OIA Educates Civil Servants about Youth Policies

22 December 2006

Under the �Local Governance and Youth� project, the Youth Information Agency (OIA) will organized three training programmes (between December 19 and 23, 2006) dedicated to educate municipal officials charged with youth issues, youth counsellors and young people involved in various organizations, on development of local youth policies.

The trainings provide the opportunity to promote the Local Governance and Youth Manual, which offers a compilation of concrete steps and measures (elements, documents and procedures) for development of local level youth policies. The Manual should assist the local authorities and institutions in creation of effective youth policies, and to establish successful cooperation with young population and youth organizations, all with the goal to improve the status of youth in local communities.

In line with the topics reviewed in the Manual, the first training was dedicated to youth information on local level, the second elaborates on the process of development of a strategy/policy, while the third analyzes the models of youth participation on local level.

At a time when everybody expects the establishment of national level government, it is important to take into consideration the fact that the past government, during its four years in office, did little for the youth. From the very beginning and the inauguration speech by Adnan Terzic, the Chair of the Council of Ministers, who nominated the youth as a problem, no concrete solutions or promises were made or offered to the youth.

We still lack the legislation that would improve the situation of youth, their education and employment, while the decision to establish Youth Department with the Ministry of Civil Affairs remains dead letter on paper. The new government is expected to patch together all the things that former governments failed to do, but also to accelerate the process of solving the key problems of the youth and solve them together.