Bora Muzhaqi: We tripled the budget for youth

2024-11-05 17:03:00, Politikë CNA

The Minister of State for Youth and Children, Bora Muzhaqi, discussed today the next year's budget for youth. Minister Muzhaqi emphasized that this year's budget has increased by 54% compared to last year, while since 2021 the budget for youth has tripled. Today, Minister Muzhaqi participated in two parliamentary commissions to report on the 2025 overbudget. During the report to the Commission for Media and Public Information, Minister Muzhaqi focused on the priorities of the department she leads and emphasized that 333 million are planned in the 2025 draft budget lek, which will go to direct support for young people, in addition to other indirect investments for young people.

Meanwhile, the most essential part of these expenses goes to the financing of youth organizations and for young people through the annual call for support with grant funds for civil society, with the aim of empowering, training and preparing young people for the labor market. Other programs implemented through this budget include the implementation of the national youth strategy through the new work internship program, the talented youth program, and the youth-led community initiatives program, as well as activities aimed at education informal such as summer school for young people of local youth councils and national youth council, winter school for youth workers.

Bora Muzhaqi: We tripled the budget for youth

Minister Muzhaqi announced that another important element in next year's budget for youth is the foreign funding that comes as part of the EU for Youth program, part of the IPA 3 programming, within the support of young people. The total value of this program is 5 million euros, of which 2 million euros are part of the program for supporting young people through programs implemented by civil society that will be followed by the National Youth Agency in order to provide more opportunities for young people throughout the territory.

For Minister Muzhaqi, this increased support for the youth budget also shows an increased attention to youth policies, and the opportunity to support young people in Albania.

The increase in budget support for youth for 2025 comes within the framework of the considerable work developed during these years with the aim of strengthening youth policies, starting with the drafting and implementation of the National Youth Strategy, but also the restructuring of the National Youth Agency with aimed at strengthening the role of the latter within the framework of supporting young people throughout Albania.

Some of the most important priorities and programs in which the Minister of State for Youth and Children is engaged focus on supporting young people through youth organizations and for young people in accordance with the National Youth Strategy 2022-2029, AKR's calls for youth infrastructure carried out with the support of municipalities, activities in the framework of informal education, youth empowerment, national work practices program, school sports team program, after-school program, coding and financial education programs.