Youth in creating changes in the community_SEGA 2009

B T D T h e Balka n Tr us t fo Dem c yr o r ac

A P R J E C TO F T H E G M S H L F UN DO E R A M A R A L N

Yputh in advocacy proccesseson local levelYputh in advocacy proccesseson local level

Youthin creating changes in the communityin creating changes in the community

Youth

Analyses of successful actions with

practical recommendations for work on advocacy campaigns

Analyses of successful actions with

practical recommendations for work on advocacy campaigns

Coalition of youth organizations

Youth in creating changes in thecommunity

Youth in creating changes in thecommunity

Coalition SEGA, 2009

Author:

Editor:

Design:

Technical preparation:

Printed by:

Number of copies printed:

Zoran Ilieski

Coalition of youth organizations SEGA

Katerina Ilioska

Maja Ivanoska

Printing Company ACETONI

500 samples

This publication is part of the project “Youth in advocacy processes on local level”

supported by Balkan Trust or Democracy.

The opinions in this publication are opinions of the author and do not reflect the

opinions of Balkan Trust for Democracy.

CIP – Catalogization in publication

National and university library “Ss. Kliment Ohridski”, Skopje

352:342.571-053.6(497.7)

Ilieski, Zoran

Youth in creating changes in the community / [author Zoran Ilieski]. –

Prilep; Coalition of youth organizations SEGA, 2009, - 40 pages: illustration 21

cm

ISBN 978-9989-2893-3-0

a) Local Self-government – Youth participation – Macedonia

COBIS.MK-ID 79496970

The initiative to form a Coalition of youth organizations

was raised by the Youth Council of Prilep and two

partner organizations for applying and implementation

of the project “National Youth Action Plan”. As a

continuance of the started process, the Coalition of

Youth Organizations SEGA was unofficially established

on January 20 , 2004 in order to contribute towards the

process of creation and implementation of the National

Youth Strategy of Macedonia and to assist in satisfying

the needs of the youth. On 27 of September 2004, a

decision was made to formally register the Coalition as

citizen association. Coalition SEGA is national

organization with collective membership.

The membership of the Coalition is consisted of 18 full

and 1 associate member organizations. The

management structure is composed of the following

bodies:

Assembly – composed of all members;

Steering Committee – composed of five

representatives of the full members;

Supervisory Committee – composed of three

representatives of the Assembly members.

The executive structure is organized in the Central office,

which is located in Prilep and five Regional offices in:

Stip, Ohrid, Tetovo and 2 in Skopje.

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Coalition SEGACoalition SEGA

Mission The Coalition of Youth Organizations SEGA works on

developing and implementation of youth policies in

Macedonia, connecting and strengthening young

people towards improvement of their overall state.

Coalition of youth organizations SEGA has defined 3strategic aims in the new Strategic plan for the period2010 – 2012 developed according to the vision andmission of the Coalition. The Strategic aims aredetermined according to the so far functioning of theCoalition using realistic approach based on theexternal factors that affect the work of SEGA and alsothe previous experience with the target groups. Theapproach in the formulating of the strategic aimsencompasses three segments that include external

,

Working areas(Strategic aims)Working areas(Strategic aims)

3

working of the Coalition in the field of youth policies,continuous development of the internal capacities anddirect work with youth.

L E A D E R S H I P I N D E V E L O P M E N T A N DIMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH POLICIES

:Initiating an starting processes for adopting law

regulations in Macedonia that determine the status ofyouth

Applying functional models of youth policy and youthparticipation

Recognizing and accepting Coalition SEGA asnational representative of youth from Macedonia oninternational level

Goals�

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Strategic aim 1Strategic aim 1



FOSTERING MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT OFTHE CAPACITIES OF THE COALITION

:Developing system for financial working and

stabile sources of financingDeveloping programme for managing and

upgrading the human resourcesStrengthening the capacities for delivering trainings

in the field of youth participation, youth activism andyouth advocacy

Educating, motivating and informing the memberorganizations with developed capacities

Goals

allocating�

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DIRECT WORK WITH YOUTH AND INCLUSION OFYOUTH IN THE COMMUNITY PROCESSES

:Active involvement of youth in preparation and

implementation of youth activities on local levelStrengthening the capacities of youth for

participating in the community processes and theirinforming on the youth trends

Goals�

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4

Training course “Project Cycle Management”

Assessment workshop on the needs of theyouth organizations and informal groups

Training course “Advocacy & Lobbying”

Training course “Communication skills and

team work”

Signing contracts with the grantees

Actions for youth organizingin Eastern Macedonia


Youth in creating changes in the communityYouth in creating changes in the community



Youth in advocacyprocesses on locallevel

Youth in advocacyprocesses on locallevel

As of

The e

.

