President Pendarovski and UNICEF discussed with young people matters that are important to them

Skopje, November 9, 2022: President Stevo Pendarovski and UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan met with young activists and discussed the current challenges young people face in the country.

Participants discussed the importance of youth participation, climate change and environment, quality education and acquiring skills among young people, mental health and bullying. These topics were identified as areas in which young people can contribute with specific activities.

In his welcoming speech, President Pendarovski emphasized the importance of young people’s proactive approach towards dealing with the most pressing issues that also represent barriers in their personal and collective development.

In that context, he emphasized the need for commitment of all relevant stakeholders in our country in recognizing the momentum and nurturing the potential of young people, establishing initiatives, projects and platforms that will enable their joint contribution. According to the president, this is one of the key prerequisites for creating long-term policies and strategies that will lead towards overall progress of our society.

The Regional Director of UNICEF for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan, emphasized that when given the opportunity, young people can find solutions to issues that are most important to them. Emphasizing the need to further engage children and young people, she expressed the importance of the longstanding partnership between UNICEF and the Office of the President of North Macedonia, and the joint work in creating space for young people to shape the future they want.

In the past few years, President Pendarovski and UNICEF have significantly, with a series of activities, strengthened their long-standing cooperation in the direction of advancing the rights of children and youth in the country.

Last year, the joint initiative "Reimagine the future" was implemented, which enabled young people to actively participate in defining the vision for the future of North Macedonia by raising issues that are important to them.

At the meeting, young people shared their experience in participating in other initiatives such as the Youth Climate Change Summit, the UPSHIFT program, the Prespa Forum for Dialogue, U-Report, the Education Transformation Summit, World Children's Day 2021, as well as in the initiative Youth Advocates for Justice for Children.

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Source: Media center, President of the Republic of North Macedonia