At this year’s General Assembly we were proud to welcome another brand new member to the Rural Youth Europe family. Introducing… the Rural Youth Hub Albania!
Rural Youth Hub (RYH) is a youth activism platform that supports young people, especially those from rural areas, to raise their voices to influence agricultural and rural policymaking so that these processes are aligned and closely connected to young people’s concerns, interests, and priorities.
The hub includes young people, students, entrepreneurs, farmers, etc., who are enthusiastic and motivated to take an active role and contribute to rural development processes and local decision-making.
The creation of RYH was promoted and supported by the Albanian Network for Rural Development (ANRD) in order to give young people the opportunity to participate in the sustainable development of the country and, in particular, in the transformation of their rural communities.
Since December 2019, ANRD has started to form the Rural Youth Hub (RYH) platform with the aim of expressing the voice of young people in rural Albania by promoting the self-activation of rural youth.
Vision
RYH’s vision is: A future where rural youth contribute to the sustainable development and advancement of Albania’s rural communities.
Mission
To be at the service of Albania’s rural communities by empowering rural youth by offering them opportunities to become active citizens and to generate income and well-being even in the most remote and impoverished rural areas and providing opportunities of public interest.
What is our activity?
The Rural Youth Hub (RYH) as an active platform in support of rural youth, is based on the exchange of experiences, knowledge and vision sharing for the future of rural communities.
The Rural Youth Hub consists of members who have different activities in agriculture, tourism, civil society, and aims to become a Center which gathers all young rural entrepreneurs, directs, guides and becomes their voice for realization of rural development policies.
Last activity: The First Assembly of Young People in Rural Areas
Continuing our collective efforts to influence agricultural policies to achieve sustainable rural development and to valorise the role and need of youth in rural areas, on October 11, 2023, the first Rural Youth Assembly in Albania was held. This assembly was part of the platform for the 3rd Albanian Rural Parliament*, which was held on October 11-13, 2023, at the Agricultural University of Tirana.
* The Rural Parliament of Albania is a national platform dedicated to capacity building, networking and advocacy for sustainable rural development. Parliament places the voice of rural communities at the center by articulating residents’ concerns and promoting concrete actions by local communities in partnership with the civil society sector and local government.
More than 100 rural youth from all over Albania joined the first assembly. The asembly was an opportunity for young people to share their experiences, challenges and entusiasm on developing their own initiative in their rural environment. Julvin from Puka shared his experience on hazelnut growth and his dream to have its own village that will be developed based on hazelnuts. “Rural You” project was presented for its role and support given through small grants to the youth stressing the need that the financial aid is needed in Albanian content in order to be able to create and start a new initiative.
Why was this assembly important? This assembly was important as the voice of rural youth was heard in a dedicated space, they were gathered all together and their challenges, needs, dreams, and concrete demand were structured to be directed to governement bodies. Even though the rural youth are organised under the umbrella of the rural hub**, were concrete actions are being drafted, developed and implemented, in this assembly the rural youth raise further their voice in order to bring the attention on them and to reinforce their role in rural decision making processes. The youth stressed the need to reframe and to have that respond to their perspective in order to improve the livelihood and the future in rural areas.
This assembly is the beggining of a new gathering of the rural youth, and based on the interest of the youth in this first edition, the assembly will have follow ups in its organisation.
To keep up to date with all of their activities, give them a follow on Facebook and Instagram!