1 of November 2008 Coalition SEGA started

to implement the project “Youth in advocacy

processes on local level” supported by Balkan Trust

for Democracy”. The project has been implemented

in period of 10 months in 5 cities from the Eastern

part of the Republic of Macedonia: Sveti Nikole,

Vinica, Berovo, Delchevo and Radovish.

The suggested approach in the project and the

determined strategies refer to ensuring support

towards the lack of youth organizing in Eastern

Macedonia and provides practical solutions for the

situation in the region, through supporting young

people, informal groups and youth organizations.

Aim of this project is to strengthen the capacities of

the youth organizations and newly established ones

for active participation in the problem solving

processes on local level.

The project activities encompassed: creating

network of youth organizations; organizing

workshop for assessment of the needs of the youth

organizations and informal groups, providing legal

and financial support for their registration as

“citizen associations”; strengthening capacity

process of the youth organizations and direct

support of local advocacy campaigns. ntire

process of support is completed with preparation

and distribution of publication “Youth in creating

changes in the community” containing successful

examples and stories from realization of the

advocacy campaigns (supported with the project)

and comparative analyses of successful and

unsuccessful actions as well with practical

recommendations for implementation of advocacy

campaigns

Direct beneficiaries of the project are young people

st

7

included in the work of the 10 youth organizations

in the cities: Delchevo, Vinica, Sveti Nikole, Berovo

and Radovish. Indirectly the project activities

affect the high school students, students, political

youth branches and young people involved in the

NGO sector in the targeted cities.

Furthermore in this publication follows the actions

undertaken in the project in order to strengthen the

capacities of the youth organizations in Eastern

Macedonia and review of the successful examples

and stories from the advocacy campaigns as well.

Action

Creation networkof youthorganizations

1Action

Creation networkof youthorganizations

1 In order to present the project activities and to

inform the Mayors, informal groups and youth

organizations meetings were organized at start. On

the meetings with the Mayors foreseen project

actions were presented, on which the Mayors

offered their support for the actions and additional

financial support for implementing the activity

Therefore,

Memorandums of Understanding with the

Municipalities that offered additional financial

support . With the financial support

c fund for supporting local campaigns was

established with amount of 3 9.400,00 MKD,

containing the financial means secured by Balkan

Trust for Democracy (ensured with this project) in

amount of 244.000,00 MKD, means from the Local

Self-government of Delchevo in amount of

13.800,00 MKD, means from the Local Self-

government of Sveti Nikole in amount of 24.000,00

MKD and amount from the Local Self-government

of Vinica in amount of 27.600,00 MKD.

At the same time in the selected cities

were maintained with informal groups and youth

organizations to which the project was presented

and the possibility for their inclusion .

Support for local advocacy campaigns.

were signed

ollective

0

meetings

as well

8

On these meetings information / contacts of the

existing local youth organizations, e-mail listings

and Local Self-government contacts were gathered.

The contacts were used for sending the public call

for including local youth organizations in the project

activities. On the announced public call 18

applications were submitted. From the received

applications e-mail listing was created, through

which all organizations were duly informed for all

project and Coalition SEGA activities. Furthermore,

Commission for evaluation of the applications was

established which selected 5 youth organizations

and 5 informal groups from: Delchevo, Vinica,

Radovish, Sveti Nikole and Berovo. All applicants

were informed for the call results, and the accepted

organizations were invited to participate on the

workshop for assessment of the needs for

development.

Action 2

orkshop forassessment of theneeds of youthorganizations andinformal groups

W

Action 2

orkshop forassessment of theneeds of youthorganizations andinformal groups

W

In order to conduct assessment of the needs of

youth organizations and informal groups workshop

for organizational self-assessment was organized.

On the event two representatives from each of the

selected organizations and informal groups

participated. Within the analyses, tools for

organizational self-assessment were prepared,

through which the organizations and young people

identified their strengths and weaknesses, the level

of the personal capacities and the needs for

intervention for building their own organizational

capacities.

Action 3

Legal andfinancial supportfor the informalgroups forregistration as“citizenassociations”

Action 3

Legal andfinancial supportfor the informalgroups forregistration as“citizenassociations”

In the period of December 2008 – January 2009

legal and financial support for registration as citizen

associations was provided to the informal groups

from Eastern Macedonia. The legal and financial

support contained of preparation of documents for

registration, preparation of Statute of the

organizations and other acts within the

documentation needed registration of citizen

associations. In the meantime five youth

organizations were formed: “Cultural movement of

youth – POSTMODERNA” – Berovo, “OPIM” –

Radovish, “Vision NOVA” – Sveti Nikole, “Voice of

youth” – Delchevo and “Young enthusiasts” –

Vinica.

