The PETRI – Sofia Annual School 2018 and the Y-PEER Global Advisory Board Meeting 2018 took place in Pravets, Bulgaria, on 18-24 April 2018.

Based on the needs of the Y-PEER and other youth-led networks in Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iraq, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, following the objectives of the “Youth Leadership for the Development and Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals” project, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, as well as the results of the Needs’ Assessment survey, organized in November – December 2017, the PETRI – Sofia Annual School consisted of two separate modules that had the objective of empowering youth leaders for the development and implementation of the SDGs. The two modules running in parallel, were “Project Development and Management” and “Fundraising and Resource Mobilization”.

Skills in these areas are key to young people who are actively working in the non-governmental sector and are active citizens in their countries, involved in organizing campaigns, events, projects related to the Sustainable Development Goals.

The organization of the annual meeting of the national coordinators of the Y-PEER network was also a part of the PETRI – Sofia project. The so-called Global Advisory Board Meeting of Y-PEER took place on 19-20 April 2018 and brought together 18 national coordinators (Focal Points in Charge or FPCs) and 5 international coordinators (ICs) of Y-PEER, as well as an alumni of the network and former IC, and two country representatives. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss issues relevant to the development of the international network. During the meeting, the national Y-PEER networks exchanged experiences, the ByLaws of the international network were updated and an Annual Work Plan was developed.

Differing from previous years’ meetings, the meeting in April 2018 focused on resource mobilization, directing more efforts on SRHR in Humanitarian settings and peacebuilding.
Additionally, the GAB meeting addressed advocacy, reporting, internal and external communications and monitoring and evaluation.