Today, the Institute for Youth Development KULT held the first presentation of the 2023 Regional Youth Participation Index.
The Youth Participation Index offers insights into the opportunities young people have to engage in various aspects of society. It covers their involvement in decision-making processes, access to the labor market, and participation in social life. The data was collected for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Türkiye.
The Index was developed in 2016 by the Network of Youth Organizations from the Western Balkans and Türkiye, and has been published annually ever since.
“The involvement of the Institute for Youth Development KULT as a BiH organization is very important. For the first time, we are able to monitor youth participation in Bosnia and Herzegovina across three key dimensions – political, economic, and social – and compare this data with other countries in the region that are part of the Network. The Index also serves as a valuable tool for drawing attention to the needs and challenges faced by young people in BiH, and for using the collected data to inform and encourage the development of new youth policies. The Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH supported the Institute during the concept note phase, and the BiH Agency for Statistics provided support during the preparation of the full project application,” said Nevio Bruck, Head of the Youth Policy Development Department at the Institute.
The Youth Participation Index marks a new development for BiH, as this is the first year in which official data have been collected and presented for all 25 indicators included in the Index. These indicators focus on young people and are designed to guide and adapt policies to better meet their needs.
Following the presentation, a panel discussion was held on the topic “Availability of Statistical Data on Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Challenges and Opportunities.” The discussion centered on how to improve data collection in order to create more effective youth policies. The panel offered a structured space to explore both the challenges and opportunities related to gathering youth-related data in BiH, with a view to producing future national reports.
The document is available HERE.
Since late 2024, the Institute for Youth Development KULT has been involved in the project “Stronger Voices for Better Choices – Youth Hub for WB&T”, funded by the European Commission through the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) under the Multi-country annual action plan in favour of the Western Balkans and Türkiye for 2024 (IPA III). The project’s Youth Network, supported by the European Union, is coordinated by the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation (Serbia), in partnership with Beyond Barriers (Albania), Youth Alliance – Krusevo (North Macedonia), NGO Prima (Montenegro), Community Volunteers Foundation – TOG (Türkiye), Democracy for Development (Kosovo), and the Institute for Youth Development KULT (BiH).
