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Middle East, Islam, Gender

Projects:
1. Extension of the online Instrument of civic participation buxhetim.al in all municipalities of the country- 04/05/2020-30/09/2020 in cooperation with Agenda Institute
2. Civic Education for Youth in Albania and the Western Balkans- 05/07/2020 –28/02/2021 with the support of Robert Bosch Stiftung
3. Creative youth - Activism - Environment - Creativity - 05/08/2020 - 28/02/2021 with the support of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth of Albania.
4. Political trolls: how to spot and fight them- 07/10/2020 – 28/02/2021 with the support of USA Embassy in Albania.
5. Community – led Local Development of Cultural Tourism in Greece and Albania05/09/2020 – 31/10/2020 within the IPA Greece Albania 2017 – 2020 project.
6. Tirana Conference Hub in Tirana, Albania part of the 18th International Youth Conference “European Values for the Future of the SEE Countries- 30/10/2020 – 15/11/2020 in partnership with Youth Alliance – Krusevo.
7. “Active Youth in the Electoral Process”- 10.03.2021- 12.03.2021 in partnership with 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵.𝗲𝘂
8. Webinar “𝗔 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲”in cooperation with Civil Rights Defenders , within the Framework of European Action Week against Racism 2021 by United for Intercultural Action

Main Projects / Activities

1. Economic Empowerment and Social Rights

The programme aims to empower youth to enter the labor market through skill development, employability policies, and labor rights. It integrates unemployed youth into the market, stabilizes their career entry, and promotes vocational training. Activities include sharing employment information, building capacity through training, promoting labor rights, providing networking opportunities, and contributing to global thought leadership on youth and labor conditions.

2. Civic Engagement and Advocacy for Democracy

The programme aims to foster a democratic society by promoting active citizenship, rule of law, and local democracy. It supports advocacy with local bodies to strengthen laws and conventions, involving youth in campaigns for transparency and accountability, lobbying for legal improvements, and promoting fair policies. The program also encourages youth participation in decision-making processes and enacts tangible change within communities. It works with youth from rural areas and marginalized groups to create opportunities for civic leadership and participation, focusing on both formal and informal ways to exercise civic leadership and collective power.

3. Peace and Security

This programme aims to empower youth as peace agents, preventing conflict, reducing inequalities, and fostering sustainable peace. It emphasizes youth-inclusive considerations in peace and political processes, advocating for gender-sensitive initiatives to uphold women's rights and end violence. YPN promotes an inclusive network for youth actors, fostering a culture of peace, tolerance, and inter-community exchange through early employment, education, vocational training, and political engagement.

Current projects and collaborations are:

Opportunities for Decent Work: Young professionals benefiting from the labour code. YPN after a doing several research, meetings with students and national questionnaires to understand the perceptions and knowledge of young people in Albania regarding their rights and obligations in their workplace has launched for the first time a national need assessment study “Young Professionals and Labour Rights”. The purpose of the report is to address the lack of information that youth have about their rights and obligations in the workplace and to get input regarding the layout and main components of the platform. The report further aims to stimulate more research into young opportunities and labour rights in order to provide inventive approaches. InfoPuna, a platform that provides information and offers guidance on work rights, discrimination, abuses, advocacy, and resolution techniques. It was created utilizing the idea of design thinking. With two primary parts dedicated to referral mechanisms and crucial information regarding youth employment rights and duties, it seeks to sustain the process of educating young people about their labour rights. Feedback is available in real time from visitors.

Symposium of Young Professionals on Transatlantic Alliance in Western Balkans – Annual Forum of Young Professionals 2023

The Annual Forum of Young Professionals 2023, held in Tirana, Albania, with this year’s theme “Cooperation, Security, Values: NATO in a changing world” and focused on the evolving security architecture of NATO in the Western Balkans. The forum, supported by NATO Public Diplomacy and the U.S. Embassy Tirana, brought together 25 young professionals from various backgrounds, including government, regional organizations, think tanks, academia, and civil society. The forum aimed to analyze NATO's current standing in the region and discuss its future outlooks. The forum featured distinguished speakers and panelists, who contributed unique viewpoints.

The Young Professionals Network is currently drafting a manifesto document to address the challenges discussed, promoting democratic stability, countering disinformation, enhancing cyber-security measures, and fostering youth engagement. Boosting social cohesion in the Yzberisht zone by empowering youth professionally and personally This project aims to break the marginalization cycle in the zone of Yzberisht by empowering young people with professional skills that can enable them to participate in the market work and to undertake actions/initiatives in local community. This intervention with the focus of training young people and giving them the opportunity to conduct internships in different institutions in Tirana will boost firstly their inclusion in society and strengthening their engagement as active citizens in local community. By empowering the role of youth in local communities they will be connected and socialized with their peers by social activities, other development opportunities and above all ensuring their participation in market work.

