Maribor winner of the GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives Award

 The Evaluation Committee comprising of renewed regional experts in gender and youth gave its highest grades to the activity “Co-creation of social spaces - for youth with youth” and the Municipality of Maribor and concluded that “the initiative helps associate young people with less desirable professions (carpentry, painting, masonry, electricity) for which there is demand in the labor market. Maribor also opened public spaces for youth and in this way supports their creativity and integration. The initiative improved the quality of life and fostered youth participation in decision-making processes at the local level, whereas contributing to a facilitated development of the local community based on the values of solidarity and non-discrimination. The actions shows that as active citizens, young people can cooperate in order to contribute to their local communities as well as empower themselves by gathering experiences and knowledge for the improvement of their employment situation. The primary part of the program helped increase employability and employment, encourage volunteerism, intercultural cooperation and active participation of young people. ” (Excerpt from the report of the Evaluation Committee)

"Co-creation of social spaces - for young people by young people" was created as part of the European project URBACT II - My generation at work. Within this project the Municipality of Maribor wanted to associate young people with less desirable professions (carpentry, painting, masonry, electricity) for which there is demand in the labour market.  At the initiative of the co-creators of the project Maribor 2013 and My Generation at Work in November 2013, students of Secondary School  together with volunteers renovated premises of the City Youth Council Maribor.

the Award Ceremony for the GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives will take place on 18th May 2015 in the City of Plovdiv, Bulgaria within the Annual forum of Local Authorities of South East Europe co-organized by NALAS and the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB). At this ceremony, the activity will be presented before the Delegates of the NALAS General Assembly as well as representatives of the Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe and international organizations from South East Europe.

Furthermore, the municipality will be promoted within the NALAS communication and knowledge platform, including the publication “GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives - Menu of good practices” as well as NALAS Newsletter, NALAS Digest, and NALAS Knowledge Tree. The activity will also become a case study in the NALAS e-learning course for Promotion of Gender and Youth at Local Level (under development).

My Generation at Work congratulates Maribor with this big achievement!