Youth care is of general interest for the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is achieved, inter alia, by adopting and implementing a youth strategy, a document that includes defined problems and needs of young people, strategic directions, goals and measures to achieve these goals. Adoption of the strategic document for young people is the obligation of all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In order for young people, together with decision makers, to be actively involved in the process of preparing and drafting an important document for them, the Department for Professional and Administrative Affairs of the Brčko District Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Brčko District Youth Council and the Institute for Youth Development KULT are the Dialogue with Youth event at the Youth Center, as one of the steps in the adoption of the first Youth Strategy in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The head of the Department for Professional and Administrative Affairs, Nedim Hamzabegović, said that the goal of the organized dialogue was to record opinions and proposals in order to adopt the Youth Strategy.
“This is a good way for young people to show the authorities what they need and how to meet their needs, which are listed in five topics such as employment, security, social aspects, etc.,” said Hamzabegović.
The dialogue with young people brought together more than 30 representatives of young people, NGOs, youth political parties and government institutions, willing to identify through structured dialogue the most important problems and needs that young people face in education, employment, social welfare, security, health, culture, and youth activism and participation in the District. In addition to discussing the identification of youth problems, the event was a great opportunity for participants to give their suggestions for measures that government institutions can take to address these issues.
During the event, possible systemic solutions for the fight against increasing violence on the Internet (online violence) among young people, the need to change curricula in secondary schools and their adaptation to labor market needs and the importance of creating more favorable housing policy for young people were pointed out.
The event was of great importance for the present representatives of the Department for Professional and Administrative Affairs of the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the working group and other actors involved in drafting the strategy.
“Such events are necessary and very useful. The way we worked on topics and in groups with experts in the field is very useful, and should be organized more often. It is especially important that young people had the opportunity to talk to the executive and the legislature,” said Milijana Simić, chairwoman of the Commission for Human Rights, a member of the Commission for Gender Equality and the Commission for European Integration in the Brčko District Assembly.
Youth-government dialogue is a model of participatory process in which young people and decision-makers continuously cooperate and jointly formulate recommendations for improving the position of young people. In other words, Dialogue is a space where young people actively contribute to the development of youth policies at all levels of government.
The Institute completed the field research as the initial phase of drafting a strategic document for young people, and in March 2020 presented the results of the Research on the needs and problems of young people in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Brčko District Youth Council, the competent Department for Professional and Administrative Affairs and the Institute will continue to work on the development of the first strategic document for young people in the coming period. The document will be accompanied by recommendations from the Development Strategy of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2021-2027, and the previously proposed Action Plan 2020-2022 for Improving the Position and Status of Youth in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed by the Youth Council of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The event was organized with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Sweden in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
