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16-08-2011.
MLADGRAD 2011 Award Ceremony

Today, on August 15th 2011, MLADGRAD award was awarded for the second time in the lobby of National Bank of Serbia.  This award is given to local self-governments, formal and informal organizations and individuals who contribute to the improvement of the position of young people in the local community.

In partnership with Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Civic Initiatives are awarding MLADGRAD 2011 within the celebration of International Youth Day and official ending of Year of Youth according to the UN calendar.

Minister of Youth and Sports Snežana Sarmardžić-Marković pointed out that Ministry of Youth and Sports is of opinion that the youth should sense that their local self-governments care for them.  “The young people are leaving Serbia, we all know that, and we need to change that.  This is a way for the young in the local community to feel that they have their space and importance, and to stay in places where they were born.  The young people should not only go out and spend their time in coffee shops, they should make use of public spaces for their activism, their needs and ideas”, Minister said by looking back on Civic Initiatives’ Openly about Public Spaces Youth program.  She moreover pointed out the fact that MLADGRAD award is a stimulus for those who work well to work even better in the future, and to serve as an example for the rest.

„This elite award is being awarded for the second year in a row, and it is slowly becoming a tradition of its own”, said Duško Radaković,State Secretary at Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government.

Susan Fritz, Director of the USAID Mission to Serbia, made a speech in which she pointed out that this was a very important event where the work of local self-governments in Serbia could be recognized.  She specifically paid attention to Openly about Public Spaces campaign, and pointed out that it is a small, but very important step which enables the young to work on the development of their local community, and to be visible in it.  “Through our combined effort we will focus on finding a systematic solution for the young.  I hope that even more local communities will follow your example, and provide the young people with the space, and involve them in the work of local communities”, said Ms. Fritz.

The goal of MLADGRAD awards is to promote all successful stories and positive results, and to encourage all local self-governments to activate themselves in the questions concerned with the youth.  The awardees are sorted into the following three categories:

Local self-government which has contributed to the improvement of the position of young people in local community.  The awards in this category were awarded to Municipality of Ruma, Pirot and Kuršumlija, as well as Novi Pazar and Smederevo.  The main award went to Municipality of Obrenovac.

Local self-government that has granted a public space for a local youth initiative.  The main award went to Municipality of Bečej.

Local youth organization, informal group or initiative that has contributed to the improvement of cooperation between local self-government and young people.  The awards in this category were awarded to Independent Youth Organization of Ruma, Youth Center Surdulica and NGO Initiative of Zaječar, while the main award went to FORCA Society from Požega.

Apart from the main awards, special prizes were awarded within the categories.  For the improvement of the position of young people from marginalized groups the award was given to Municipality of Bački Petrovac, while for personal contribution to the improvement of youth position in local communities the award was given to Admir Veljović, Coordinator of Youth Office of the Municipality of Prijepolje.

MLADGRAD 2011 Award is granted by Civic Initiatives, in cooperation with Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government, and with support from the following partners: USAID, ISC, OSCE, UNICEF, UNDP, ILO, IOM, GIZ, NALED and Erste bank.Friends of MLADGRAD 2011 awards are Association of Independent Electronic Media, National Association of Youth Workers and National Youth Umbrella Organization.


The text was taken from www.gradjanske.org website.

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