Youth Station – Empowering Young People in the Local Community

Members of the Safely Active Paths Association implement and manage programs for young people at the Dravograd Youth Center. We also organize various events for them. At social gatherings young people expressed they needed help with employment in the municipality and opportunities for mandatory practical training, and the desire for student work while studying. The young people in our municipality also wanted counseling and various non-formal trainings. They are mainly concerned about getting their first employment in the local environment. They want to be independent from their parents, which is only possible with their own income. In the field of leisure they expressed a desire for cultural events, concerts and performances, as they are of the opinion that the events in their municipality are intended only for the elderly population. They would also be happy to have a space where they could hang out, for example a skate park.

We found that the youth sector is in disorder at the municipal level. We see the solution in the establishment of the youth sector. At the suggestion and initiative of our association, the municipal decision-makers adopted the Ordinance on Youth which defines the operation of the youth sector. Additionally, the project Youth Station – Empowering Young People in the Local Community aims to achieve the adoption and approval of the Local Youth Program for a period of 5 years. The program contains an action plan that will allow us to achieve project sustainability and the development of the youth sector.

During the implementation of the project we will reach more than 200 young people from different local communities in our municipality. We will present the project and conduct workshops with them. Young people will be able to identify their needs in the areas where they want change and improvement – e.g. free time, non-formal education, improving the situation for young people, etc. Helped by their wishes and needs, the association will write a local program for young people, which will be adopted by municipal decision-makers. Some of the wishes and needs of young people will be met within five years. The project will improve the dialogue between young people and municipal decision-makers and accelerate the development of youth policy. Thus, we will achieve greater autonomy of young people and their inclusion in the local community.

To facilitate achieving the aim we joined forces with the Institute for Youth Policy Ajdovščina. Since there is a well-organized and functioning youth sector in Ajdovščina, we will invite our municipal decision-makers to see the good practice in action at the beginning of the project. In cooperation with the Institute we will also present how the youth sector can benefit the development of the municipality in order to encourage municipal decision-makers to adopt the Local Youth Program.