Action 4

SigningMemorandumsof Cooperationwith theorganizations

Action 4

SigningMemorandumsof Cooperationwith theorganizations

In order to ensure successful implementation of the

project “Youth in advocacy processes on local level”

and active participation of the representatives from

the selected organizations in all project activities,

Memorandums for Cooperation with the 10

organizations that were included in the project

were signed. With the Memorandum of

Cooperation were determined the responsibilities

of Coalition SEGA and all organizations included.

Official signing of the Memorandusm for

Cooperation was organized on the first meeting of

t h e o rga n i zat i o n s o n t h e t ra i n i n g fo r

Communication skills and team work.

Action 5

Capacity buildingprocesses of theyouthorganizations

Action 5

Capacity buildingprocesses of theyouthorganizations

In the period of January February 2009 capacity

building process of the youth organizations was

organized through trainings on the following

subjects: “Communication skills and team work”,

Project Cycle Management” and “Advocacy &

Lobbying”.

-

10

On this training, 20 participants and 10 youth

organizations from Eastern Macedonia acquired

knowledge and skills in communication (verbal and

non-verbal) with special emphasize to active

listening. The second part of the training referred

to the themes “Leader and leadership” and “How

important is leadership through functioning of one

organization”. The third part of the training was

to practicing team work in the organization

and constructive feedback information which is

very important part in the implementing various

activities and projects in one organization.

aimed

Communicationskills and teamwork

Communicationskills and teamwork

Considering the fact that the existing and newly

established youth organizations included in the

project have small number of realized

project/activities financed by donors, training on

project cycle management was organized. The

methodology used during the training based on

The first part of the training referred to

presentation and small group work using the

technique tree of problems through which the

participants identified the problems in their local

communities. The second part of the training

considered preparation of logical framework of a

project, defining the vertical logic through which is

identified the

The participants worked on preparation

of horizontal logic of intervention, through which

indicators and sources of verification were

identified. The third part of the training was

consisted of studying systems and mechanisms for

monitoring and evaluation of projects. Through this

component the participants prepared monitoring &

evaluation plans for the project proposals

developed during the training. In the last part of the

training the participants gained knowledge for

budgeting and managing of financial means and

project reporting as well.

previously

was

learning by doing.

main aim, project aim, results and

activities.

Project CyclemenagmentProject Cyclemenagment

11

Lobbing andadvocacyLobbing andadvocacy

One of the main expectations of the project

is to strengthen

the youth organizations from Eastern Macedonia

and to support local campaigns for advocacy. Thus,

special emphasize was put on organizing training

for Advocacy & Lobbying through which the

included youth organizations will strengthen their

skills advocacy and develop draft local

campaigns. The first part of the training contained

review of advocacy , defining the subjects

A , advocacy and related

concepts, public relations and social marketing. In

this context were

presented, preparation steps in one advocacy

campaign, basic elements of the campaign and

classification of the elements .

The second part of the training was referred to

procedures for adopting laws, when, how and who

decides on local level, what is strategic

communication, power mapping, presentation of

convincing techniques, presentation of models of

strategic communication, developing and sending a

message, elements of the message and forms of

sending a message.

The third part of the training considered the

building networks and coalitions, presenting

benefits of coalitions, challenges, strengths and

weaknesses, presentation of the basic criteria for

joining coalition or network. At the end of the

training the ways of planning for implementation of

the advocacy and budget planning for a campaign

was presented. All groups developed draft plans for

implementation of specific campaigns for advocacy

and lobbying on local level.

Youth in

advocacy processes on local level

dvocacy & lobbying

in

aspects

as well

successful advocacy stories

12

Action 6

Support of localadvocacycampaigns

Action 6

Support of localadvocacycampaigns

In order to support the youth organizations

included in this project and to apply the acquired

knowledge and skills from the organized trainings,

how to affect the local authorities on local and

regional level, within this project support for five

local advocacy campaigns were ensured. Therefore,

the project team prepared documentation for

supporting small advocacy campaigns and support

of the interests of youth and addressing their

problems on local level. The documentation

contained: Application for with guidelines, Budget

form and Logical framework. The prepared

documentation was announced along with the

public call for applications through which the youth

organizations were encouraged to apply with

project proposals in partnership. The call for the 10

organizations included in the activities of the

project was announced on the website of Coalition

SEGA .www.sega.org.mk

In regard to the start of implementation of the

supported projects on 19 of March 2009 in the Big

all in the Municipality of Sveti Nikole was

organized official signing of the Contracts with the 5

organizations which projects were selected on the

public call for supporting local advocacy campaigns.

