SEEYN

What is the idea of South East European Youth Network? The South East European Youth Network is an attempt of overcoming differences among societies that have recent tradition of conflicts through bringing young people from the entire South Eastern Europe region to work together. This is one of the seven networks established within FRESTA program conducted by Danish Foreign Ministry. Since youth is one of the pillars of FRESTA, SEEYN plays an important role in contributing to its overall goals such as peace, stability and democratic development in the region. The idea that young people will be future society leaders is the basis of the network. This approach is long–term in its orientation and it takes a lot of effort to become reality. What is particularly important, is the equal representation of all different peoples in this process, as well as neutral and independent treatment of initiatives coming from different countries. If young people become able to support each other’s initiatives, carefully listen to their associates from other countries and honestly put efforts to understand each other, it will be possible to create strong regional network with common interests over time. The only way to overcome inherited hatred and intolerance is to work in coordination with people who have the same goals. For this reason, youth cooperation is a step that can make many others follow this example and resolve accumulated problems. SEEYN 2000-2005: Vision, Objectives and Mission of SEEYN In April 2002, South East European Youth Network (SEEYN) drafted a vision independent of donor program interests: The vision of SEEYN is to achieve a stable region with developed mutual understanding without prejudices among young people through their mobility, co-operation, and active role in the society. Objectives of SEEYN: • To empower youth to built a stable & peaceful region as active citizens • To create fertile ground and conditions for youth mobility • To promote and support adequate government policies for the youth The SEEYN mission was defined in November 2003 parallel to SEEYN new strategy: SEEYN is empowering and activating youth to contribute to a peaceful and stable SEE region through voluntarism, advocacy and education. Preconditions for the newly defined SEEYN mission and goals are: possibilities for democratic culture education with main focus on voluntarism; established cooperation mechanisms between governments & youth; better perspectives (social & economic) for youth; strong cooperation between main stakeholders (governments and NGOs); developed tools & structures for education and information about mobility, supportive changes in legal environment; educated & involved policy advisers; youth policy papers and raised awareness of the youth on relevant issues. The focus of SEEYN was set on the following topics. More about this can be found in the ‘history and about us’ sections of this site: • Advocacy as a tool for development of supportive legal framework • Work-camps and Intercultural Learning • Volunteerism and Youth Employment • International Cooperation