More than thirty thousand young people join the activities of the ‘Future for Youth’ project
SARAJEVO, January 24 (FENA) – The “Future for Youth” regional conference, which is being held in Sarajevo, marks the end of the three-year phase of the Young Men’s Initiative and Future for Youth projects, which gathered more than 30,000 young people and 1,200 teachers from 120 schools from of the entire region.
The conference was organized by CARE International in cooperation with partners and with the support of the Austrian Development Agency and the Government of Switzerland.
It covers topics such as the prevention of violence among young people, promoting gender equality, building healthy lifestyles for young people and the role of educational institutions in these processes.
The regional director of CARE International Balkans, Sumka Bučan, said that in this phase of the project, which has been going on for many years, they were dealing with accreditation, and institutionalization of the program in the educational system in all the countries where they operate.
“It is very important that we included more than 30,000 young people through various educations, campaigns, through the activities of ‘Be a man’ clubs and youth organizations,” said Bučan.
She added that a lot of young people benefited from this project.
“Our main goal is to change attitudes and behavior towards violence, and discrimination, promote healthy lifestyles and give young people the opportunity to discuss issues that affect them in some way in our society and to try to change the potential for their future,” said Bučan.
The Ambassador of Switzerland to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Daniel Hunn, said that today’s conference for the Embassy of Switzerland represents an important moment for reviewing almost ten years of support for the Young Men’s Initiative program, which is implemented by CARE Balkans.
“We believe that this program empowers young people by strengthening their self-confidence and developing leadership skills to take responsibility for the future development of the region, despite the growing divisions on the political scene in the region.
With their will to overcome outdated patterns and stereotypes, these young people contribute to progress on the country’s European path and we at the Embassy of Switzerland are proud to support them in these efforts,” stated Ambassador Hunn.