2019 saw the launch of a new partnership with a multilateral actor, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) with the objective of mainstreaming youth perspectives and enabling greater youth participation in its programmes and operations. As a first step, PeaceNexus is supporting one of the OSCE’s field operations, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, in its pioneering efforts to develop tools that enable youth mainstreaming in the organization.
The partner
The OSCE brings together 57 participating States to collaborate on a wide-range of security-related matters, as part of a comprehensive approach to security. The OSCE’s Mission to Serbia’s mandate is to assist Serbia build strong, independent, accountable and effective democratic institutions, with the goal of Serbia attaining full domestic ownership of reforms in the key areas of: rule of law and human rights; security co-operation; democratization; and media development, in partnership with the country’s institutions and civil society.
Many of its programmes have a strong focus on youth and the Mission supports inclusive youth policies and their implementation throughout Serbia.
Our Support
The OSCE Mission to Serbia approached PeaceNexus in the Fall of 2018, and after consulting with the OSCE Secretary General, it was agreed that the Mission would pilot a comprehensive approach to youth mainstreaming, paving the way for replicability by other OSCE structures. This initiative was strongly supported by the then Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Andrea Orizio. As a result of a participatory workshop and building on the lessons learned from gender-mainstreaming, a comprehensive roadmap was developed including:
- Setting up the infrastructure: The establishment of the cross-departmental Youth Contact Points Group (YCPG) at the Mission that can support colleagues in ensuring authentic youth participation in the design, implementation and monitoring of programmes, led by the Mission’s Youth Focal Point.
- Systemic capacity building and programming: The development of the Guidelines for youth mainstreaming, a toolbox for performing youth mainstreaming in everyday work and a training curriculum adapted to different OSCE staff.
- The showcasing of the Mission’s already impressive youth work across multiple themes: the Mission produced compendium of inclusive practices from the field “Youth mainstreaming in action” and presented various elements of its work within the OSCE structures and international fora.
External experts in youth policy and youth work, as well as civil society leaders of youth-led organisations were consulted in the process. Extensive research and consultation with other field operations were also conducted to capture lessons learned beyond a single mission.
The results
Remarkable progress has been made to date. The Youth Contact Points Group is now established with clear Terms of Reference, making youth-mainstreaming a Mission-wide effort rather than the responsibility of only one individual. The existing youth-related work of the Mission has been presented in an attractive diary format and showcased at the 26th OSCE Ministerial Council in Bratislava. The Guidelines are in place, used across the Mission and consulted by other OSCE executive structures for their similar internal processes. The accompanying training course was tested, and work continues so that one day it can be made available to all OSCE staff. Following an interest expressed by other OSCE field operations, the Mission has delivered the youth mainstreaming course to their staff and hosted twice the regional training for interested colleagues. In parallel with internal progress, the Mission supported the Serbian Government’s efforts to embed a youth perspective in national and local policies and established strategic partnerships with national institutions that are essential partners when scaling up good approaches. Together with the OSCE Office of Secretary General, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and with PeaceNexus’ support, the Mission has also initiated the building of a community of practice beyond OSCE. To this end, a Praxis Paper was developed, to be launched in early 2023, highlighting existing international good practices related to working with and for youth, to inspire decision-makers and practitioners to further promote youth participation in the economic, social and political life, as well as in the work of their respective organization.
PeaceNexus looks forward to continuing this collaboration, expanding it to other parts of the OSCE and adapting it to the specific needs of the various entities that make it up. Extensive consultation has revealed leadership on this issue across the Organization, and there is a strong foundation for further efforts to make young people central to the work of the OSCE.