YOUNG PEOPLE, INNOVATIONS AND TRENDS

The two-day conference “Young People – Trends and Innovations”, organised by OPENS in partnership with Youth Work Centre is designed with the goal to put the focus on young people in the year when Novi Sad is European Youth Capital during two days, at different panels, workshops, lectures and other interactive activities. “We talk about systematic care about young people, but to even talk about that, we need to understand who are the actors involved, because in order to have systematic approach and clear understanding of what a continuous work with young people brings, we need to know what makes a youth policy, how it is worked with young people and how many infrastructures, such as Youth Centre, play a big role in the development of young people and settlement of their needs”, Dejana Baltes, OPENS Youth Activity Coordinator explains.

The conference will provide young people with the chance to meet the actors of youth policy, influencers and youth workers at one place. At the conference, we will deal with the examples of good practice which refer to continuous work with young people, new and innovative programs for young people and degree of inclusion of young people in the decision-making processes. Therefore, the Conference is organised in the partnership with Youth Work Centre which is also one of the organisations which are the founders of OPENS.

“For 18 years, Youth Work Centre works in the field of systematic care about young people. During the work, we have gained significant results and been the initiators of numerous innovative practices. Also, Youth Work Centre is the first in Serbia to implement and organise formal education for youth workers, through a university course, bachelor and master studies in cooperation with international and local universities. Until now, around 420 youth workers have been trained, which has significantly contributed to the professionalization of youth work in Serbia, including initiation of the establishment of NAPOR and implementation of policy on protection and safety of children and young people within youth work”, Anja Jakšić, PR of the organisation explains.

During the first day of the conference, we will deal with trends and interest about young people in relation to the spirit of time and shift of generations, and on the second day, we will deal with innovative approaches to the work with young people and youth work, which can be used today.