On the event participated the Mayor of the

Municipality of Sveti Nikole Mr. Slobodan Danevski,

representatives of the Local Self-government of

Sveti Nikole and Delchevo and presidents of the

citizen associations: Voice of youth – Delchevo,

Women organization of Sveti Nikole, Vision NOVA -

Sveti Nikole, Initiative of unemployed intellectuals –

Vinica, Young enthusiasts – Vinica, Development –

Future – Radovish and Cultural movement of youth

POSTMODERNA – Berovo.

th

H

Action 7

Signing contractswith grantees

Action 7

Signing contractswith grantees

13

Comparative analyses of successful andunsuccessful actions with practical

recommendations for advocacycampaigns

developing

Comparative analyses of successful andunsuccessful actions with practical

recommendations for advocacycampaigns

developing

Youth in creating changes in the communityYouth in creating changes in the community

STORY 1

We, citizen association Cultural movement of

youth POSTMODERNA and our colleagues GAMA

from Berovo implemented the pro ject

“Contribution of youth towards improving cultural

life in the city of Berovo”. Through the project we

initiated a dialogue on the level of culture in the city,

its possibilities and lacks; we established

cooperation between the NGO sector and the

relevant institutions and promoted the culture as

very important part of the community life. In a

period of two months we realized the following

project activities: analyses of the current state on

culture in the city, preparation and conduction poll

on the citizens, analyses of the poll and the survey,

preparation and printing promotion material and

organizing public tribune.

the

Analyses of thecurrent state withthe culture in ourcity

Analyses of thecurrent state withthe culture in ourcity

In a period of three days the volunteers from our

organization visited the city library and two school

libraries and registered the inquired information of

the books fund, the frequency of visits and most

used literature through previously developed form

of collecting data. Three volunteers visited the city

bookstores and collected information on the

available books in the stores and also for the needs

of increasing this spectrum of books. Also two

volunteers conducted interviews with the

responsible persons in the Local Self-government of

Berovo in regard to the existing cultural and

traditional manifestations within the annual

cultural calendar in order to create a database of

the number, the significance, inclusion and the level

of visits by the citizens. The questionnaires and the

form of the database were previously developed in

order to classify the information in more effective

way.

Preparation andconduction ofthe pool

Preparation andconduction ofthe pool

The questionnaire was realized on 150 respondents

in the city of Berovo. Thus, citizens and

representatives of relevant institutions were

surveyed. The questionnaire contained questions

Our storyOur story

16

related to the needs, problems, possibilities and

initiatives in the field of the culture in Berovo.

Analyses of thepoll and thesurvey

Analyses of thepoll and thesurvey

Through the analyses of the poll the current state

on the culture was identified, review of the

possibilities, desires and expectations of the

citizens was acquired. The research in the three

libraries and two bookstores in the city provided

information on the spectrum of materials, the

genres and most used literature they possess. This

information was submitted to the Local Self-

government which, by the way, n't have

this kind of information. Based on the existing

annual calendar we gained information for the

visits and the inclusion of the citizens in the cultural

events.

also

till then did

Preparation andprinting ofpromotionmaterials

Preparation andprinting ofpromotionmaterials

In order to raise the awareness for the culture in

Berovo, we prepared and printed brochure in 800

samples, which we promoted through public

tribune and distributed in cultural and educational

institutions and the citizens in our city.

According to the foreseen activities, the results of

the research and promotion of the brochure we

organized public tribune in order to present the

project. The tribune was with support of the office

of Local Economic Development of Berovo and the

Mayor of Berovo. The tribute was maintained in the

venues of the Local Self-government of Berovo. On

the tribune participated around 50 citizens –

representatives of the educational institutions (the

director of High school “Aco Ruskovski” and

professors and representatives of the child day care

center “23 August”). The Local Self-government

(the Mayor Mr. Dragi Nadzinski and the manager of

the office of Local Economic Development of

Berovo), two members of the Municipal Council,

the ex-director

rd

of the Home of Culture

“DimitarBerovsk i ”, the l ibrar ian , NGOs

(representatives of “Ternovas”, Ecology association

“Brica”, “GAMA”, MAASP in Berovo), media, young

people and other interested people.

Preparation andorganizing publictribune

Preparation andorganizing publictribune

17

After the presentation a discussion was developed

on the research results. “The situation of our city is

relevant the book spectrum and the

frequency of reading in our city” confirmed the

representative of the Home of Culture in which

framework is also the city library. He spoke of the

need for allocating finances for improving the

situation the conditions in the library and

enrichment of the book spectrum. The

representatives of the NGOs emphasized the need

of entire inclusion and common cooperation of the

relevant institutions in the processes of organizing

and promoting the culture in the city. The present

teachers from the day care center pointed to the

need of ensuring space (multifunctional hall) for

maintaining cultural manifestations. The newly

elected Mayor, Mr. Dragi Nadzinski, saluted the

tribune which was first of such character

maintained in our city and which gather in one place

the relevant institutions that are responsible for the

development of the culture in Berovo. He promoted

the next steps that are to be undertaken in field of

culture in the Municipality, such as enriching the

manifestation “Maleshevijata na dlanka”

(Maleshevijata in hand) with concert of popular

music groups in our country, enriching the

programme of “Berovo cultural summer” and

creating terms for development of the culture in all

fields.

regarding

A lot has to be done in the field of culture in

the Municipality (revival of cinema, theatre and

recovery of the mandolin orchestra in the city).

