Tag: No risk No borders for young people

UNODC Youth Forum

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The UNODC Youth Forum ’22 officially began on 28 February. This year’s forum brings together some 75 young leaders to learn about evidence-based drug use prevention, discuss various perspectives on the world drug problem, and be empowered to continue action within the field of drug use prevention and health promotion. Continuing the tradition of empowering youth to make their voice heard by World policymakers, in the next five days, throughout the Youth Forum participants will develop a Statement to be delivered during the 65th session of the UN Committee on Narcotic Drugs.

Youth Forum is an annual event organised by the UNODC Youth Initiative in the broader context of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). Its main objective is to gather young people, nominated by Member States and active in the field of drugs use prevention, health promotion and youth empowerment from around the world. The aim is to allow them to exchange ideas, visions and different perspectives on how to better protect the health and wellbeing of their peers and provide them with an opportunity to convey their joint message to the global level policy makers.

UNODC is celebrating a decade since the launch of the Youth Initiative in 2012, which has seen 10 Youth Fora held with the participation of 371 young people from 97 countries. The Youth Initiative continues to encourage young people to reflect on the potential impact of substance use in their schools and communities, and to start taking effective and evidence-based action to prevent substance use.

Two representatives of our member organisations participate in the Forum this year: Sara Vukelić from Re Generation and Tedi Jaho from Aksion Plus. Both have participated in the No risk, no borders for young people in South East Europe. We are assured that they will contribute with a wealth of ideas and proposals gained from their peers.

 

Closing project event in Montenegro

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The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) organized a final event within its EU-supported project “Enhancing Youth Cooperation and Youth Exchange in the WB6” in Podgorica on 8 February 2022. The event presented the results of four projects supported within the 4th RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals. It was attended by representatives of RYCO, the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, Ministry for Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Directorate for Sports and Youth, Representatives of RYCO Governing and Advisory Boards, RYCO beneficiaries, Young European Ambassadors, young people who took part in the RYCO supported activities.

The supported projects successfully addressed the gaps of youth active engagement in regional reconciliation processes by focusing on aspects of democracy and identity, enhanced youth cooperation in the fields of dealing with the past, youth empowerment and development, social inclusion of youth at risk, intercultural dialogue, etc. They were implemented by Montenegrin Pan-European Union, Grammar school “Slobodan Škerović”, NGO Juventas, Foundation Biznis Start-up Centar Bar.

“Through a series of activities implemented within the project in which my organization took part, young people managed to overcome numerous prejudices, share experiences and learn about the ways in which their peers and organizations from the region approach problem-solving matters,” Ms Ivana Kulašević, representative of NGO Juventas, concluded.

The projects supported by RYCO and the EU within the 4th RYCO Open Call across the Western Balkans fostered reconciliation and regional youth cooperation, as well as strengthened the capacities of the civil society to adapt to the COVID-19 environment. They were implemented from February to October 2021.

During the application phase, 129 applications were received which brought about 400 partnerships from the region. The overall financial envelope for the Call was 333,000 Euro.

 

Youth from Bosnia and Herzegovina Celebrate Successes of Their Projects Supported by RYCO and EU

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From the RYCO news

The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) organized a final event within its EU-supported project “Enhancing Youth Cooperation and Youth Exchange in the WB6” in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 7 February 2022. The event presented the results of projects supported within the 4th RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals. These projects provided young people in the region with networking opportunities in the field of regional youth dialogue, peacebuilding and reconciliation, and were implemented by CSOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

RYCO Director of Programs Mr Jan Zlatan Kulenovć addressed the participants and said that the fact that we are taking responsibility for regional cooperation and dealing with the past shows that these are important topics, worthy of investment.

Youth exchanges participant Mr Alem Bajramović emphasized that networking is the most important aspect of youth exchanges. “The youth from the region share numerous interests, and they overcome prejudices by meeting peers from other countries. This fosters special emotions and helps forming long term friendships,” he said.

The projects supported by RYCO and the EU within the 4th RYCO Open Call across the Western Balkans fostered reconciliation and regional youth cooperation, as well as strengthened the capacities of the civil society to adapt to the COVID-19 environment. They were implemented from February to October 2021.

During the application phase, 129 applications were received which brought about 400 partnerships from the region. The overall financial envelope for the Call was 333,000 Euro.

