Vega Youth Center is a non-governmental and non-profitable organization, based in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 2000, with the aim to help improve the cultural and social awareness of the youth in our community; Our main goal is to find creative ways to prevail the consequences of the recent political history of the region.
Our organisation was founded to offer new perspectives and possibilities to the young people of Belgrade. Most of them grew up in the war surroundings when most of the intercultural communication was blocked, and the prevailing European media discourse on Serbia was negative. Hence, they developed the cultural identity of stigma, which in return gave rise to the construction of a set of prejudices and ignorance towards other europian cultures, colored by feelings of rejectedness, miscomprehention and in the same time desire to communicate and represent themselves in a different, more positive manner. The other consequences of the political crisis, the collapse of the state's economic system, and resulting degradation of the ethical values, the educational system, and the scarce cultural production made young people stopped believing in a better life and a lot of them were pushed into juvenile delinquency, drug problems and alcoholism.
In the postwar period, this situation has changed for the better, and there are more possibilities to get informed about european cultures. Still the large unemployment rate and poverty strike the young population the most. There is a great desire for intercultural exchange amongst them, and for new perspectives and knowledge of other cultures but still the feeling that realising their own dreams is not possible in the current situation is prevailant. The educational system is outdated, and the teachers and professors are not motivated enough to work with their students. Besides, the knowledge in our society is not valued as it should be.There is a need for informal education, especially in the field of art and culture.
The people of the Vega Youth Center are trying to provide projects which will enable creative socialization of the young, wheather they engage in them, discuss them, or they are motivated to develop their own ideas. Our Vision is to help them create better, freer and safer future for themselves. In that respect we strive to improve the cultural and social awareness of youth and help expand their talents through various programs.
By giving them the
opportunity to communicate and meet with young people from all over the world
through volunteer and exchange programs, we are trying to help their integration into
the international community.