Join the Youth4Peace Movement

The world will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War—a landmark moment in the pursuit of global peace and democracy. Against the backdrop of new challenges, Youth4Peace aims to empower young voices to lead the way, focusing on the future in which they themselves are actors for peace and democracy.

RYCO is promoting the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation between the youth in the region and through this initiative, together with their partner organizations, they put once again their mission into action by providing opportunity to young leaders to develop concrete strategies for action on what a democratic peace architecture in Europe and the world should look like in the future.

This call aims to identify 6 young individuals from the region, each coming from different RYCO Contracting Party, who will become a part of remarkable initiative that will bring together youth from different parts of the world for a week of collaboration, creativity, and action.

Program Specifications

• Eight intensive days with your ideas and projects, workshops and expert talks, discussions, excursions to historically and politically relevant places in Berlin and meetings/encounters with fascinating figures from the fields of politics and international democracy.

Benefits

• You will develop specific project ideas for peace and democracy together
• You will work artistically on the topic of peace and the threats it faces
• You will create and then present your common agenda for peace and democracy to high-ranking politicians in an innovative way
• You will create an interactive performance regarding your commitment to democracy and peace and present it at a public ceremony with international political representatives
• You will spend over a week with young people from more than 20 countries, get to know each other, discover and learn about other cultures and interesting people
• You will exchange ideas with experts, get to know international players in democracy and peace work and visit historical sites in Berlin (e.g. the Berlin Wall)
• You will be fully catered for and accompanied by an intercultural team. All costs for travel, accommodation and meals will be covered for you.

Eligible Countries

• Permanently reside in one of the Western Balkans 6 Contracting Parties: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must be between 18 and 30 years old
• You must be able to understand and speak English at a good level, as the entire programme is in English (For example, you should feel comfortable discussing in English, following lectures and sharing your ideas in English)
• You must be able to be in Berlin from 3rd to 10th May (There is no “part-time participation“)
• You need to free up some time (about 6 hours in total) for the project preparation between the end of March and the end of April and be available for them over email
• Even if you cannot participate in all video conferences, you should take part in brainstorming and co-creation processes on their platform – this is the only way your ideas can be integrated in the project right from the start
• You should:
  • Be interested in democracy and peace work and perhaps have already been involved in these fields
  • Be open to and respect other cultures, opinions and life experiences
  • You should be independent, i.e. be able to plan your participation – with their support – by yourself.

For more information, visit Regional Youth Cooperation Office.