The Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) organised a unique event entitled “Young people over coffee at the Ministry”. The aim of the event was to create a framework for informal discussions between a group of young rural activists and the management of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.
During the event, 20 young activists from 7 districts of the country discussed over coffee with the State Secretary for Youth and Sport Mr. Ivan Gheorghiu a number of challenges in the youth sector, including the opportunities that young people have after graduating from secondary school and on the basis of which criteria they can make the best decisions about their future education.
The young people appreciated the openness of the management of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and taking the advantage of informal setting they asked a series of questions on various topics and came up with recommendations on the work of youth centres and how to approach youth policies at the local level. Young people noted that despite some positive achievements in policy development and promotion of new ideas with the support of development partners, youth policies are still poorly implemented at the local level. In most cases, youth support programmes at the local level are not being used to good effect, so it is necessary to evaluate how these programmes are implemented by the local authorities with a view to improving them with the explicit participation of young people.
Young people also pointed out that LPAs I and II are not genuinely interested in the development of the youth sector and only imitate a certain activity, usually in sports or culture, to the detriment of the idea of youth participation in decision-making processes. In this regard, young people called for more active involvement of the Moldovan government.
On the other hand, the Secretary of State thanked the young people for emphasising the issues raised and urged them to participate as actively as possible in the process of monitoring, reporting and implicitly in the process of implementing youth policies, underlining that the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research encourages civic activism of pupils and students at all levels.
The event was also attended by iRi’s team of youth experts, made up of 7 young activists from iRi partner communities. The aim of this team is to assist the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) team in making informed decisions about projects targeting young people.
The team of iRi experts in the field of youth
The activity “Young people over coffee at the Ministry” is part of the “IntegrACT ALUMNI” programme implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) within the Grant Programme 2020 for Youth Organisations under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research’s
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