The Youth Leadership Program (YLP) continues to deliver a series of critical trainings aimed at strengthening the political leadership of the Kosovo Serb community in northern Kosovo.  During July and August 2017, 19 participants from the YLP’s fourth cohort – from political parties and civil society in northern Kosovo – attended training session on election campaigning.  Participants learned about the stages of an election campaign; how to organize a campaign; how to create and convey messages; and the importance of media and social media among other topics.  The training aimed to increase the number of experienced young people who are capable of leading community and political initiatives.

The Youth Leadership Program has been implemented since 2013 through NDI.  Program participants include Kosovo Serb political party and civil society activists, as well as unaffiliated youth. To date, 82 young people have gone through YLP trainings.

Youth is an important cross-cutting issue of the Mission, especially since Kosovo’s counts as the country with the youngest population in the old continent. It is estimated that over 60 percent of Kosovo’s population is under 30 years old, thus becoming a target audience for most of the missions outreach efforts. In the last months, Kosovo DOCs have highlighted the successes of the youth through monthly themes on social media such as Hero of the Month, Meet Successful Entrepreneurs, Transformational Leaders alumni, etc. In addition to highlighting successful individuals the aim of these themes was to emphasize new, innovative and inspiring ideas coming from youth.