About Skopje
Youth Summit
The Youth Summit in the city of Skopje, North Macedonia has held from December 3rd to 5th 2019. A wonderful 3-day event for young people from Western Balkans and beyond organized with the aim for young people to share their views on pro-democracy discourse and to use their knowledge, skills and the chance to connect within the group of young people from the region and beyond to address challenges and threats democracy is facing today.
Skopje Youth Summit gathered young people who were unafraid to challenge the status quo, who were passionate about building peaceful, democratic societies across the world and who were curious to learn and exchange knowledge with others.
The Summit gathered 200 people from the Western Balkans region and beyond, including political and NGO activists, media practitioners, artists, and academics.
Belgrade Youth Summit (2009)
Who is SKYS for?
Skopje Youth Summit is for young people who are unafraid to challenge the status quo, who are passionate about building peaceful, democratic societies across the world and who are curious to learn and exchange knowledge with others.
The Summit will gather 200 people from the Western Balkans region and beyond, including political and NGO activists, media practitioners, artists, and academics.
The specific topics were:
Exploring Ways to Enhance Democratic Processes
- mobilization of communities through activism and other creative ways
- democratic chances in North Macedonia compared to similar processes around the globe
- different forms of political participation that do not include high-level politics but include online and offline campaigning
- peacebuilding through sports and art
Dealing with the Past
Building bridges between divided communities and overcoming challenges produced by wars in the 90s
Western Balkan Countries and the EU
Status of Western Balkan countries without the EU ascension processes
The event took place at Mladenski Kulturen Centar (The Youth Cultural Center, MKC) in Skopje.
It is a youth cultural institution with a long history – it opened in the year 1972. Today, it has become a gathering spot for alternative youth, offering a wide range of high-level concerts, exhibitions, performances, festivals and promotions, giving both younger and older audiences in Skopje an opportunity to broaden their horizons.
For the past 10 years, YIHR organized Summits with the support of National Endowment for Democracy in Belgrade (2009), Prishtina (2012), Sarajevo (2015), Zagreb (2017) and now Skopje.
The previous four Youth Summits offered engaging and interesting insight into democratic processes and peace activism, prompting discussions and debates from various perspectives.
This year, we decided to keep the conversation going, but also to invite young people everywhere to get out there and walk the talk – which is why the Summit will offer engaging, interactive workshops that will allow participants to put all they have learned into practice.
Great Speakers
Get the chance to listen to and learn from some of the most prominent youth leaders and activists from the Western Balkans region and beyond
Have Fun
Above all, we want your experience at Skopje Youth Summit to be a fun and memorable one – and we promise to offer content that can make that happen!
Networking
Connect with over 200 like-minded young politicians, human rights professionals and civil society representatives
Engage
This is more than just a panel-type conference – join us in interactive and engaging workshops where you will be given the chance to apply learned knowledge in the field of human rights protection and democratic participation
Who is SKYS for?
Skopje Youth Summit is for young people who are unafraid to challenge the status quo, who are passionate about building peaceful, democratic societies across the world and who are curious to learn and exchange knowledge with others.
The Summit will gather 200 people from the Western Balkans region and beyond, including political and NGO activists, media practitioners, artists, and academics.
Main topics within SKYS
The Summit explored various aspects of activism and different creative ways to mobilize communities in order to enable democratic processes. In an engaging and interactive way, it taught participants about the democratic changes that took place in North Macedonia, and offered parallels to similar processes across the globe. Throughout SKYS, participants were able to gain insight into different forms of political participation, outside of the realm of high-level politics, but also within the context of online and offline campaigns, peacebuilding through sports and art as a medium of spreading peace.
The topic of the status of Western Balkans countries within EU integration processes was one of the central issues explored at the Summit, and how the various positives and negatives on the EU accession path affect societies in the region.
Within the overarching theme of the capacity of youth to overcome great challenges and build bridges in divided communities, one of the central panels explored how young people who were affected by the wars in ex-Yugoslavia managed to rebuild their lives and ignite dialogue and reconciliation with their life stories and work.
Organizer
Supported by
Media partners
