The Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS) announces that on 25 March 2015, the Evaluation Committee of the GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives Awards decided on the five best initiatives for inclusion of women and youth in local government affairs in South East Europe. In accordance with the process and evaluation criteria^[1] described in the GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives Awards Open Call (launched on 3 November 2014), the Evaluation Committee comprised of renewed regional experts in gender and youth gave the highest scores to the following initiatives:

• “Gender Responsive Budgeting and Participatory Budgeting”, implemented by the Municipality of Elbasan, Albania;
• “Youth Bank”, implemented by the Municipality of Petrovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• “Co-creation of social spaces - for youth with youth”, implemented by the Municipality of Maribor, Slovenia;
• “Gender Equality at Local Level in Serbia” implemented by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities – National Association of Local Authorities in Serbia; and
• “Local Youth Strategy of the Municipality of Ajdovščina”, implemented by the Municipality of Ajdovščina, Slovenia.

As recommended by the Evaluation Committee, NALAS awards Marmara Municipalities Union with a special recognition for achieving widest outreach for the GeniYouth municipal awards open call, also recognizing the Municipality of Zeytinburnu as the most successful applicant from Marmara Municipalities Union, according to the results of the evaluation process.

The awards will be handed at a ceremony during the NALAS Annual Forum of Local Authorities in South East Europe, to be held from 16-19 May 2015 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

NALAS acknowledges all 56 applicants from 10 countries of South East Europe for the expressed interest and active participation in the GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives Awards - Inclusion of Women and Youth in Local Government Affairs in South East Europe, and salutes their efforts to advance women and youth participation in local government affairs. A collection of initiatives will be published in the book “GENiYOUTH Municipal Initiatives - Menu of Good Practices”.

This initiative is supported within the framework of the Project Institutional Strengthening of NALAS, implemented by GIZ on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

[1] Effectiveness and significance, Efficiency and cost-effectiveness, Sustainability, Innovation/creativity/originality, Lessons learned, Potential for replication and/or scaling up, Participation and partnership orientation.