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Young people in the Western Balkans are still impacted by the negative legacies of the past, especially those living in segregated ethnic areas and attending segregated schools. Many lack direct memory of peaceful coexistence between cultures and have limited travel opportunities, with some never having visited major cities in their own countries.

The online spread of fake news, disinformation and hate speech perpetuates stereotypes and deepens distrust. Social media bullying is common, particularly affecting women and girls. However, an increasing number of young people are using media and information as a force for good, responding to hate speech with positive stories, building relationships across ethnic lines both in person and virtually. Most young people believe that youth exchanges could positively impact regional relations.

Youth in the Western Balkans is crucial for strengthening democracy and promoting positive social change, yet decision-makers often fail to take their needs and concerns into account. Therefore, we must promote the engagement of young people in decision-making.

The project is a regional, joint UN initiative empowering youth to engage in constructive and fact-based narratives, strengthen trust, intercultural dialogue, diversity, gender equality and mutual understanding in the Western Balkans. The project, financially supported by the UN Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund, is implemented by UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO and UN Women. 

As a result of project activities, the young people are more capable of distinguishing between reliable and false information, thereby countering the spread of toxic narratives and strengthening community cohesion. By sharing trusted information, they contribute to fostering a culture of critical thinking and combating the influence of misinformation and disinformation. Surveys of participating youth revealed that most encounter false information online every day or almost every day.

For Phase 1:

• Outcome 1: Collaborative youth platforms advance dialogue, mutual understanding and gender equality across the region.
• Outcome 2: Youth journalists and activists across the region create and promote constructive and gender sensitive narratives in the media and through education, culture and sport.

The project directly involves young people from all over the region, in cities and rural areas in different project activities to bring them closer to each other and increase mutual trust.

The first phase managed to:

• Bring together young people from the region;
• Organise trainings and discussions to enable young people to find solutions for shared concerns - such as gender inequality, hate speech, fake news, mistrust, with their peers from other territories in the region;
• Enhance media and information literacy, and critical thinking of youth and working with youth and young journalists across the region to create and promote constructive and gender-sensitive narratives;
• Enable more young women and men from the region to interact through culture, media, civic education and community initiatives, climate and environmental actions, and virtual/in person discussions;
• Working together with decision-makers in the region to help them address the needs of young people in their communities and engage them in building social cohesion, dialogue, trust and mutual understanding in the Western Balkans.           

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Sinisa Sesum, Head of UNESCO Antenna in Sarajevo: s.sesum@unesco.org 

Lejla Hrelja, Project Coordinator: l.hrelja@unesco.org