It is needed to ensure space conditions for

maintaining closed manifestations (multifunctional

hall).

To improve the cooperation between the

relevant institutions and NGO sector, providing

more efficient contribution.

To enrich and promote the existing cultural

manifestations.

Conclusion fromthe public tribuneConclusion fromthe public tribune

18

Organizing auction in the central city area.

Upgrading the activities of the institutions

that work in the field of culture.

Integrat ing new contents on the

Manifestation “Maleshevijata on hand”.

Initiatives from thepublic tribuneInitiatives from thepublic tribune

The Mayor of Municipality of Berovo, Mr. Dragi

Nadzinski: “I salute the tribune which is first of such

character in our city, gathering in one place the

institutions which are mostly responsible for the

cultural development of Berovo towards starting an

excellent initiative for cooperation between the

relevant institutions and NGOs. For this purpose in

the field of culture will be undertaken the following

a c t i o n s : e n r i c h i n g t h e m a n i f e s t a t i o n

“Maleshevijata on hand” with a concert of popular

music groups from our country, enriching the

programme “Berovo Cultural summer” and

securing conditions for development of the culture

at all levels”.

Quotations fromthe projectparticipants


Lessons learnedand significantachievements


As a new organization, in the beginning

there were difficulties to establish direct contacts

and meetings with the relevant institutions (Home

of culture and Local Self-government). Therefore,

the organization GAMA helped us, arranging the

needed meetings. This was excellent opportunity

for our promotion.

As for the protocol and organizing the

tribune we asked for help from our professors

which are members of the Ecology association

“Brica” and have experience in organizing events.

This helped us strengthening our capacities and

organizational capabilities.

Cooperation in the field of culture between

the local NGOs, the responsible institutions and

Local Self-government is initiated.

If we would realize this project again we'd

do the same also enriching it with particular cultural

event in the field of amateur theatre because the

theatre shows in Berovo are rarity.

19

As a result of this project the following ideas

came up:

Organizing art exhibition in the city square,

revitalization of KUD - Berovo and overall

cooperation between the institutions and

publishing texts in the field of culture in the local

info newspaper.

Thanks to this project and to Coalition SEGA,

POSTMODERNA – Berovo had the first steps in

writing and realization of projects. We established

contacts with the local authorities, the Mayor of

Berovo and we promoted our organization as well.

Through implementing the project “Contribution of

youth towards improving of the cultural life in the

city of Berovo”, we promoted in the wider public

including the institutions in the city that work in the

field of culture.

20

STORY 2

Our organization Development – Future from

Radovish, implemented the project “For – sport

activities of youth”. With this project we

contributed towards improving the conditions for

realizing sport activities and healthy way of life to

the young people in our community. Through

lobbying in the Local Self-government we ensured

free usage of the sports objects by the youth from

the formal and informal sport associations. In the

three-month period we realized the following

activities: creating coordinative body, establishing

team for realizing a petition, collecting signatures

for petition and its submission to the local

authorities, organizing meeting with the

Municipality Mayor, organizing educational

workshops and organizing a tribune.

Our storyOur story

In order to establish coordinative body, on 13 of

April 2009, we organized a meeting with professors

in gym and health education from the primary and

secondary schools in the city of Radovish. On this

meeting the coordinative body was created,

composed of 6 professors who supported our

initiative, and in the following period were lobbying

for free of charge usage of the sport objects and

helped us in conduction of the educational

workshops for healthy way of life to the youth.

th

This activity we realized through forming a team of

five young volunteers. In the foreseen time period

of five days, 23 – 27 of April 2009, the volunteers

conducted the petition “enabling free of charge

sport object for sport activities of youth in

Radovish”. In order to inform the wider public for

this activity, we broadcasted information to the

citizens on two local televisions and one radio. The

petition was realized in two locations, on the city

square and in front of the high school “Kosta

Susinov”. Through realizing this activity we came to

a great interest by the citizens, collecting 837

rd th

Creatingcoordinative bodyCreatingcoordinative body

Establishing teamfor realizing ofpetition

Establishing teamfor realizing ofpetition

21

In order to submit the petition to the Local Self-

government, we organized a meeting with the

Mayor. On the meeting we were discussing for the

possible solutions of the problem i.e. providing

sport object for free of charge usage by the youth

from Radovish.

Final solution wasn't brought, but several proposals

were suggested for solving the problem by the

Mayor. On this meeting we arrange the next

meeting with the Mayor, on which he will express

his final position for this problem.

