Second YMI Partners’ Meeting held in Belgrade: Enable positive environment for Balkans youth

In order to enable a positive and peaceful environment for young people in the Balkans through the Young Men Initiative (YMI) project, representatives from 9 partner organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo[1] and Albania held the Second Regional Partners’ Meeting in Belgrade. 

The meeting was held from 11th  to 14th October with two key focuses. 

The first one was the creation of a joint campaign for 16 days of activism. After brainstorming and thorough discussion, representatives have designed joint messages and devised street activities that will be implemented simultaneously in every partner’s country. 

The second subject was rebranding and revision of Be a Man clubs. Smart Kolektiv prepared a presentation about a new image of the clubs, which is more appealing to today’s youth, based on the research they did in the previous year.

The organization of the event is supported by the Government of Switzerland, through the project “Young Men Initiative (YMI): Promoting Healthier Lifestyles and Decrease of Interpersonal Violence among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes; Phase III” and “Future for You(th): Young people as Leaders of Life Skills Education in the Balkans” funded by Austrian Development Cooperation, CARE Germany and Oak Foundation.

[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.