Youth Council Fighting Unemployment in Kavadarci
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'' Authors: Aneta Trajkova, Esma Kaplan, Olgay Erdogan & Miloš Najdanović''
Youth unemployment is becoming a big problem for most countries in the world, and Macedonia follows the negative trend.
Finally the problem got the attention of the government, and many municipalities started forming youth parliaments to help improve the social, economic and cultural quality of life of young Macedonians. It’s been less than a year since the Youth Council in Kavadarci (Совет на млади) started actively working with the local youth, and yet it seems like their efforts don’t have an expected feedback. Are there no jobs, are young people just afraid, maybe even too lazy to activate themselves or is the Council not doing their job?
We spoke to Daniel Uneski, member of the Non-Governmental Organisation “Zone” which oversees the work of Youth Council. “Zone” appealed to Kavadarci municipality to form a Youth Council, based on the scanning results of the current situation in the city. The guys of “Zone” made an initiative within the city’s parliament to increase youth participation. They built a strategy for the period from 2011 to 2015. The main idea of the Youth Council is for the parliament to hear young people’s ideas and problems, and work on them. Together. The Youth Council represents a bridge between the youth parliament and the local council. Members cannot vote, they can just share opinions and represent the interests of youth. The Council consists of five members: a high school representative, a student, an NGO representative and the representatives from two of the biggest parties in Macedonia – VMRO DPMNE & SDSM. Not everyone can be a member. They need to apply, and then be selected on the elections that are held every two years. Youth can be more involved by volunteering with “Zone” and in that way help out.