“Youth and the Local Authorities” discussed in Varna
December 4, 2006
National Conference “Youth and the Local Authorities” took place in Varna on 1st and 2nd of December 2006, organized by Municipality of Varna - department “Youth activities and sport” in cooperation with the State agency for Youth and Sports.
Youth Society for Peace and Development of the Balkans was invited to take part in the conference and to present its view concerning the youth participation forms in regional and local life. Accent and theme for discussion was the necessity of efficient implementation of strategic documents. According to Vesselin Iliev, Secretary General of YSPDB, the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life has not been put efficiently into practice. The Charter often is a PR instrument of the Local Authorities.
A good example is Varna Municipality, where the local Authorities are very active in using effective instruments for youth participation as much as possible.
The conference is a final part of the campaign “Youth and the Local Authorities”, which is coordinated by the State Agency for Youth and Sports. Its main aim is to increase the youth participation through different forms of civil participation in the public life and the Local Authorities. This campaign will grow into a national initiative “Youth and the Local Authorities”.
Three main directions were discussed during the conference: “Local Youth Policy - problems and perspectives”; “Youth policy in the educational institutions - specific dimensions”; “Nongovernmental sector - partner and corrective of the Local Authorities”.
Young people had discussions about the problems and the perspectives of the Local youth Policy. Papers about the values of Bulgarian young people and their apprehension of labor emigration were also presented.
