The regional rural camp for young people, called "Become a rural animator", which is held in the Sports and Tourist Center (STC) Vučje, about twenty kilometers from Nikšić, gathered 30 participants from Montenegro and the region.
The camp, which lasts from August 27 to 31, is organized for the sixth time by Networks for Rural Development, and the choice of this year's theme was influenced by the fact that in their daily interaction with the rural population, they noticed a lack of trained young individuals ready to bring energy, knowledge and skills to their community and encourage them to take proactive actions.
"Our goal at the camp is to transfer experience and knowledge to young people so that they can be good animators in their local communities, recognize the needs of the community and in the best possible way delegate where necessary and help to best manage resources and everything that local communities have. We want let's transfer knowledge from animation, to introduce young people to that story so that in the future they will do it better than us", said Ratko Bataković, president of the Network for Rural Development of Montenegro, at the opening of the camp.
The lecturers who will impart knowledge to the participants, as well as rich experience, are from Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia - Ivana Žanko, head of the local action group (LAG) "Cetinska krajina", from Sinj, Darko Saveljić, owner of a donkey farm in Martinići, Milan Sekulović from the NGO "Let's save Sinjajevina" and Bojan Kovač, manager of LAG "Srce Bačka" from Kula.
Žanko pointed out that she hopes to fulfill the trust of the camp organizers and presented LAG "Cetinska krajina".
"LAG is conceived as an organization that listens to the needs of the field and through the opportunities provided through the funds of the European Union, they try to meet those needs. Aware of the fact that everything depends on young people, we try to involve them as much as possible so that they can help us detect the needs of the field and then let's meet their needs in order to stay in rural areas for the long term", said Žanko.
Bojan Kovač, who is also the president of the Network of Local Action Groups of Serbia, which includes 13 LAGs, said that they are trying to slow down the departure of young people from rural areas through development and support for small producers.
According to Darko Saveljić, there are many good examples of rural tourism in Montenegro in recent years. He reminded that when, 25 years ago, as an ornithologist, he claimed that he should turn to tourists who would come to Montenegro to observe birds, that his ideas were not approved, and that today we are witnessing that thousands of tourists are coming to Montenegro to watch the birds. He pointed out that a similar situation existed when he decided to open a donkey farm.
Milan Sekulović emphasized that young people are increasingly involved in solving problems and that it is good that this is so, that their voice is heard more and more and that young people should be listened to. And Slaviša Jovanović, a consultant in the German organization GIZ, is of the opinion that it is young people who should initiate actions in local communities. According to him, young people have always been important in rural areas and have always been recognized as a target group that should be worked with especially, but in the last ten years, the relationship of positions in rural areas has changed a lot.
"The generation in which I worked in the rural environment was that we young people were always there somewhere, but we didn't ask ourselves much, while now the young people ask themselves far more. In the past, the young learned from the old, and today they are the ones who can to learn many things. The way of life has changed, and young people are more inclined to master and adopt it, and they are the ones who should pass it on to the elders. Such trainings will give young people the skills in which way they can achieve this and start their community," he believes Joanović.
He praised the work of the Network for Rural Development of Montenegro, but also expressed satisfaction with the organization of the camp where young people will learn what it means to be an animator in a rural environment.
"The leader component is very important. With this camp, the Montenegrin Network for Rural Development is taking a step forward compared to other networks, focusing on one very important target group in rural areas, namely the youth," said Jovanović.
Anđa Vukčević Zorić, from the Permanent Working Group for Regional Development (SWG) in Southeast Europe, said that their strategic goal is to promote sustainable innovative rural development through regional cooperation in order to improve life in rural areas in the Western Balkans.
"Through our work, we recognized that young people are very important participants in rural areas. By the end of the year, a study will be published that relates to young people in rural areas and that covers the entire Western Balkans", said Vukčević Zorić and added that she hoped that the camp on They are just one in a series of similar events.
According to Mitra Barać, director of the Tourist Organization (TO) Nikšić, the camp is a good example of how to work, how to stimulate and direct young people to turn to the countryside, and the Rural Development Network is making maximum efforts to revitalize rural areas.
"I often like to say that the countryside is our greatest chance and that the revitalization of rural areas is extremely important to us, above all to the municipality of Nikšić, which is the largest in the territory of Montenegro and which is a dominantly rural municipality. We have witnessed that in the last decade and a half we have a merger tourism and agriculture, and we are trying to promote rural tourism and it is strategically one of the most important forms for our municipality", said Barać and added that the local administration and TO continuously support events such as the Regional Rural Youth Camp.
In addition to knowledge, the camp will provide participants with the opportunity to connect with like-minded people from the region, to exchange ideas and contacts that will be useful in working with local rural communities.
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