Jan 24, 2023
Skills development in the Western Balkans 6 is crucial to the progress of the region in the EU Integration process. EUSAIR & Interreg IPA programmes are one of the many instruments of territorial cohesion that concretely contribute on topics of digitalization, economic development, energy transition and people-to-people cross-border mobility. In the framework of the “Raising awareness on the Youth Manifesto in the WB6” initiative implemented in cooperation with DG REGIO, CDI held an event on the 24th of January, in Skopje, aiming at better understanding how youth can get involved in EUSAIR and INTERREG IPA Programmes in North Macedonia. The event was organised in partnership with the National Youth Council of North Macedonia, the Secretariat for European Affairs, and the Ministry of Local Self-Government in North Macedonia.
The seminar brought together youth, youth stakeholders, local and national organizations dealing with youth policies, EUSAIR representatives, and INTERREG IPA project beneficiaries with the aim to raise awareness on EUSAIR and INTERREG IPA programmes, build youth capacities to establish partnerships, inform youth as potential beneficiaries of the strategy for the region and discuss concrete involvement opportunities.
The Executive Director of CDI, Ms. Krisela Hackaj welcomed the audience and opened the event by briefing about the coming events in the framework of the “Raising awareness on the Youth Manifesto in the WB6” initiative.
During his welcoming remarks at the “Getting involved in EUSAIR & INTERREG IPA Programmes” seminar, Mr. Gilles Kittel, Team Manager – IPA, Enlargement Negotiations and EUSAIR at DG REGIO explained to the participants what has been improved on the new programming period in terms of the simplification of the rules, in order for these programmes to be more accessible by young people.
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Local-Self Government in North Macedonia, Mr. Zoran Dimitrovski, in his intervention, while answering the question of how youth is being included by this Ministry, addressed some of the current challenges regarding youth emigration and how these programmes can help to mitigate the risks associated to emigration.
The EUSAIR National Contact Point in North Macedonia, Ms. Zuica Zmejkovska mentioned that North Macedonia as one of the newest members of the EUSAIR strategy is working on how to better reach and cooperate with different stakeholders, including youth.
During the seminar, different representatives from cross-border programmes, youth NGOs and academia discussed concrete ways of addressing the main pressing concerns of youth from the different cross-border areas in North Macedonia, part of the Interreg IPA Kosovo-North Macedonia and Bulgaria-North Macedonia programmes.
CDI in cooperation with DG Regio and local stakeholders will organize a series of events throughout the WB6 to better inform youth on EUSAIR, INTERREG IPA and Youth Manifesto with the aim of increasing youth participation in EU territorial programmes.
Consult here:
Powerpoint Presentation:
- IPA II CBC Programme Kosovo – North Macedonia 2014-2020;
- IPA II CBC Programme Bulgaria– North Macedonia;
- Center for Intercultural Dialogue
- IPA II CBC Programme North Macedonia – Albania
More information about CDI’s engagement in “Raising awareness on the Youth Manifesto in the Western Balkans” can be found here.
