Learning to do democracy: Antonella Valmorbida welcomes new students of POLITEIA Regional School for Youth Participation 2023

Politeia, the initiative aimed at promoting youth engagement and democratic participation in the Western Balkans region and funded by the European Union, has launched its much-anticipated week-long Regional School for Youth Participation on July 6 in Niš (🇷🇸), welcoming this year’s students from Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

The first POLITEIA School for Civil Society took place in 1997 where youth gained valuable knowledge of democratic and European values. Since then, hundreds of young people were taught and motivated to actively participate in social and political processes. POLITEIA is recognized as one of the leading non-formal educative programs because of its various choice of lecturers, interactive methodology as well as choosing qualified participants. 

Vice-President of ALDA and Secretary General of the Center for Democracy Foundation, Nataša Vučković, took the floor to introduce to young participants all the stimulating opportunities that the institute introduced this year: to mention one, students will be involved in actively developing a project, based entirely on their inputs and ideas. Afterwards, she emphasized the importance of engaging youngsters in concretely learning and exchanging, to maintain the debate always open to  reflections that will empower youth to build a better and more prosperous future of the Western Balkans.

ALDA Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida encouraged youngsters to take concrete actions in their local contexts

ALDA Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida also addressed participants by highlighting Politeia’s tireless effort in engaging youngsters in the Western Balkans. She brought ALDA’s experience as local key actor in the Western Balkans, as the activities of LDAs have focused on citizen participation in public life and in the decision-making process, decreasing the gap between citizens and institutions, and creating an active and proactive civil society.

Antonella Valmorbida stated the significance of building strong connections among the participants from the region while encouraging them to get concretely involved in their local communities to be active actors of their local context. «Politeia teaches how to do democracy by understanding the added value of freedom, exchanges and mediation. We encourage and value the change that you are willing to make in the world» — she concluded. 

Welcoming notes were also delivered by Deputy Head of the EU Delegation  Plamena Halacheva; Minister of European Integration, Government of the Republic of Serbia, Tanja Miščević; Project Manager, Regional Cooperation Council — RCC Sarajevo Ognjen Marković; and Local Program Officer, Regional Youth Cooperation Office — RYCO  Đorđo Cvijović.

ALDA wish to all students a fruitful learning experience!