2. NATIONAL DEBATE STRUCTURED DIALOGUE AND THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF BULGARIA 04-08 June 2008 VARNA

3. WHY? BULGARIA DOESN’T HAVE A NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL – youth representation; LOW LEVEL OF COOPERATION BETWEEN YOUTH NGOs; LACK OF COOPERATION BETWEEN POLITICAL AND NON-POLITICAL YOUTH NGOs; LACK OF EFFICIENT TOOLS FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS AND NGOs; LACK OF YOUTH STRATEGY; LACK OF MOTIVATION AMONG THE YOUTH LEADERS TO TAKE PART IN THE YOUTH POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION;

4. QUESTIONS? Why the youth NGOs do not cooperate with each other; Why youth NGOs are not motivated to take active part in the process of youth policy development; Do the youth NGOs really need to be representative in order to be an active actor in youth policy development; What are the needs of young people in Bulgaria and how do youth NGOs stand for them; Where is our place at the EU policy development and why do we need to be part of it; What should be our role in the so called “structured dialogue”; Do we need cross-sectoral youth policy and why.

5. HOW? PARTNERS and SUPPORTERS: -DG EAC - European Commission; -European Youth Forum - YWDWG; -State Agency for Youth and Sports; -Varna Municipality; -Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation; -Young Europeans for Security (Bulgaria); *** The project is implemented under Action 5.1 of the YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME

6. PARTICIPANTS Representatives of: -Local youth NGOs and councils – 129 -National Youth NGOs – 25 -Political Youth NGOs (national and local branches) – 18 -Student councils – 13 -Youth centers – 30 -Municipalities – 28 -Media – 3 -Governmental institutions – 12 TOTAL 258 PARTICIPANTS

7. CHALLENGES Lack of unifying reliable partner on the side of the youth NGOs in the structured dialogue; Lack of existing tools for cooperation between NGOs and the institutions; YOUTH is not a priority in the Bulgarian political agenda; Young people are tired of empty political messages; Young people will act only when someone stays behind their ideas; Lack of local youth policy; Lack of legislative framework of the youth policy; Gap between generations;

8. YOUTH DECLARATION KEY MESSAGES -LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK; -LOCAL YOUTH POLICY DEVELOPMENT; -ADVISORY BODY/IES.

9. LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES Acceleration of the institutional actions and the legislative procedures regarding the adoption of the Law for Youth Development. Our objective is to create clear rules and mechanisms to pursue policies for young people and to determine the responsibilities and the role of the public institutions, public organisations, and youth structures.

10. ADVISORY BODY Creation of an advisory body that would work in partnership with the State Agency for Youth and Sports – the National institution coordinating the youth policy. The Advisory body will be structured as a voluntary mechanism to synchronize and flexibly identify the changing needs of youth. Representatives of the youth community from all the regions will take part in its structure. The Advisory body will play the role of a mediator between the young people and the institutions.

11. LOCAL YOUTH POLICY Participation of the State Agency for Youth and Sports as a mediator between the Municipalities and the Youth sector for an effective local policy for young people.

12. Follow-up Youth declaration was presented to: -President of Republic of Bulgaria; -Bulgarian prime-minister; -Chair of the National Assembly; -Chair of the State Agency for Youth and Sports; -The Chair of the National Association of the Bulgarian Municipalities; and other institutions and media.

13. RESULTS AND FUTURE ACTION Google Group established – discussions, news; The State Agency for youth and Sports agrees to start establishing informal consultative body/s; Open discussion for proposals for changes in the State Programme for Youth Activities; Intergovernmental twinning project for evaluation of the governmental administration; National Association of Municipalities invited YSPDB to present the debate results at its annual meeting; NGOs plan joint long term-projects;

14. THANK YOU! VESSELIN ILIEV YOUTH SOCIETY FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BALKANS