Organizing ameeting with theMayor ofRadovish

Organizing ameeting with theMayor ofRadovish

On the classes of physical and health education in

the primary and secondary schools with assistance

of the professors (members of the coordinative

body) we realized 11 educational workshops for

healthy way of life o youth. With these workshops

we encompassed 300 students, and in order to

identify the level of information and the healthy

style of life, their interest and sports activities we

conducted a poll. With the poll we examined the

need of youth for free of charge sport objects.

According to the poll results, 38,67% from the

respondents stated that they don't have enough

knowledge and insufficiently leading healthy way of

life, 95% consider that healthy way of living without

exception involves sport activities. We received

confirmation for the justification of our initiative

with the fact that 86,67% from the respondents

actively are into sports, and 96,33% from the

respondents stated that a free of charge sport

object is necessary.

Organizingeducationalworkshops

Organizingeducationalworkshops

signatures for supporting our initiative, much more

than the firstly foreseen 500. The petition was

submitted to the Local Self-government of

Radovish.

23

Representative from the Local Self-government of

Radovish: We fully support and understand the

existing problem “non-existence of free of charge

available object for sport activities of youth” in the

community and on this problem is being worked on

through the Municipality strategies.

Quotations fromthe participants inthe project

Quotations fromthe participants inthe project

Our biggest lesson learned of this project is

referring to the approach we choose, through

which we mobilized the citizens in order to

emphasize the importance of the problem and in

this manner we succeed to lobby the Local Self-

government for finding a solution for the problem.

Through the conducted Local advocacy campaign

we learned that a common inclusion of all

stakeholders is needed for solving this type of

problems. In our case that were professors

enthusiasts, sport clubs, youth organizations and

informal youth groups. As a result of this

cooperation the importance of common assistance

and providing support to youth in solving their

problems was identified.

Within the realized actions we ensured promotion

and visibility of our organization to the local

authorities and the public, making the conduction



In order to present the results from the poll and to

open a discussion for the problem of free of charge

sport object in our community, we organized a

tribune in the facilities of the Local Self-

government. On the tribune Deputy Mayor,

professors in gym and health education, Members

of Municipal Council and young people

participated. After the presented poll results a

discussion was developed which followed with

speaking of the Municipal officials. They confirmed

the support and understanding for the problem of

youth and proposed a solution for solving the

problem. The proposal of the Local Self-

government based on ensuring of free of charge

time terms for the registered and informal clubs in

the only available sport object SRC “25 of May”.th

Organizing atribuneOrganizing atribune

24

of our further activities easier.

Through implementing the petition new volunteers

applied showing interest for direct involvement in

the future actions of the project. The shown

interest we perceive as eagerness of youth for

participation if there are particular activities.

With the project we implemented, we gained more

frequent activating of the members of the

organization and enrichment with experience of

our new members. This motivated us to prepare

new projects because in this way we will involve the

membership and strengthen its capacities.

NGO Development - Future from Radovish is youth

organization in process of development. The

realization of the project “For – sport activities of

youth” was of great importance for overall inclusion

of the organization members and gaining

experience.

We learned that for achieving of the project goals,

entire conduction of the foreseen activities is

necessary.

From the implementation of the project we

acquired one more very successful experience

which will help in our work, we learned from the

new challenges and we realized how much better

we can function. We are very grateful for the fully

support of Coalition of youth organizations SEGA,

through which we managed to implement the

project “For – sport activities of youth”.

25

STORY 3

Our storyOur story The project “Beware of your acts, they become a

habit” was implemented by us, the volunteers, in

the “Women organization of Sveti Nikole” in

partnership with the youth organization “Vision

NOVA” from Sveti Nikole. By accomplishing the

project aim we contributed towards raising

awareness to youth for the consequences from

drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. The strategy for

realizing the project activities entailed training for

peer educators, workshops in the schools,

informing the wider public through distribution of

informative leaflets and lobbying the directors of

the schools and the councilor for education, culture

and sport within the Local Self-government of Sveti

Nikole. Significant accomplishments of this project

are the adopted decisions in all schools in Sveti

Nikole for organizing trainings for peer educators

for the consequences of using drugs, alcohol and

cigarettes and dissemination of the acquired

knowledge to their peers.

We organized training for peer educators with

participation of 48 students of which 26 students

were encompassed of 7 and 8 grade from the

three primary schools and 22 students from all

generations of the high schools. The training was

consisted of two sessions; on the first session the

students were educated about the consequences

of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. On the

second session we worked on developing their

presentation skills in order to enable them to

manage a workshop, establishing communication

and dissemination of the knowledge to their peers.

th th

Training for peereducatorsTraining for peereducators

With the workshops we obtained 966 young

people, students from primary and secondary

schools. The workshops were realized by the young

peer educators during classes. In each class we

conducted three workshops, elaborating the

following subjects: Consequences of using drugs,

consequences of using alcohol and consequences

of using cigarettes.

