural Industries and will take place in May 2022, back-to-back with the 7th EUSAIR Annual Forum under the Albanian Presidency. In the second half of the Forum a “Networking and Debate Session” took place, moderated by Mr. Alfredo MARINI, President of Giovani Federalisti Europei Termoli (Italy), and Mr. Milan STOJANOVIC, Regional Representative at the Western Balkan Alumni Association – WBAA (Serbia) and ambassador of UN Agenda 2030 of Sustainable Development. Both Mr. Marini and Mr. Stojanovic are actively engaged in the Adriatic Ionian Youth Organisations Network (AIYON) that the AIE is building since the beginning of the AI-NURECC Initiative. Mr. Marini was IVY Volunteer and is now junior Project Assistant at the AIE Secretariat, while Mr.Stojanovic was hosted in the first AIYOF and since then has been involved as speaker in AIE’s youth-related events. The young people who participated in the discussion panel represented a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and a varied knowledge base, and were invited as representative of Adriatic Ionian youth organisations of different type, size and scope. University students, young professionals, young officials and representatives attended the event as well. The panellists were: • Gilda Hoxha – Sweden Alumni Network Western Balkans (AL) • Jolta Kacani – Balance Center (AL) • Stavros Papatzelos – Tinaslab and Kidoplanet (EL) • Milena Pallotta – Giovanichimere (IT) • Bojana Lalatovic – RYCO and Young European Ambassador (ME) • Katika Nisavik – Forum MNE (ME) • Tea Babic and Milo Popovic – NVO Glas (ME) • Luka Tomkovic – Student Business Center (ME) • Bojan Vojnov – Srbija moj dom and Teaching Assistant at the University of Novi Sad (RS). The discussion panel was an occasion to raise young participants’ awareness about the EU Strategy for the Adriatic Ionian Region (EUSAIR) as a context for a greater and more structured youth participation, as well as about the importance of circular economy for their future in the Adriatic Ionian region. Young people are the pioneers and catalysts of a circular economy and can be protagonists of the related changes in the way businesses, services and society are steered. Such changes can greatly improve their career prospects, while providing them the opportunity to impact on their communities, especially in the post-pandemic world. After explaining how their organisation’s missions and priorities adhere to the circular economy principles, young participants explored the actions that can be undertaken to meaningfully contribute to a viable common innovative and sustainable future. As a conclusion, they pointed out how creativity, education, innovation, information and campaigning, cooperation and networking can be key to this process. The discussion panel ended with a live poll aimed at collecting feedback and identify possible options for a greater engagement of young participants. Half of respondents said they would like to be involved in youth cooperation projects in order to co-create future actions, 30% opted for having direct access to funds, 10% said they would participate in training courses about the EUSAIR, its objectives and Action Plan, and 10% opted for being involved in engagement actions. Results confirmed a wide interest in our proposal and will shape future actions Everyone was invited to join the Adriatic Ionian Youth Organisation Network (AIYON) through which the AiNURECC PLUS and the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion will keep track of all and will continue supporting young people in connecting across the region and engaging in decision-making processes. The network is open to all young people and youth organisations of the 9 EUSAIR participating countries, who can submit their expression for interest by filling this form. As a conclusion of the AIYOF3 Mr. Stavros KALOGNOMOS, Executive Secretary of the Balkan & Black Sea Commission (CRPM), wrapped up the event, welcoming the active participation of youth organisations and underling once again the intention of the AI-NURECC PLUS to support the scaling up of their involvement at the macroregional level while providing cooperation opportunities to all interested parties. Forthcoming AINURECC PLUS actions will concentrate on three topics: Circular Economy to Sustainable Tourism as well as Cultural and Creative Industries. Speaking of forthcoming opportunities, Ms. Silvia MANGIALARDO, Head of International Relations Office Marche Polytechnic University (UniAdrion) provided information about two initiatives that UniAdrion will be launching shortly: the Summer School on Sustainable Tourism in the Adriatic Ionian Region and the Internship Fund supporting youth. The Summer School will take place in Ancona (Italy) in September 2022 and will last two weeks, based on a selection that will be launched in May 2022. It will train up to 30 young people and young officers from the 9 EUSAIR countries to better understand the touristic potential of the Adriatic Ionian region and to develop alternative forms of tourism, including solutions to face big crises such as the one deriving from the Covid19 pandemic. The Internship Fund will be implemented by means of three separate calls addressed to young people who will receive financial support for being hosted by innovative and creative enterprises based in the EUSAIR countries, for up to 6 months. The goal of the Fund will be to encourage the creation of CCI start-ups in the fields of cultural heritage and stimulate private-public partnerships.