Advancing youth work in Serbia
An EU-funded project supports a youth organisation to increase the quality of youth-related programmes in Serbia.
16/09/2022
N.A.P.O.R. – the National Association of Youth Workers – is a non-governmental organisation from Serbia that was founded in 2009 by civil society organisations who do youth work in Serbia. They were prompted to initiate the Association from a need to increase the quality of youth-related programmes. Specifically, there was a need to set standards for non-formal youth education, supporting those who train young people, and also working with public institutions who contribute in the field. More than ten years later, NAPOR has grown to be one of the most important players in the field of youth programmes in Serbia, and currently counts 48 organisations under its umbrella.
NAPOR contributes to youth empowerment in a number of ways. These include ensuring quality standards among their members through regular monitoring and accreditation processes of basic performance standards; education programmes for youth workers and leaders, including a range of training modules, as well as through promoting ethics in youth work. The latter is a particularly important component given the issues in communicating in the digital space. In addition, the organisation is deeply involved in advocating for the recognition of youth work in general, in particular among public institutions such as ministries, municipalities and other actors who are involved in supporting youth work.
“We are very professional in our field, specifically in relation to youth work. But we came to realise that we had serious problems in areas such as fundraising, generating systems which ensure sustainability for our programmes, as well as office management and professionally communicating our impact to wider audience and stakeholders.”
Nedeljka Ivošević, communication manager, NAPORNedeljka Ivošević is a communication manager at NAPOR. She explains that with the natural growth of the organisation, serious challenges and shortcomings started to surface, in particular relating to long-term sustainability and corporate communication skills.“We are very professional in our field, specifically in relation to youth work. But we came to realise that we had serious problems in areas such as fundraising, generating systems which ensure sustainability for our programmes, as well as office management and professionally communicating our impact to wider audience and stakeholders,”says Nedeljka.
Looking for support, NAPOR got in touch with EU TACSO 3, an EU-funded project that contributes to improving capacities and strengthening the role of civil society organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey. The EU TACSO 3 project supported NAPOR with training and mentoring which had an effect on improving their fundraising and overall financing strategy. They have improved considerably since the cooperation with EU TACSO. The organisation says that they also improved their communication with mass audiences, public institutions and donors.
“The main issue we had was how to translate specific topics and the professional terminology of youth work to audiences who don’t have background knowledge on the topic. Before EU TACSO we used technical and bureaucratic project language, but thanks to the tailor-made mentorship of our association via the EU TACSO 3 project, we received help in translating this communication into plain, straightforward and common language that is understandable by everyone, including our members and the wider community of young people. Based on the overall feedback, I can say that the EU TACSO 3 support to us is a success story,” says Nedeljka.
“Without the support from the EU TACSO 3 project we would not have been able to reach specific audiences and have a clear vision about the future of our association.”
Nedeljka Ivošević, communication manager, NAPORBiljana Severinova, the Communication Expert from the EU TACSO 3 project, says that they decided to support NAPOR for a number of reasons. One is because NAPOR is an organisation working closely with youth; the association works on a national concept of motivating youth to take initiative, by providing them with skills and tools which empower them. Youth support is currently at the focus of the EU and will continue to be for years to come. “The other reason is that NAPOR is not simply an organisation, but also an association which gives input and assistance to many other organisations. It was a good learning model for us on further developing our assistance methodology for the future,” says Biljana.
Nedeljka explains that the EU TACSO 3 support was instrumental in improving the overall performance of their organisation. Now they can plan ahead better and also have a better development perspective. “Without the support from the EU TACSO 3 project we would not have been able to reach specific audiences and have a clear vision about the future of our association,” says Nedeljka.
NAPOR plans to further increase their operations and support for youth work in Serbia. The organisation is currently only an association of youth organisations, but they aim to expand and turn it further into an association of youth professionals, aimed at individuals who have impact and knowledge in the field of youth work.
About the project
EU Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey (EU TACSO) is a regional project, funded by the European Union that improves the capacity and role of civil society organisations (CSOs). The project assists CSOs to take an active part in democratic processes in the region, and stimulates an enabling environment for civil society and pluralistic media development.
The project works in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. The EU TACSO project is a part of the Civil Society Facility EU mechanism that provides support to CSOs in those countries that are not yet part of the EU. CSOs play an important role for the EU as key actors in supporting their countries’ accession process.
Photo credits: NAPOR