EU4YouthDays: Future Readiness for Young People

From 8-9 October, YEAs Uroš Šestović and Katarina Marinković represented the Young European Ambassadors network at the EU4Youth Days, a vibrant event which was held in the heart of Europe, Brussels.

During two days, youth representatives, policymakers, and organizations from across Europe and the Eastern Partnership region gathered together to exchange ideas, experiences and accelerate thought leadership on advancing employment and education opportunities. Additionally, this flagship event created an inclusive environment for fostering multicultural robust partnerships between Western Balkans’ youth and their peers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Discussions and project showcases throughout the event, focused on civic participation, employment, skills and social entrepreneurship. For YEAs Katarina and Uroš, one of the highlights was the panel discussion featuring Commissioner Glenn Micallef from DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC), Diana Jablonska from DG ENEST, and Prof. Özgehan Şenyuva from the European Academy on Youth Work, who spoke about preparing the next generation with adequate skills for the future.

Another standout moment was the panel discussion on social entrepreneurship, featuring Nazareth Seferian from Impact Hub Yerevan, Olga Zota, co-founder of UkraineRobotics under the EU4Gender Women in Tech initiative, and Nigar Sultanova, founder of DanceAbility within EU4Culture. YEAs described that hearing these experiences prompted reflection on how entrepreneurship can solve social challenges and empower local communities.

These interactive encounters left a strong impression on Katarina and Uroš,  not just for the ideas that were shared, but significantly for the atmosphere of cooperation that surrounded every session. They noted that this experience had filled them with motivation and inspiration to bring the event’s outcomes back to local communities and build synergies for strengthening regional partnerships.