Officials of the Operational Structure (MLGA) and the Secretariats of the 3 IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programs of Kosovo with Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro, participated in the workshop on the topic “CBC programs – What’s in there for youth?”, which was held on June 8, 2023 at the House of Europe in Pristina.
The workshop was organized by the Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI) based in Tirana, mandated by the European Commission/DG REGIO to prepare an overview of the recognition and implementation of the “Youth Manifesto” in the Balkans on youth inclusion as part of INTERREG IPA/IPA CBC Programs of the EU. So far, such workshops have been organized throughout the Balkans, thus for the first time in Kosovo. The purpose of the meeting was to identify suitable scenarios and support a greater engagement of youth in the Balkans in INTERREG programs as policy makers and as direct beneficiaries. In the workshop, the views of MLGA are presented regarding the need to include youth in priority or cross-sectoral topics in these programs through a person-to-person approach, capacity building, networking, exchanges and cross-border and regional cooperation.