FES Youth Studies 2018: Validation & Policy Workshop

Based on its extensive experience in the field of youth studies including in this region, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) took the initiative to carry out a new region-wide empirical study on youth in Southeast Europe in 2017. The endeavor, taking place in ten countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria) simultaneously, will be the first of its kind in the region using a standardized questionnaire and methodology. Aiming to gain analytical insights into the young generation's perceptions, awareness, expectations and approaches towards changing realities, the end product will consist of national studies, as well as a regional comparative report.

Following a process of data collection in the beginning of 2018, the Zagreb conference served as a venue for researchers working on national and regional studies, to discuss key survey results at the country level and in a regional perspective, as well as methodological issues. Special attention was devoted to the identification of overarching messages and policy recommendations, including expectations from external stakeholders, who attended the conference as well.

The two-day workshop was divided in sessions on education and employment, socioeconomic status and mobility, sociopolitical attitudes and political engagement, family life and leisure time. Special sessions were organized on methodological issues and agreements and on the outlook of the final studies. The teams, together with FES staff and external youth policy experts, worked in groups on developing first messages to be derived from the findings.

This round of youth studies comes as a natural follow-up of the FES’ previous work in the field, with the aim to determine challenges both policy makers and youth themselves are facing within their societies. Being one of the flagship projects on the regional level, the FES Dialogue SOE will continue to inform on this important endeavor is committed to see the project through until publication, which is planned for the first quarter of 2019.