The need for a dialogue with young people is to create space for their participation in the decision-making process. The “Dialogue with Youth” campaign, run jointly by the EU Delegation to Montenegro, the EU Info Centre, line ministries, and a number of youth organisations, aims to raise awareness of what exactly youth participation means and why it is important in the decision-making process.
Representatives of the institutions and organisations involved in the campaign gathered at the EU Info Centre. It was also the first gathering of the dialogue team with young people. The EU Ambassador to Montenegro, Oana Cristina Popa told participants that young people are the future, but also those who will create that future, which is why they must participate in the process of creating policies that concern them.
“A dialogue and exchanges between young people and decision-makers are key to improving communication and building trust. This gives young people the opportunity to participate in creating policies that directly affect their lives in areas such as employment, the environment, culture and public health. This is the best way to give them ownership of the process. On the other hand, this dialogue is important for policy makers in order to gain insight into the needs and desires of young people and aim policies in that direction,” said Ambassador Popa.
The Ambassador stated that European politicians already have a routine of involving young people in policy-making. The “Dialogue with Youth” campaign is also a kind of encouragement for Montenegrin institutions to adopt this practice even before the country becomes part of the European Union, because the Montenegrin youth is now becoming more active.
The Director of the Directorate for European Integration, Programming and Implementation of EU Funds and International Cooperation in the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Goran Drobnjak expressed special gratitude to the project partners – the EU Delegation to Montenegro and EU Info Centre – for recognising the importance of this type of Dialogue for young people and provided an opportunity to test the model used by the European Union. He stated that the relevant ministry is participating in the Western Balkan Youth Lab project, which is being implemented by the RCC, and whose next topic will be Mental Health. Representatives of the institutions will participate in the creation of recommendations together with other representatives of governments and NGOs from WB-6.
“It is about creating a long-term structured regional dialogue between youth organisations and national administrations, focused on joint policy-making that will increase youth participation in decision-making, improve the overall socio-economic environment and youth mobility through various activities in the Western Balkans,” concluded Drobnjak.
A dialogue with young people is a way for the state administration to gain direct insight into the experiences and attitudes of young people about specific situations and problems they face, said Ajsa Hadzibegovic, an expert on dialogue with young people and youth work.
“For young people, it is a way to contribute to the creation of concrete measures and activities, i.e. concrete solutions that will enable the well-being of all young people. Specifically, in the first process that we are initiating, these solutions will be sought within the field of youth employment, their independence, and support related to the mental health of young people,” said Hadzibegovic.
As the PR manager at the EU Info Centre Ana Popovic said, the structural dialogues about young people she attended brought her great experiences, acquaintances, but also closer to getting support by people who deal with youth policies.
“Just as the former Depity Minister of Youth and Sports, who, while working on the recommendations knew how to explain the things we weren’t familiar with, support our initiatives, and when we would forgot something she supplemented this with her experience. It was a dialogue and I would like a dialogue for young people in Montenegro to be conceived on that basis,” said Popovic.
