YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP ORGANIZATION“RAZLIVALIŠTE”

The “Razlivalište” organization was established in 2014 when three young friends decided to familiarize young people with social entrepreneurship and create an encouraging environment for the development of youth entrepreneurship.

The organization deals with youth education and, above all, with social entrepreneurship – the conducting of business operations with the aim of having a positive impact on nature and society.

“Everything we do is done for the following reasons: to raise young people's awareness of the power of the individual and the group in the field of social change, to make the knowledge and skills necessary for dealing with social entrepreneurship accessible to all, to create a community of people that makes all this possible in our midst and to have a good time along the way, "says Katarina Stevanovic, a member of the “Razlivalište” team.

The “Razlivalište“ organization  is an integral part of the network dealing with the field of social entrepreneurship and youth education in Serbia and in the world, and it does so through a series of programs.

The first steps involved organizing and implementing the largest social entrepreneurship competition – the SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD (SIA). The SIA is the "Razlivalište’s" baby.  That was the beginning of developing and raising awareness of social entrepreneurship in Serbia.

The SIA then launched the RZL Accelerator and the #možedrugačije initiative. The Accelerator is a support program carried out through the mentoring and expertise of the “Razlivalište “associates. The Accelerator is designed to provide specialized support to each team, tailored to the needs of the project. 

"To this end, we have developed a network of 30 experts in various fields, such as marketing, sales, market analysis, prototyping and work environments, who are university professors, corporate employees and sole proprietors and who help us with developing six different teams through meetings, webinars and individual consultations,” Ms. Stevanovic says.  

Equally important are the youth challenges UPSHIFT and Generation Unlimited, implemented by the “Razlivalište” organization in cooperation with UNICEF Serbia.  These programs have proven that there are young people who can come up with solutions to the problems in different life spheres. The ideas of the participants are various: circular economy to reduce environmental pollution, digital library, cultural events in multinational environments aimed at inclusion, devising sustainable protection for stray dogs etc. 

“That is why all the attention and energy is now directed to the competition for the UPSHIFT 3 project, which will be held in mid-April in Niš, and which includes youths from 13 to 19 years old from the Niš district. Senior primary and secondary school students can find  detailed information on the program and the application form on the Instagram and Facebook pages of “Razlivalište“, ”Katarina Stevanovic says.

Members of the "Razlivalište" team seek to turn the situation, through programs, exclusively for the benefit of young people. Sometimes the situation is such that young people are barely able to be heard, sometimes society goes a step further and listens to them, while the “Razlivaliste” team strives to make the leap forward and provide an environment that will support their ideas until those ideas are realized.

“Razlivalište” also has its "emperors".  

"We want to celebrate the emperors of our society . All those who prove to us that things can be done in some other fashion. If you know someone who is doing something extraordinarily good for their environment, be it your history teacher, baker, aunt, best friend, supermarket worker, a kind local transportation company’s driver… Let us know, we will share his/her story with the world, " the  “Razlivalište“ team members say. 

"Our  "emperors "are where they are created and then they make positive changes. They  just have to show some initiative. These are people who set an example for others in their local areas, ”Ms. Stevanovic says. 

Speaking of further plans, the “Razlivalište” team members say that they are focused on young people who never had the opportunity to participate in youth projects.  The reasons are often inaccessibility, financial problems or fear and rejection due to racial, national, religious, sexual and gender orientation. 

"We are implementing projects in all parts of Serbia in order to make the tools for entrepreneurship and knowledge accessible to as many people as possible. That is why we will take this opportunity to invite everyone to join us, and in addition to gaining knowledge, they will experience much more, such as gaining new friends and a supportive environment for their ideas. "Razlivalište" is waiting for you, so that we could to push the limits together," Katarina Stevanovic said.   

Source: http://razlivaliste.org/ and Coordination Body