Workshops inschoolsWorkshops inschools

27

In order to efficiently inform the target group, 1500

leaflets were prepared and printed, which were

distributed by the educators to their peers and the

project team distributed the other leaflets to the

wider public.

InformativeleafletsInformativeleaflets

Aiming to realize this action we maintained 8

individual meetings with all directors of the

schools in Sveti Nikole and one individual meeting

with the councilor for education, culture and

sport within the Local Self-government of Sveti

Nikole. Also we conducted meetings with

representatives of the police, Center for social

work and the health department. On the

meetings with the directors was discussed about

introducing regular project activities for informing

the students on the consequences of drugs,

alcohol and cigarettes. We lobbied the directors

these subjects to be integrated in the annual

curricula of the schools.

On the meetings with the representatives of the

institutions we collected relevant information on

the level of presence of the deviances of youth in

the community. Lobbying activities we completed

with organizing a round table. On the round table

participated the Mayor of the Municipality,

Councilor of education, culture and sport within the

Local Self-government, the directors of the primary

and secondary schools, the psychologist from the

Gymnasium, inspector in the department for

prevention in Sveti Nikole and inspector in the

department for prevention from Shtip,

independent inspector for prevention from Shtip,

the director and professional staff from the Center

for social work.

Lobbying thedirectors of theschools and theLocal Self -government

Lobbying thedirectors of theschools and theLocal Self -government

Mayor of Municipality of Sveti Nikole, Mr. Rober

Georgiev, : “The subject is interesting and wide, and

I'm glad that this initiatives are undertaken, one

must work a lot on this field”.

Inspector for prevention Shtip, Mr. Lazo Paskov: “I

salute the idea for implementing such project

Quotations fromthe participantsin the project

Quotations fromthe participantsin the project

28

alcohol and cigarettes and I want to point that the

Ministry of Internal Affairs undertakes measures of

preventive, but also repressive character to reflect

the overall population in decreasing these

occurrences”.

Director of primary school “Ss. Cyril and

Methodius”, Ms. Valerija Ivanovska “I want to

express gratitude to the peer educators for their

serious and at the same time direct approach of

engagement. I consider that this is efficient way to

reach the children identifying the need of bigger

inclusion of the children in project activities where

they can contribute for a positive change with their

own creativity”.

During the realization of the project we

learned that is very difficult to work with children

which are in a period of adolescence.

Also we concluded that the method of peer

education was acceptable for the participants, and

by the teachers was pointed that the students are

more interested in this type of work, reaching them

more easily.

We learned that through implementing the

project again, bigger emphasize should be put on

the children from the primary schools, i.e. it is

better to start with children in 6 grade, because we

consider that it is more efficient to act preventive at

smaller age.

Also if we would implement activities on

these subjects again, we would include people

previous users of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes in

order to transfer their negative experience.

Because the current state in consuming

drugs, alcohol and cigarettes in our community is

serious, we concluded that we should continuously

work on resolving and improving of this state.

th



29

STORY 4

“For clean and ecological Delchevo” is the project

that we implemented, the members of NGO “Voice of

youth” - Delchevo. Aim of the project was to support

young people in implementing policies on local level

and their active inclusion through establishing system

of mutual cooperation between the NGO sector and

the institutions. The main activities of the project

were: media introduction of the project; contacts and

meetings with responsible institutions and school

communities; conducting an action for cleaning of

public surfaces; Ecology happening - Youth for clean

and ecological Delchevo and forming ecological

patrols. As a result of the lobbying and the

cooperation we established with the branch of

PROKREDIT Bank in Delchevo, we received financial

support through which we will set 6 ash cans in the

central city area, we'll organize one more mass action

for clean and ecological Delchevo and painting the

existing bridges and banisters in the central city area

as well.

Our storyOur story

In the first month of the project implementation we

presented ourselves through the media by organizing

press conference on which the project coordinator

presented the goals and activities of the project.

Information from the press conference was

broadcasted on the local “D1” television and local

radio “Radio Zora”.

Mediaintroduction ofthe project

Mediaintroduction ofthe project

Aiming to promote the goals of the project we

prepared a leaflet, which we printed in 2000 samples.

In order to identify the final version of the leaflet we

formed focus group composed by representatives of

different profiles (pensioners, businessmen, high

school students, representatives of the Local Self-

government, citizens). We determined this model to

ensure that information provided on the leaflet will

be understandable and available to all stakeholders.

With the focus groups we held a meeting on which all

versions of the leaflet were reviewed, each was

discussed and afterwards the final version was

selected.

