News

In May Novi Sad, a city in the north of Serbia that proudly carries the title "European Youth Capital 2019", hosted a group of around 30 young people from 10 different non-EU countries and six different organisations for a training event. Symbolically named STRONGER, the event focused on improving the youth and student engagement in order to encourage youth activism and multicultural mindset. The training aimed at not just defining and brainstorming on how to overcome the barriers to internalisation and youth engagement and volunteering, but also to connect young people from the Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership and the Russian Federation, break down some cultural barriers between them and have them work together to see how similar and different the obstacles they are facing in their own work area are.

The first day was reserved for the people to get to know each other and the city of Novi Sad. During the second day the participants defined what youth engagement and internationalisation are to them, after which they had the chance to take part in Europe Day, organised by Novi Sad 2021 European Capital of Culture as a part of their month-long project Future of Europe. Here they took part in discussions on the topics such as Mobile Europe and Travelling, Future jobs for Europe, Inclusive Europe, Eco-friendly Europe, Tech-Europe and Europe for you(th).

On the third day of the training, the participants were encouraged to recognise, through a very exciting simulation, the wide scope of barriers regarding the environment they operate in and its effect on youth engagement and internationalisation. They assessed which barriers are present in their countries, regions, and their organisations. For some of them, it was very liberating to talk about many of the obstacles they might be facing since they come from non-EU countries and to have other participants understand because they have had the same or similar struggles.
 

In order to better reach potential solutions to some of these issues, they organised an Open Space, with different stations for discussions on different topics, from smaller ones such as how to overcome fear of taking part in any student mobility, to bigger ones such as how to effectively advocate for youth through their volunteering.

During the Open Space, participants were joined by representatives from Serbia's National Youth Council, OPENS European Youth Capital 2019, and Western Balkans Alumni Association, who shared their perspectives on some of the barriers that were identified, such as lack of funding, sustainability, recognition of volunteering, and youth advocacy.

The last day focused on looking into the future. Reflecting on everything that was discussed in the previous days, participants took their time to carefully talk about and plan what comes next for them and what knowledge they will bring back to their local communities.

The closing was bittersweet, but it showed how much events like this have the power to bring people together and have them bond despite their differences or how much or how little time they spend together. Four days were more than enough for this group of young people to make important steps forward both as individuals and as young activists.

At the time of writing this, a survey on International Youth Engagement is open to (former) students and graduates from the Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership Countries and the Russian Federation in order to gather input on the Internationalisation of youth and Education as well as Active Citizenship and Youth Participation. The survey tackles the knowledge about the Erasmus+ programme and possible barriers they might have when participating in the Erasmus+ programme.

We would like to thank Erasmus Student Network Serbia and Erasmus Student Network Novi Sad for hosting the training and all the time and effort put into ensuring the best possible experience for the participants and trainers.