 

Final event of the RYCO Call for project in Serbia

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The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) the Closing event of the Call for Project Proposals 2020 “A Better Region Starts with Youth” in Serbia was held on 7 February 2022.

Four organisations from Serbia were supported by the Call. One of them was DPNSEE with the project “No risk, no borders for young people“. From Serbia, our member organisations Prevent and Re Generacija were partners in the project.

Stefan Pejić from Re Generacija participated in the panel presenting his experience from the project and how it influenced work of his organisation.

Closing event of the “No risk, no borders” project

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Closing event of the “No risk, no borders for young people” project was held on 22 October 2021. Our generous host, like many times before, was the Office for Combating Drugs of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Mr Milan Pekić, Director of the Office, welcomed participants expressing his satisfaction with the level of cooperation they have with the civil society organisations working on the issue of drug policy. He proposed that the results of the project should be widely promoted, especially fighting stigma and discrimination of people who use drugs.

Mrs Snežana Žugić, Assistant Minister for Youth and Sport informed that the National Youth Strategy 2015-2025 includes provisions for youth at risk which links the project with the Strategy. She emphasized that improving current and designing new programs for vulnerable groups may contribute to their involvement in the community, including education, employment, etc.

Young members of the Project Team presented activities and results of the project. We hope that it will bring sustainable results in supporting youth at risk and be a basis for long-term cooperation with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office.

Evaluation meeting of the Project Team

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The Project Team of the “No risk, no borders” project met for the last time on 21 October 2021. The main aims of the meeting were to discuss the final version of the Curriculum for work with youth at risk, to plan the final Promotional event of the project and plan evaluation.

It was also an opportunity for young people who were the backbone of the project to get together and talk about future plans and continuation of a nice friendship they created.

Curriculum and Project Closing

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The Project Team meeting of the “No risk, no borders for young people” project was held online on 11 October 2021 via Zoom.

The Project team members summarised comments made on the first draft of the Curriculum on working with youth at risk. The experts which prepared the draft had the opportunity to discuss with young participants gathered in a focus group.

Deadlines, reporting documents and tasks until the end of the project were presented to the Project team, who will meet in person on 21 October and promote the results of the project the day after in Belgrade.

 

Focus group with young people

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The experts for preparing the Curriculum focused on work with the youth at risk have held a focus group with young participants of the “No risk, no borders for young people” project on 7 October 2021. The aim was to get their feedback on the content of the Curriculum that is currently in drafting stage.

2 young participants were invited to an open online call. The experts commented that “the participants were very active and had things to say” and that “the focus group went beyond expectations as the group was very interactive and gave us really good feedback”.

Fourth program check in meeting

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The DPNSEE Staff and RYCO Local Branch Offices Belgrade and Tirana had a regular update on the implementation of the “No risk, no borders for young people” on 14 September 2021.

We informed our RYCO colleagues on the implementation of the Workshop 2 held 26 – 29 August in Velipojë, Albania.

We also informed them that the Open call for experts to develop the Curriculum focused on work with the youth at risk that will be the outcome of the No Risk, No Borders project and potential future projects and programs in the area of youth risky behaviour.

Our RYCO colleagues reminded us on the need to engage an external company to perform audit of the project.

 

Open Call for experts

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DPNSEE and its partners in implementing the “No risk, no borders for young people” open the Call for experts to develop the regional Curriculum focused on work with the youth at risk.

The Curriculum should provide a comprehensive educational approach, fully based on principle “youth for youth”. It should be developed using the technical knowledge presented through the workshops and practical skills offered through the pre-task activity and follow-up activities of the “No risk, no borders for young people” project, desk researches on the issues covered by the Curriculum and the expertise of the external experts.

Outcome of the consultancy should include:

  • Goals (expectations for learning), methods (approaches, procedures, and routines) and assessments (gathering information about students’ learning) of the whole learning experience (both training opportunities and practical work to put learning into practice)
  • List of modules which constitute the training
  • Aims, objectives, methods, materials and assessments to deliver the modules and evaluate learners’ progress

Three external experts will be recruited to develop the Curriculum at the basis of the project results. They will agree on the equal share the tasks.

This Call is open from 14 September 2021. The applications should arrive by 22 September at 23:59 CET by email to office@dpnsee.org.

If you are interested to apply, find more information in the document following this link>>>.