Capacity building among the youth of Lipjan and how active they are in advocacy processes, was the topics that was discussed in the Salon held on March 13th in the municipality of Lipjan. The panelists, invited to discuss more specifically about the topic mentioned above, were: Anila Reçica Llugiqi, director for Culture, Youth and Sports, Ardit Cani, representative from the Committee for Youth and Sports and Bekim Krasniqi, Executive Director of the Youth Association for Human Rights (YAHR)
Reçica-Llugiqi said that although in the past, there was no department of youth in the municipality of Lipjan, and policies for the activation of young people were small. Recently through the increase of activities organized by the municipality, young people are more active. Reçica-Llugiqi promised that during the time that she will be in charge of the department for Culture, Youth and Sport, she will increase the capacities for improving the infrastructure by pushing forward, as quickly as possible, the construction of the cultural center which will meet everyone’s needs. Until then, she said that there are also three similar centers in the villages of Magure, Janjevë and Shale where they can be used for different activities. The budget allocated by the municipality for subsidizing the department for Culture, Youth and Sport reaches up to 250 thousand euros and 50% of it is allocated to sports clubs. However, out of a total of 49 organizations registered in the municipality that deal with youth activities, only 13 of them are active. So, the organizations themselves are not motivated enough to develop their policies even though the municipality would offer conditions for support.
Meanwhile, Cani told the youth that the committee he represents has been activated precisely because of the large number of young people, both in the villages and in the city, and their interest in participating in the activities. He states that he is satisfied with the infrastructure provided for the development of activities and the committee meets six times a year to discuss the problems that the youth may have and offer solutions. Starting from his experience, he encourages all the youth that were present not to stop being part of activities in their interest and society.
Meanwhile, Bekim Krasniqi from the Youth Association for Human Rights (YAHR), being closer to young people and their demands, thinks that the number of halls and grounds for youth activation are small. Also, according to him, the schools do not offer training opportunities for advocacy, so as the director of the organization, through the action plan they have, they will try to increase their capacities by offering frequent meetings and training for the benefit of young people.
The three panelists think that by engaging all the links of society together, such as institutions, organizations, various clubs, etc., we can contribute to provide opportunities and reasons for young people not to leave the country, because the trend of leaving is increasing. Also, they encourage the youth to be motivated and committed to improve the current situation.
This salon was supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.