Participatory Forum in Brussels

Building together a society for all - A circus against exclusion
19-20 October, Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels

Taking part in this workshop was Admir Idrizi (Young Farmers’ Clubs of Kosovo), Armin Dzinovic (Young Farmers’ Clubs of Serbia) and Janette Stirling (Young Farmers’ Club of Ulster and representing Rural Youth Europe). These three participants were members of a study trip which was held in June 2010 to Serbia and Kosovo called “Crossing Borders: supporting rural youth work in the Balkans”. The aim of the study trip was to support new rural youth organistations in the Balkans and encourage them in the work they have already begun in socially deprived areas.

The Participatory Forum was organised by the European Commission as part of the European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion and the campaign "Do you know what social Europe can do for you?”. Participants at the workshop included Claudia Taylor-East from Solidarity Overseas Service and Jeta Bejtullatiu from the European Social Network. Both of these participants had first-hand experience of life in Kosovo and could relate to the challenges that youth face. Their attendance led to some great discussion about how the Young Farmers Clubs in Serbia and Kosovo can grow and develop in their own areas.

There was three main questions that the workshop addressed. The first was “What can be done on a local level to support rural youth work in the Balkans?”:

• ensure that constitutions have been draw up and registration of the organisations as NGOs has taken place.
• involve local ministries and government departments, ie Finance Department, to make them aware of who you are, and what you are doing.
• As well as involving local government, involve the local community and other youth organisations to raise profile and gain support. It was felt to be important for YFC clubs to be taking an active part in their local community in agricultural fairs and ecological campaigns which raise the profile of the organisation but also educate the local community and give postive feedback for the work involved, and possibly involving local businesses in these activities.
• At a local level, it was felt that future planning was important to encourage funding and maintain rural areas, as well as foundation learning and maintaining life skills that YFC can promote such as IT skills and learning English as well as public speaking through competition.
• Education of local farmers was felt to be important, with Armin giving an example of a local Veterinary Surgeon coming to their YFC hall and answering questions by the members. Other local farmers were also invited to join them as part of disease control education.

The second questions posed at the workshop was “What can be done on a regional level to support rural youth work in the Balkans?:

• Funding and income generation projects were discussed. How training for businesses could be facilitated through YFCs with creativity being emphasised to produce regular incomes through Social Enterprise.  It was recommended that YFC members should be looking at entreprenourship training and use UK examples to encourage small business developement.  he ideas of farmers markets were also discussed as well as the possibility of using the YFC website for e-commerce.
• Another idea was tourism, for example, the current interest in climbing holidays. As their local regions are mountainous, YFC members could devise a route which climbers would follow taking them to villages and the heart of rural Kosovo and Serbia, staying with families, encouraging the local economy, and opening a lot of possibilites. It was felt that youth are suitable to lead such projects using their links with other YFC members and clubs.
• Regenerating old trades and art forms that have been dying out, would encourage spending through tourists and help with financial stablility, with such initiatives being used by club members to raise funds for themselves as an organsiation and help with long term stability.
• 2011 is the European year of Volunteering and as the Balkans is a flagship area, YFC members could make the most of this and build the organisation and what they can learn, which may in turn, help them to stay in rural areas and reduce migration to urban centres.  The attendees at the workshop believed that YFC in Serbia and Kosovo can deliver grass-root developement for socially excluded people and areas.

And finally, the third questioned that was looked at in the workshop was “What can be done on an international level to support rural youth work in the Balkans?”:

• More funding opportunites were discussed, including the idea to link all other member states of the Balkans and the Rural Youth groups being set up there and even youth groups in general in these areas.
• Co-financing with EU contacts should be explored as there are many other NGO groups who would be willing and indeed it would be in their interests to get involved with YFCs in Serbia and Kosovo.
• One area some of the participants at the workshop were keen to explore was the Green Economy and how YFCs could contribute. Energy and water were two areas that the YFCs could be involved with and take an active role in reducing the loal carbon footprint. There are many funding opportunities in this area and this type of activity would gain a lot of visibility.
• Youth in Action Programme was recommended to be investigated and see how the objectives of the YFCs can be included, also the 2020 Strategy.

All of the discussions that took place were of great value and hopefully will help support the work that the Young Farmers Club of Serbia and Young Farmers Club of Kosovo are involved in locally, at Balkan level and throughout Europe.

Janette Stirling

Young Farmers Clubs’ of Ulster (YFCU)