From September 29th to October 2nd, the annual conference of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) with the title "New solutions for the future of cross-border regions" took place in Novi Sad (Serbia). The annual conference was the occasion for many actors involved in cooperation to showcase their strategies to deal with the many challenges of policy-making in border regions – and the involvement of young people in cross-border cooperation was one of them.
This year AEBR decided to give young people a stage so that their experiences and opinions could be heard. This is the reason why four young IVY volunteers have been invited to join the summit and among them there was Nicole Meneghetti, IVY volunteer at the Managing Authority of the Interreg Italia- Slovenia Programme in Trieste (Italy).
On Friday 30th September, a discussion with the title “The Youth Manifesto: how to make CBC-policies more open to young people’s participation” was launched.
In this occasion, Aranka Binder, the representative of the Autonomous Region of Vojvodina (Serbia), Veronica Capenti, the representative of the Interreg Alcotra Programme, Nicole Meneghetti, IVY volunteer in the Interreg Italia-Slovenia Programme and Sofía Areal, member of the Youth Council of Tomiño took part in the debate by sharing their personal experiences and ideas regarding youth engagement in policy-making for cooperation, with Bektha Djilidjel, IVY team-member who joined as moderator.
In conclusion of a well-participated discussion on the importance of involving young people in local policy-making and cooperation, members left with a to-do lists resulted from this enriching dialogue.
Young people must be given the space, must be listened to and be involved in the realisation of the policies they have designed – and we are very proud that this year’s annual conference of AEBR was a first step in this direction.
To find out more about the conference and the topics of discussion: https://www.interregyouth.com/news/kicking-off-new-ways-to-cooperate-for-the-future-of-cross-border-regions/
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
