Just in time for the International Youth Day, on the 12th of August, the Youth Center Dubrovnik opened their new headquarters to everyone interested in their numerous programs and projects such as STEAM workshops, biological research, robot programming, film production, volunteering, career and psychological counseling, sustainable development, etc.
Youth Center Dubrovnik currently consists of several NGOs residing, working, and organizing activities there: Universal Research Institute UR, the City of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County Association of Technical Culture, Youth association Maro and Baro with their Youth Counseling Center, Association for civil society development Bonsai and their Volunteering center, Association for thepromotion of media culture Luža, Photo-club Marin Getaldić, Youth Career Center Dubrovnik, Association for creatively sustainable development and competitiveness KORAK, and NGO Radio-controlled models Dubrovnik.
The opening ceremony was led by Nikša Sentić from NGO Maro and Baro. Ivana Grkeš from Youth Career Center Dubrovnik gave a presentation which described the mission, vision, and goals of the Youth Center. She especially emphasized the importance of the public-civil partnerships in such projects which in the end, after a long search for adequate spaces and funding, through a cooperation with the City of Dubrovnik, resulted in the youth of Dubrovnik and NGOs working with them having a home consisted of 500 square meters and sufficient spaces for STEAM labs, activities, seminars, formal and informal education, counseling and leisure time. In defining the strategic frame and giving the Center its final organizational form, Ivana said, great help was received from the “Active NGOs” project, more specifically from the strategic planning workshop that was organized as a part of the local learning activities for the ULG members. In this regard, she thanked the URBACT program for making it possible.
The vice-mayor of the City of Dubrovnik, Jelka Tepšić, also gave a brief speech in which she emphasized the importance of the partnership between the City of Dubrovnik, youth and the NGOs saying that the youth are the ones who can give an additional push to the sustainable development of the city and the community itself. "Young people in this Center can express their creativity and acquire new knowledge and skills which will help them to become active citizens contributing to their local community”- said the vice-mayor and added that the diversity of the NGOs and their programs located in the Youth Center can be easily visible, especially through the organized workshops that were to follow after the opening ceremony.
From the very beginning, the Youth Center had great support from the Department for Education, Sports, Social Welfare, and Civil Society, and namely, the head of the Department Dživo Brčić, senior advisor Marko Grgurević, and the head deputy Miho Katičić. Katičić pointed out that around 200 000 euros (or 1.5 million kunas) had been invested in this new space and that the Youth Center Dubrovnik represents the foundations of the civil-public partnership, a pledge for the brighter future. After the speeches, thank-you cards were given out to the ones who helped the Youth Center acquire the spaces from the Port of Dubrovnik, design the coworking and working spaces, design the visual identity of the project, donated the needed funds or materials for the renovation and equipping the spaces, etc., as well to the aforementioned representatives of the City of Dubrovnik who helped in bringing the project alive by organizing and advocating.
After the opening ceremony, the NGOs of the Youth Center organized an “Open NGO day” during which numerous young people attending were able to get to know more about their work, projects, activities, volunteering opportunities as well as to participate in several workshops. Overall, the opening ceremony can be considered as a finale of the long hard-working months of organizing, planning, renovating, and establishing this much-needed space for the Youth of Dubrovnik as well as the organizational structure of the Youth Center itself based on the successful example of the public-civil partnership and especially, very Active NGOs!
Nikša Sentić and Mirna Jokić (NGO Maro and Baro – Youth Center Dubrovnik)
Petra Marčinko (ULG coordinator)
