Adolescent and Youth Development
Every young person, everywhere, is empowered to achieve their full potential.
- Available in:
- Srpski
- English
Challenge
By engaging with young people and supporting them in standing up for their rights and creating the conditions for them to progress and play an active role in societies, we can contribute to building peace, security, justice and sustainable development for all.
- 32% of young people aged 15 and 24 are unemployed.
- 40% of young people between 16 and 24 years are at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
- 16.5% of young people aged 15 to 24 neither work nor study.
- Nearly 83% of young people believe the culture of tolerance is not sufficiently developed among young adults.
- 70% of young people would venture to live outside of Serbia.
70% of young people would venture to live outside of Serbia.
Solution
Active participation and engagement
UNICEF works to raise awareness on the importance of youth participation, to ensure a stimulating environment for youth activities, and the involvement of young people in community decision-making.
Together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, as well as with the Minister without Portfolio in charge of Demography and Population Policy, we work to support youth engagement and active citizenship, as well as the development of life skills for young people through formal and non-formal education.
Our goal is to improve the overall level of active youth empowerment, thus enabling young people to act on their own behalf and have a say in policy discussions.
Young people want to be actively involved, to volunteer and to implement their ideas and projects.
UNICEF supports young people to share their views through U-Report and youth dialogues.
We work to ensure that all young people, especially those who are most marginalized, are consulted and informed, and that their voices and roles are recognized in the community.
Skills building
UNICEF works to increase capacities of the most vulnerable adolescents and youth to develop and realize their full potential.
This includes wider access to information, skills and mentorship, as well as seed financing.
In collaboration with civil society organizations, as well as with the private sector, like Nordeus, StartIt, and other partners, we focus on social innovation, digital and employability skills.
Through a social innovation programme, UPSHIFT, we strive to include and empower all young people to identify and design solutions for their communities.
Inclusion
UNICEF encourages youth to acquire and practice skills to help break stereotypes, constructively interact and implement innovative ideas.
In all our activities, we work to promote youth inclusion and well-being and support the rights of vulnerable groups to fully participate in their communities.
COVID-19 in Serbia
UNICEF is listening to adolescents and young people to ensure that their voices are heard, and their unique needs are understood and addressed during the immediate crisis and the long-term recovery.
We launched two U-Report chat-bots, resulting in over 7,500 users who activated and used the chatbots through Facebook and Viber and ran a U-Report poll to better understand how adolescents and young people understand online violence and its prevention and who are their sources of support.
UNICEF has mobilized young people to engage in online volunteering through the establishment of an online peer-volunteer platform (https://bit.ly/ VolonteriNaMrezi), enabling them to be active in 4 areas: participation in the online risk communication response; translation of educational materials to reduce language barriers in education; providing online peer support; and U-Report promotion.
- Over 700,000 young people reached with COVID-19 messaging through social media
- The #VolonteriNaMreži social media campaign carried out by volunteers resulted in more than 20,000 interactions on more than 400 volunteer posts
UNICEF Youth Advocate
"It is a great honor to be part of the UNICEF family.
I will do everything in my power to influence young people who are my followers and who listen to me to do more and to make their voices heard, but not just through talking about problems but through finding solutions for them.
And to use U-Report as a platform through which we will be able to achieve it. "
