International Youth Conference

50 young participants from 14 different countries met in the city of Kruševo to engage in panel discussions and workshops addressing common challenges that shape their daily lives and future perspectives.

This year’s conference topics were “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”, “The Future of Work”, “Youth of Today” and “Climate Emergencies”. Panelists from the political, NGO, civil society and academic background shared their experience and suggestions for action, addressing the unfavorable environment in the SEE region that pushes young people to leave, the lack of motivation for entrepreneurship due to insecure working conditions, lack of freedom of media, quality education and democratic participation as well risks and opportunities of the digital era for the labor market. In the workshops that followed the discussions the participants elaborated on policy-recommendations on taking political measures to shape the development in these fields, which were then presented in front of decision-makers in the Assembly of North Macedonia.

These included a recommendations for an anti-corruption-awareness, intolerance and hate speech, lack of solidarity and measures for solving the problem of air pollution.

The objective of the conference to bring young and active people together and work on challenges affecting the region was successfully taken to the political level on which it should serve as base for future decision-making.