-- Supporting young people in staying and working in their hometown --

An opening ceremony of YOUMIG Kanjiža’s first co-working space was held on 6 September 2018. The main goal of this new initiative is to create a space where people are able to work independently while they can exchange experiences and ideas, build their network within and outside their profession. In addition, it helps support local people to stay and work in their hometown. The new co-working space is one of the seven YOUMIG pilot projects in the Danube region which help local municipalities to face challenges related to youth migration.

Locals and experts from Serbia, Austria and Hungary gathered to participate in the official opening of Kanjiža’s first co-working hub, called OZ Co-working space. The guest of honor of the event was Otto Rath, from the Graz YOUMIG team but also one of the founding members of the first co-working space in Graz.

Mr. Rath explained to the audience that different types of co-working spaces exist, depending on the needs of the users and also their financial abilities. For example in Graz there is a fully-equipped office with all the amenities necessary for conducting business, mostly related to IT, marketing or counselling. In his opinion, a co-working hub is successful if there is a sense of community among its users and these creative people can inspire each other.

“A co-working service cannot be just about renting out spaces,” Mr Rath said. “You need an environment that supports the co-workers, making them feel they are a part of the community. For example organising events makes stronger communities: people can feel that this is more than just a working place,” he added.

After Mr Rath, Branislava Vrandić, representative of Mokrin House, a well-known co-working space from North Banat, Serbia, talked about their experiences in providing a good practice of building a popular community space in a nearby area. He welcomed Kanjiža’s new initiative and confirmed that innovative working spaces are becoming more and more popular in Serbia.  “[Mokrin House] differs from traditional community spaces in that young people can enjoy a village lifestyle and cutting edge technologies at the same time. Our co-working space, which opened two years ago, is extremely popular among young people from all over the world.” – said Mr. Vrandić as reported by the Hungarian-language daily Magyar Szó. (see link below).

Laura Ivanović, coordinator of OZ Co-working space, trusts that the office and its related services will be popular among young locals. She confirmed that it is designed to be more than just a physical space, it is an office with equipment for freelancers, who want to work online, a potential opportunity for entrepreneurs to work on their business plans and start their own business, and also a hub for holding business trainings and exchanging ideas.

The YOUMIG Kanjiža co-working space will be available to use free of charge until the end of 2018, courtesy of the YOUMIG project, which has enrolled this practice as one of its seven local pilot schemes, providing solutions for local problems related to youth migration and mobility. This includes the use of the office and community spaces such as the kitchen, and participation in the trainings. From 1 January 2019 a small fee will be charged for using the office space.

Here are some media reports about the event:

In Hungarian:   Magyar Szó,      Pannon RTV,    RTV Vajdaság

In Serbian:       Dnevnik

Text by Boglárka Meixner (Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Budapest) and YOUMIG Kanjiža