The EU-funded Western Balkans Youth Lab project launched the Second Regional Thematic Youth Lab with a kick-off event in Tirana on 9 and 10 December. This Youth Lab is focused on mental health and its main goal is to stimulate dialogue among policy-makers and youth. Participants will be given key background information on youth mental health, as well as discussing the main issues in regard to mental health and agreeing on key regional recommendations to be implemented later on in the process.

Based on this dialogue, the main result of the Western Balkans Youth Policy Lab  kick-off event will be a set of recommendations, jointly developed by policymakers and youth participants from the six Western Balkans countries.

The event was also attended by Kosovo’s Young European Ambassador (YEA), Egzona Bexheti, who contributed to the closing session of the two-day event.

The three-year Western Balkans Youth Lab project began in January 2020 with €1.5 million of EU funding. Implemented by the Regional Cooperation Council, it aims to provide opportunities for youth to participate in decision-making. The project covers the Western Balkans economies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, in which youth constitutes 21% of the overall population.