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‘Humans of Albania and Serbia’ is an independent initiative that emerged within the OSCE Mission to Serbia’s project “Enhancing regional connectivity of Serbian and Albanian youth actors” around the idea of connectivity, co-operation and dialogue between youth.

 

The need for co-operation and networking between young men and women from Serbia and Albania was recognized by youth organizations from both countries, as well as by the Serbian and Albanian governments. At the 2014 Western Balkans Summit in Berlin (the so called Berlin Process), the governments and representatives of Serbia and Albania initiated development of a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). In November 2014, the agreement on Youth Co-operation was signed between the Council of Ministers of Albania and the Government of Serbia. The MoU announces the promotion and development of joint policies, programmes and actions in the fields of direct interest for the youth, including: education, culture, science, and academic and vocational education, thus paving the way for the beginning of long-term co-operation and strengthening relationships between young people.

Through the adoption of a Joint Declaration at the Western Balkans Summit in Vienna in 2015, this orientation was further underlines with the new commitment to establish a Regional Youth Co-operation Office for the Western Balkans.

Since 2015, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, alongside the OSCE Presence in Albania, has been supporting youth co-operation in this regard. ‘Humans of Albania and Serbia’ is an independent initiative that emerged within the OSCE Mission to Serbia’s project “Enhancing regional connectivity between Serbian and Albanian youth actors”. The aim of the project is to support youth actors from Serbia and Albania in engaging in connectivity, co-operation, and dialogue.

Project partners:

The OSCE Mission to Serbia’s project “Enhancing regional connectivity of Serbian and Albanian youth actors” was financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

The views, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed on this web site are not given nor necessarily endorsed by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.


In 2021, partnership and cooperation between two national youth councils (National Youth Congress of Albania (Kongresi Rinor Kombetar – KRK) and the National Youth Council of Serbia – KOMS) has been strengthened with signed Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Bilateral Co-operation Among Youth Actors from Albania and Serbia.

With this Memorandum, KOMS and KRK strive to establish and improve the current cooperation between the two countries through enhanced cooperation between the two umbrella bodies and cooperation of their member organizations and relevant actors in the field of youth policy, on the path paved through the Memorandum of Understanding on youth cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania on Youth Cooperation (2014), cooperation within the Berlin Process, the Open Balkan initiative, and previous cooperation between the line ministries through the “Enhancing regional connectivity between Serbian and Albanian youth actors” project supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

KOMS and KRK, as well as a consortium of their member organizations, took ownership of the Humans of Albania and Serbia platform, as they will jointly work on its re-establishment and management and through which organizations from Serbia and Albania will strengthen their capacities and increase visibility, exchange and create examples of good practice through bilateral cooperation.

KOMS and KRK, together with their member organizations and partners, will continue to work in the coming period to strengthen cooperation between youth policy actors in Serbia and Albania, not only between civil society organizations but also line ministries and other key stakeholders.