Youth Assemblies help young people find their voice in Kosovo

But thanks to the creation of groups known as Youth Assemblies in twelve municipalities by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, young people are now better able to ensure that their interests are taken into account in the decision-making process.

The Mission began setting up the first of these Assemblies in August 2003. These groups, consisting of 20 to 30 young people of secondary school age, aim to teach their members how municipal assemblies and related bodies operate by simulating their work.

"From these simulations, young people can learn how to identify priority issues and figure out how to tackle them," says Edmond Hyseni, who manages the project for the OSCE.

Greater youth participation

"When we started back in late 2002, youth participation in decision-making was almost non-existent," he adds.

"Since then, things have changed and we are now beginning to see young people interested in the work of municipal government, as well as officials who are willing to listen to them."

Meanwhile, the members of the twelve Youth Assemblies around Kosovo are seeing concrete results from their efforts.

"When the OSCE invited me to attend my first Assembly meeting, I thought it would be some sort of sit-around-the-table-and-do-nothing event," says 18-year-old Bylent Sherifi, a thirteenth-grade student who is President of the Gjilan/Gnjilane Youth Assembly.

Effective lobbyist

But after three years as a member of the Assembly, Bylent has become an effective lobbyist for youth interests.

"We have reached an agreement with municipal officials to allow us to monitor the work of the Municipal Assembly and the finance and budgeting committee so that we can get first-hand information on what goes on in our municipality," he says.

The monitoring began on 10 March this year, and Bylent and other Youth Assembly members are also set to start debating priority issues with municipal officials and political parties on a permanent basis.

Setting priorities

In late 2005, the OSCE brought together some 250 Youth Assembly members for a three-day meeting in Zabljak, Montenegro, where they defined seven priorities which were published under the title Youth Assembly for Municipal Development.

The priorities are:

• reducing unemployment;
• improving strained inter-ethnic relations;
• increasing youth involvement in decision-making processes;
• greater provision of sporting, cultural and youth facilities;
• greater access to quality educational facilities and institutions;
• preventing environmental degradation; and
• preventing early marriages.

Gjilan/Gnjilane Youth Assembly is now working to achieve these aims, and has already had preliminary debates with municipal executives on modernizing secondary education and providing better facilities, as well as preventing early marriage.

"We want to know what the municipality has done on these issues in the past and what are they going to do about them in the future," says Bylent.

Positive perception

Their efforts are being received positively by municipal officials. "Young people see things from a different perspective," says Izmi Zeka, a member of the Gjilan/Gnjilane Municipal Assembly. "If they let us know what their concerns are, I am sure we can work things out."

With access to both municipal executives and legislators, Youth Assembly members in Gjilan/Gnjilane are in a position to get quicker responses from municipal bodies. Similar activities are under way in eleven more municipalities, and the results will be assessed later in the year.

"I am certain that these young people will leave their mark on the way municipalities conduct their business and help to further develop democratic practices in Kosovo," concludes Edmond Hyseni.