YOUTH ACT CENTER

Youth Act Center is a non-profit organization based in Tirana - Albania, which aims to empower youth from the age of 14 to 30 to take an active role in their lives, family and society. The Center’s vision is empowering the youth as the “engine” of the country development and the mission is to support the five I’s: Youth Initiative, Youth Integration, Youth Involvement, Youth Inspiration and Youth Interconnection. Youth Act is a member of European Youth Card Organization (EYCA) based in Brussels, a non-profit organization that offers about 60.000 discounts and has 5 million cardholders in 36 countries across Europe. Youth Act is committed to promote youth mobility and active citizenship through the youth card in Albania by offering discounts and benefits in the fields of mobility, accommodation, culture, sport, entertainment, health, etc. Youth Act Center is focused in involving young people between 14-29 years old, but not only. All the activities involve different stakeholders and institutions to build strong partnerships and collaboration in fostering social cohesion and raised awareness for community services. The Center operates mainly in these fields: Culture, Art and Sport; Citizen and Democracy; Education and Training; Career and Employment; Globalization; Innovation and Environment, and Multimedia. Each above category covers a set of activities, such as: - Youth Clubs (Sport Club, Volunteers Club, Entrepreneurs Club, Debate and Democracy Club, Law Club, YouthBank Club, Culture Club, etc.) - Advocacy for Gender Equality, stop discrimination, corruption, Voluntarism; - Inclusiveness Activities (involve people with fewer opportunities, participation and information by Youth Radio, Youth magazine, Youth TV); - Student Services (Discounts prices for medical services, education, entertainment, culture, cinema, sport, etc); - Training for job seekers, career, vocational & professional training, leadership, business plan, marketing, legal and tax issues, financing your business, human resource management, etc. - Provide up-to-date career counseling services to youth, such as how to write a curriculum vitae, how to success in a job interview, etc. - Interconnect students to alumni to share experiences and become indirect mentors. - Promote mutual understanding among Albanian youth and young people around the world through dialogue and support for culture exchange. - Community Activities (To encourage a lifetime commitment to community involvement as an integral part of a satisfying life and to nurture a sense of social responsibility to the young generation). Youth Act Center has an extended experience in implementing various projects where youth from different cities in Albania are involved and has gained useful experience. These projects aim to involve youth in community services such as protecting the environment, helping elders, creating youth councils in different cities as an integrated part of municipalities and youth participation, organizing youth sport activities as a way to fight bullying and increase participation of youth with fewer opportunities etc. These projects aim to promote solidarity as a value, mainly through volunteering, to enhance the engagement of young people in solidarity activities as a means to contribute to strengthening cohesion, solidarity, democracy and citizenship in Albania and in Europe, while also responding to societal challenges and strengthening communities, with particular effort to promote social inclusion. As well, these projects aim to promote social inclusion by facilitating access to all opportunities to young people with fewer opportunities who need additional support due to the fact that they are at a disadvantage compared to their peers because of various obstacles, such as disabilities, health problems, educational difficulties, cultural differences or economic, social or geographical obstacles, including young people from a marginalized community or at risk of facing discrimin