When it’s time to get down to business in the AER’s Youth Regional Network (YRN) it’s up to the Youth Committees to establish goals and bring ideas to life. In Croatia, a fresh new crop of young people from more than 40 European regions joined forces to work on specific subjects. In the overall plan of a better future, Orange listened to some of their plans on how to get it done. One step at a time.

Domagoj Gregov, Croatia (Zagreb)
Head of the Youth Committee on Sustainable Development 

People aren’t well informed about sustainable development so it would be important to start by giving them more information on the subject. They need solid basic knowledge to think it through and take effective action. In order to do that, we want to organize some guidelines so that whoever wants to act doesn’t start from scratch. Simple examples that citizens can learn from and apply where needed, like a steel plant that’s polluting the river in their town. One obstacle that we’re going to have to find a way to tackle is financing because we’ll need expert help and people usually don’t offer that type of help for free.

Jelena Orlić, Croatia (Primorje-Gorski kotar)
Head of the Youth Committee on Professional Life and Youth Entrepreneurship

We decided to pursue the four bullet points that the previous committee was working on. Our first main project is to get eight regions together so they can discuss and exchange ideas on getting young people employed or starting their own business. The second is a mentorship project so that young people who are looking for a job can learn from the experience of someone from other countries who can give them precious advice. Finally, we would like to organize a fair day where youth organizations would have a stand and could attract new people to their cause.

Jonathan Guillaume, France (Limousin)
Head of the Committee on Education and Culture

We have our hands full with matters concerning communication. First, we want to establish good communication between each committee and its members, namely trough the Internet. If we want to work together, we have to get to know one another and grasp the problems of each region in order to strive for common solutions. The objective of the website we’re going to launch is to create this flow of communication that presently doesn’t exist. It will be used by each member and by the committee and through this platform we can set up an agenda, have a discussion forum or simply send each other messages.

By: Ana Brasil