Western Balkan Youth Lab on Mental Health Western Balkans Youth Lab (WBYL) project is a three-year project aimed to create a long-term, structured regional dialogue between youth organizations and public authorities, focused on the joint development of policies that increase the participation of young people in decision-making, in order to improve the overall socio-economic environment and the flexibility of youth in the Western Balkans. Project is successfully coordinating Thematic Youth Policy Lab on Mental Health where youth on equal basis with policymakers are engage in policy development or policy evaluation revisions based on the principles of co-management and co-production. Within the process in Albania, informative and awareness Toolkit on Mental Health of young people (15-29 years old) was published for the first time. The conception and drafting of this document come as the result of the Action Plan drafted by the Working Group from Albania consisting of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Institute of Public Health, National Youth Agency, Young Professionals Network, National Youth Congress, and the National Network for Young people in Albania. This group is co-chaired by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and Young Professionals Network.

Youth Kult Zone

Youth KULT is a project full of series which are focused and curated online talks to bring a community of changemakers together through food, music, dance, art, and other cultural aspects of society. In essence, Youth KULT encourages and enables youth to plan and implement activities promoting collaboration and sharing. The goal is to create common visions, through understanding different youth from diverse communities, and stepping out of hard‐wired mindsets into global mindsets for sustainable peace in the region. The project aims to foster intercultural dialogue, using digital media as a platform for social change and connection.

25 projects / year, mainly in applied, research, arts-and-culture cooperations, see https://www.k8.design/k8-projects?relevanz=K8

Strategy Consultant and Volunteer Mentor

Journalist

Each year, we choose outstanding students, who display potential in speech and debate, and then trained for months to compete at the most prestigious competitions around the world. We strive to be a team of inspiration to our region while producing a high-ranking team and top debaters. Students who go through are our team have had their lives changed forever and we take tremendous pride in developing the next generation of Moroccan leaders and one of the best national debate teams in Africa. Debate & Public Speaking training and competitions. Summer Debate Camps

RESOLVE: Network - Partnership activities: RESOLVE is AsfarEurope’s strategic approach to address social intolerance and xenophobia in the Europe, the Baltic, the Caucasus, Russia and wider afield. The learning and social action element of RESOLVE is the Reconciliation for Development learning model. Reconciliation for Development is learning embedded in conflict resolution, reconciliation and peacebuilding activities. A learner will develop new skills in Reconciliation & Peacebuilding through informal and non-formal learning activities, while also making a difference to communities affected by conflict through social action and volunteering. Plus, learners will develop a range of different skills which will benefit their future careers and lives. A key part of RESOLVE is the RESOLVE: Network AsfarEurope officially became part of the RESOLVE: Network in April 2020 and is an official committed partner as of February 2021. The RESOLVE: Network Youth Wing, has its own Youth Board who are in charge of making key decisions for the Youth Wing of the network, international youth co-designed activities and ensuring the ethos of the original youth network is sustained and developed. AsfarEurope supports this and is in the process of implementing our own Youth Board to support the Youth Wing management team. A key part of the RESOLVE: Network - Partnership and Youth Wing is the co-developed dialogue and development activities including: - Youth Conference - Skills development activities - Sector-focused Workshops (Climate Change, Gender Equity, Memory, Reconciliation & Storytelling) Another key area of our delivery include our Creative Digital Learning activities. AsfarEurope’s team is highly experienced in the Creative Industries and throughout the pandemic have designed, developed and launched digital learning methodologies for our partners (inc. Asfar UK & Debate for Peace) and online workshops to benefit young people, build their life skills and become more creative. Creative skills through Digital Learning are free monthly training workshops which will start delivery from May 2021 and October 2021 for young Estonian and Russian speakers focusing on the following learning outputs: -The Sustainable Development Goals -Digital Storytelling -Conflict Resolution -Intercultural Learning Creative Skills through Digital Learning is free to any young person, who speaks Estonian or Russian and is interested in developing their creative skills while also learning about the Sustainable Development Goals, Conflict Resolution and would like to have a Cultural learning experience.

There are no definite main projects set yet.
The board is considering and assessing a few options for:
- workshops for professionals (online or offline depending on covid circumstances)
- networking events
- competitions
- outreach to youth with consultation on studies and practical workshops
- assist / participate in local animation festivals