The Association of Slovenians »Triglav« Banja Luka, in cooperation with the Association for Voluntary Work Novo mesto and Institute for Slovenian Emigrants and Migrations ZRC SAZU, organised a conference for youth. The topic of the conference held on 19 November 2016 was »Youth in Transnational Network: Example of Slovenian Emigrants to BiH«.
This conference, in fact, was the continuation of the conference organised in June 2016 in Novo mesto.
In the first part of the programme facilitated by Suzana Krvavica from Grammar School Novo mesto, the attendees were addressed by Aljaž Zupan, deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in BiH, Branka Bukovec from the Association for the Development of Voluntary Work Novo mesto, Marina Lukšič-Hacin from the Institute for Slovenian Emigration ZRC SAZU, Marjan Cukrov from the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad and Andrej Šter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. All the guests underlined the importance of including the youth in associations, preservation of the links with Slovenia and taking into account new types of communication, interests and activities of the youth. Mr. Cukrov particularly emphasised Slovenian lessons, where one may find out more about scholarships, education in Slovenia and also preserve the links with Slovenia and improve knowledge of Slovenian through different activities.
In the second part of the conference, our guests were young members of the Association »Triglav« (Maja Tomašević, Nikolina Čenić and Jovana Dimitrijević) who are currently getting their education in Slovenia. A member of the Association Triglav Nikola Kunjadić and guest from Montenegro Čedo Velašević spoke about their experience regarding European Voluntary Service and the possibilities for mobility of youth. Three young members shared their perspectives of the importance of learning Slovenian in home association, serving as a good basis for understanding during different occasions for exchange of students organised by the Association as well as more advanced courses and education in Slovenia.
Excellent discussion was held during conference in which there participated representatives of other Slovenian associations in BiH. They exchanged ideas regarding more active engagement of youth, ways of networking with primary and secondary schools in Slovenia in order to exchange pupils and students and establish cooperation among Slovenian associations in BiH.
