Our Mission
STAYnet is an initiative to support young people from Southeast Europe in finding vocational perspectives in their home lands. STAYnet aims at assisting the youth in all stages of their transition from initial education to work. By nurturing an agile and strong youth, STAYnet contributes to solid, self-sustaining and progressive local communities.
We are an extensive network of stake holders in civil society, education, and economy committed to this major goal. Due to the collective effort of all parties involved, young people in Southeast Europe will be prepared better not only for the current needs of the local job markets but also for future challenges.
STAYnet's programs reflect the consequences of emigration and avoid possible disappointments that can arise from idealized images and unrealistic expectations of life in Western countries.The initiative provides assistance for all youth regardless of socially constructed categories such as ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion and sexual orientation.
Our Inspiration
Forecasts unanimously describe an imminent demographic change. Brain drain is another major challenge for most Southeast European countries. In addition, many young people in Southeast Europe face difficulties in the transition from education to work. Appropriate career guidance and vocational training programs could meet the rapidly changing demands of the labor markets and contribute to a decrease in youth unemployment in the region.
Our Values
Our values STAYnet employs future-oriented, inclusive, agile and iterative approaches to the current situation of the youth in Southeast Europe. The initiative provides a platform for networking among stake holders where good and best practices are shared and cross-sector collaboration is encouraged.
By creating awareness about push and pull factors of migration, STAYnet’s stakeholders are committed to offering neutral information on life in Western countries and Southeast Europe.
Within STAYnet the opportunities are embraced that result from circular migration and mobility. However, the major goal remains to encourage young people to find perspectives in their countries of origin. The initiative endorses the Learn, Earn, Return Principle.
In addition, the initiative fosters the transition from good practice to policy formation in the participating countries. STAYnet supports programs aiming at sustainable impacts and long-term effects. In this line, the initiative provides assistance in the adaptation of formal education programs and promotes approaches aiming at the development of 21st Century Skills.
In doing so, new opportunities will be created - not only for the local youth but for communities and economies in general. STAYnet empowers the young generation to STAY and become active, mobile, successful and respected members of societies in Southeast Europe.
STAYnet Manifesto
As a collective, we create impact.
We support the development of self-sustainable and progressive local communities in Southeast Europe by helping young people recognize and create job perspectives in their countries.
We create and maintain an effective network of individuals, organizations and institutions that share the values of agile, inclusive, open-minded and forward-thinking approaches. For this reason, we endorse the Learn Earn Return Principle:
Learn
to increase our collective influence through joint efforts, sharing of resources and good practices,
Earn
the means and the know-how to improve our personal skills, explore our opportunities at home, make well-informed decisions and convey realistic images of life abroad, and
Return
to share knowledge and embrace coordinated and inclusive efforts . This way, we spur brain circulation instead of brain drain and contribute to the growth of societies in Southeast Europe.
