RYCO Publication: A Better Region Starts with YOUth (2020)

By allowing young people to meet and to learn
with and about each other and by connecting
schools, NGOs and other structures RYCO is
giving young people a more active role in their
society and through this contributes to the fight
against the negative legacies of the past.
The fact that RYCO is politically important does not
mean that it can resolve all of the problems of the
Western Balkans and it would indeed be
dangerous to expect too much from this new
institution. RYCO can play a significant role in
improving relations in the region by bringing
young people together and by connecting
governments, civil society and other structures
and by formulating a vision for a better future and
encouraging everybody to become an active part
of this new vision. Yet the governments should not
assume that by creating RYCO they have done
enough regarding the question of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a long-term and complex
process that requires commitment in many ways
and at all levels. Neither young people nor RYCO
can achieve this task alone. This is why RYCO’s
slogan is not ‘Young people will make the region
better’ but that ‘A better region starts with YOUth’.
Yes, young people can and do play a role here.
Yet everybody needs to contribute, which
means you who are reading this text regardless
of whether you work for a government, an NGO,
an international organisation or in any other field.
Nicolas Moll
Crossborder Factory
Signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of RYCO
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