Skopje, 16 August 2023 (MIA) – More than three years since the adoption of the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies, a large part of it has not yet been implemented, especially at the municipal level, according to the newly released monitoring report by the National Youth Council of Macedonia.

The monitoring report was done by NYCM for the second year to assess the extent to which the opportunities and mechanisms for young people to influence policy making and decision making, foreseen by the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies, have been carried out.

"In terms of implementation, the National Youth Assembly and National Advisory Body for Youth Policies have not yet been established, and there are Local Youth Council in only 21 municipalities, or 26 percent of the total number of municipalities," NYCM found.

According to the report, municipalities continue to show little interest in implementing their legal obligations to establish a local youth council, youth office or a youth center.

"Only one municipality has established a youth office for as a place where young people from the municipality can turn to and get information regarding issues related to youth, which are under the jurisdiction of municipalities," the report adds.

"So far there are youth centers in seven municipalities, or nine percent of all municipalities. Fifty-seven youth officers have been appointed so far in state institutions, and 64 in municipalities. Percentage-wise, 79 percent of the municipalities have fulfilled the same obligation," NYCM reports.

Based on municipal budget planning, in 2022 only seven municipalities allocated specific funds for the implementation of the law on youth participation and youth policies, and in 2023 there were only 13 municipalities.

Data for the report at a local level was gathered by regional observers between September 2022 and February 2023 by actively following the implementation of the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies in their planning regions and were compared with the findings from the previous monitoring report, in order to identify the segments with the greatest progress in terms of implementation.

The monitoring report was implemented by the NYCM, in partnership with the Local Community Development Foundation-Shtip, SFERA International Bitola and the Youth Empowerment Platform (YEP) Gostivar, as part of the 'Youth Inclusive Communities" project supported by the European Union. ssh/mr