The 3rd edition of #hanacentre’s youth political education program made the first stop of the series of study visits to the Municipality of Lezha, the Directorate of Strategic Projects, Europe, Migration, Diaspora, Communication and Transparency.
We chose this directorate as it is the structure responsible for breaking down at the local level the country’s progress chapters for EU accession negotiations. Elson Frroku, head of the visited structure, discussed with the young people, answering their curiosities and questions.
Among the interactions of the municipality with the EU countries, it was mentioned that there are recommendations for student scholarships given within the framework of ERASMUS, the contracting of companies from EU countries to carry out work in infrastructure and services in Lezha, mobility projects to build capacities of the municipality’s personnel, special funds for the local units of the countries of the Western Balkans, etc. In the last 20 months, Mr. Frroku shared with the youth that the municipality has received 11 projects worth 1.1 million Euros from these funds, mainly in the form of infrastructure.
Lueda, one of the most active participants of our program, asked in particular about local policies for managing and curbing the phenomenon of the immigration of young people from our country to developed countries, and they learned that the unsolved challenge in this regard remains first the construction of a database with statistics for immigrants and diaspora. While efforts have been made to re-integrate the returnees through the provision of services for them in the multifunctional center of the municipality managed by the organization Terre des Hommes.
While it was clarified for the youth that the EU Corner near the Lezhë City Hall is a concept rather than a physical space, Mr. Frroku led them on a tour of the premises dedicated to this department in the municipality. Mr. Frroku mentioned that a special section was dedicated to the EU Corner on the official website of the municipality as a cascade column with 3 sub-topics (Projects; Strategic Documents; Ideas and Projects).
Mr. Frroku made a direct request to the youngsters to address their needs and ideas for youth projects to the municipality so that the latter can assist in implementation, also as a form of the municipality’s commitment to their needs.
