GPKT Youth Council

Phase I Activities

Born out of meetings in early 2004, the Youth Working Group enthusiastically established itself as the GPKT Youth Council at its December 2004 meeting (link to GPKT Meeting Report 14). Including young people from all four municipalities and ethnic groups, between 16 and 22 years of age, the Youth Council has attracted many who are already involved in the work of youth NGOs or similar initiatives.

The pioneering trilingual youth magazine ‘Youth Bridges’ (GPKT Activity Update 15), the first issue of which came out in April 2005, became the focus of the Council’s work and soon came to play the role of the main communication tool of the body to wider GPKT youth. Produced in partnership with the Inter-ethnic Project Kumanovo and distributed free of charge to secondary schools in the micro-region, the bi-monthly publication tackles both serious and entertaining topics corresponding to the interest of the young people in the four municipalities.

Besides trainings in journalism skills (GPKT Activity Update 15) for Youth Bridges contributors, GPKT Youth Council members benefited from training on project cycle management (GPKT Activity Update 8) in December 2004, an HIV/AIDS workshop (GPKT Activity Update 27) in June 2005 and First Aid Training (GPKT Activity Update 29) in July 2005. Further activities proposed and implemented by the Youth Council included:
- a GPKT Youth Art Exhibition (GPKT Activity Update 16) in May 2005, where young artists painted on the topic ‘Youth Bridges’;
- a ‘Stop AIDS’ concert (GPKT Activity Update 27) in Gjilan/Gnjilane in June 2005;
- a GPKT Youth Picnic (GPKT Activity Update 23) in Trgoviste in June 2005;
- a Basketball Court Renovation and Tournament (GPKT Activity Update 28) in Kumanovo in July 2005; and
- a Summer Camp (GPKT Activity Update 29) in Brezovica in late July / early August 2005.

In September 2005 the GPKT Youth Council took part in the Youth NGO Fair (GPKT Activity Update 33) in Gjilan/Gnjilane organised by the Local Democracy Agency, where members organised a stand for the Council and made a presentation on their GPKT activities at the conference organised in parallel to the Fair.

The last GPKT Youth Council meeting (GPKT Meeting Report 33) for the first project cycle was held in September 2005, in order to discuss achievements and problems over the last two and a half years, and strategic directions for continued cross-border activity going forward into the second GPKT Project cycle. As part of EWI’s internal monitoring and evaluation system, at the end of the meeting all participants were asked to complete questionnaire on their feelings about GPKT activities to date and what they hoped to see in the future.


Phase II Activities

The second GPKT Project cycle started for the Youth Council with a GPKT Youth Congress (GPKT Phase II - Youth report No. 1) on 10th December 2005, to mark the first ‘birthday’ of the Council and take key decisions on the body’s mission, structure and membership. The Council set its goals as: to work for positive change in the GPKT communities; to empower youth; to build inter-ethnic relationships; to build the Council’s capacity for action; and, to act as a GPKT Youth Embassy. A board of 30 permanent members was selected and the Council decided to continue working with EWI support, with the aim of registering itself as one or more independent youth NGOs in future.

The Council Board then met in February 2006 (GPKT Phase II - Youth report No. 3) to further define specific objectives and plan future activities. Following the decisions made, a Fundraising and Donor Relations Training (GPKT Phase II - Youth Report No. 5) was organised in April 2006 in Brezovica with the objective of developing the capacities of the Youth Council to raise funds and implement activities independently from EWI’s financial support.

The upcoming activities of the GPKT Youth Council include organising HIV/AIDS workshops for primary school students in late May and a Children’s Fashion Show in June 2006.