The Kick-off event, organized by Forum MNE, was held on October 14 at the Regional Business Center in Berane, marking the launch of the project Regional Academy for Increasing Employability of NEET Youth.

The event gathered around 40 participants, including representatives of the Employment Agency, civil society organizations, former participants of the one-stop-shop training program, and interested young people. It marked the beginning of the Academy’s activities and included the announcement of the upcoming one-stop-shop training program, the presentation of the research “Youth Employability Study / NEET Youth in the Cross-Border Sandžak Region”, and the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation — a document formalizing further collaboration in the field of youth employability in the cross-border region of Montenegro and Serbia.

The event was opened by Elvira Hadžibegović, President of the Assembly of Forum MNE, who emphasized that Forum MNE piloted this model four years ago, and after achieving excellent results, continued to improve it with the goal of providing services to as many young people as possible.

Participants were also welcomed by Mr. Emil Kočan, representative of the Joint Technical Secretariat, who took the opportunity to remind attendees that cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro has been ongoing since 2008. Since then, through six calls for project proposals, a total of 65 projects have been contracted, with a combined value of over €15.9 million.

Following the opening remarks, Anja Redžić, Project Coordinator at Forum MNE, announced the call for the 4th generation of participants in the one-stop-shop training model, which will take place in three municipalities in northern Montenegro (Berane, Bijelo Polje, and Rožaje). She also presented the findings of the research “Youth Employability Study / NEET Youth in the Cross-Border Region of Sandžak.”

A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed, formalizing continued collaboration in the field of youth employability in the cross-border region of Montenegro and Serbia.
The signatories of the Memorandum are: Forum MNE, Center for Youth Work, Civic Youth Initiative Rožaje, Youth Office Novi Pazar, Berane Vocational High School, and the Regional Business Center Berane.

At the conclusion of the event, Forum MNE donated equipment to improve the learning conditions at the vocational high school in Berane. The donation included a laser printer and a 65-inch interactive display, with a total value of €2,000.

The project Regional Academy for Increasing Employability of NEET Youth is implemented by Forum for Youth and Non-Formal Education (Forum MNE), in partnership with the Center for Youth Work, the Civic Youth Initiative Rožaje, and the Youth Office Novi Pazar.

The project is supported by the European Union through the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Serbia – Montenegro 2014–2020, under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) allocations for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020.