Preparation ofleafletPreparation ofleaflet

31

We prepared a plan for maintaining meetings with

the institutions foreseen in the project plan so we

held meetings with: Mayor of Delchevo, President

of the Municipal Council of Delchevo, director of

the public enterprise for utilities “Bregalnica”,

Department of inspection surveillance, directors of

the primary schools “Vanco Prke” and “Ss. Kliment

Ohridski” and high school “Metodi Mitevski Brico”,

councilor for education, prevention inspector and

the commander of the police station in Delchevo.

On these meetings the project was presented, the

responsible persons were introduced with the

foreseen activities and goals expressing positive

reactions on our vision

On these meetings cooperation was

agreed and support by the relevant bodies through

the further actions within our project. As a result of

the successful cooperation with the local

authorities, Memorandum of Understanding

between Municipality of Delchevo, Public

enterprise for utilities “Bregalnica” and the citizen

association “Voice of youth” from Delchevo. Also,

we initiated cooperation with the business sector

and the bank branches from the city for the future

activities and sustainability of the project.

In order to define the plan for the surfaces that are

to be cleaned in Delchevo, we maintained 3

meetings with the school communities from the

two primaries and one secondary school in our city.

to see Delchevo clean and

ecological.

Contacts andmeetings withrelevantinstitutions andschoolcommunities

Contacts andmeetings withrelevantinstitutions andschoolcommunities

Aiming to successfully conduct the cleaning actions

of public surfaces, we purchased 2000 bags and

2000 gloves for one use.

We realized 4 cleaning actions of the most polluted

surfaces in the city, on which participated 730

students. According to the project we have

foreseen 3 actions, which we realized in the period

of 09 of May - 12 of July 2009. On the occasion of

we conducted action

for cleaning of the public surfaces, promoting the

project successfully and introduced the future

activities.

th th

Planet Earth Day 22 of Aprilnd

Action forcleaning publicsurfaces

Action forcleaning publicsurfaces

32

On 12.06.2009 in the hall of ASNOM in Delchevo,

we organized music event announcing the start of

the campaign

The event was officially opened by the President of

the Municipal Council of Delchevo. The ecological

patrols were also promoted and for the music part

were responsible young music groups from the

Municipality.

For clean and ecological Delchevo.

Ecology happening- Youth for cleanand ecologicalDelchevo

Ecology happening- Youth for cleanand ecologicalDelchevo

In cooperation with the directors of the schools in

Delchevo and the teachers in ecology, we formed 3

ecological nooks, one per school. The ecological

nooks were set in the biology cabinet.

Formingecological nooksFormingecological nooks

As a result of the successful cooperation of the

schools, in the three schools we established

ecological patrols composed by 15 students from

each school. The members of the ecological patrols

will be responsible for maintenance of the

cleanliness (ecology) of the schools. The

established ecological patrols took active

participation in all of the conducted actions from

the project.

Formingecologicalpatrols

Formingecologicalpatrols

President of Municipal Council of Delchevo - Toni

Trajanovski: “It is my pleasure to cooperate with the

young members enthusiasts from “Voice of Youth”.

As Municipal Council we will provide further

unconditioned support in the implementation of

project that address youth in the community”.

Kiril Spasevski 3 year in high school “M.M. Brico”:

“This project is first youth project of such kind,

transparently implemented in our city. A lot of

youngsters were involved, ecological nook and

ecological patrol was established in my school in

which I'm member. Through including youth in

negotiations with the Mayor of the Municipality,

the President of the Municipal Council and other

institutions opportunity was provided the young

people to be involved and to feel useful for the

rd



33

community through activities of this type, actions,

happenings, and in future I hope that there will be a

lot of such projects in which young people will be

direct beneficiaries”.

Dragana Stojmenovska, student from Primary

school “Ss. Kliment Ohridski” 8 grade: “I was

involved in many projects realized by local NGOs.

But this project is particularly interesting through

the activities we implemented, the direct inclusion

in the cleaning actions especially in Saturday -

market day in Delchevo, showing how youth and

adults should behave regarding the environment

maintaining it clean and healthy. I have to highlight

the music happening especially, where many

youngsters at different ages showing that we are

part of the society too, we want to have our own

future and to participate in all creating policy

processes on local level.

th

According to the interest shown and the

number of young people included in the project

implementation, we can conclude that youth can

give contribution if they are encouraged and

motivated for engagement in NGO activities.

If the project was to be realized again, we

would have changed the timeframe towards more

mass inclusion of the youth in the actions, and the

project would be realized during the school year

and also we would have included youth from the

political youth branches ensuring significance of

the project implementation.

Through the implementation of the project

we have learned how to build a team and to

develop team work in one organization. We have

also gained experience in establishing cooperation

and building confidence between institutions and

young people members of “Voice of youth” as well.

Lessons learnedand significantaccomplishments

Lessons learnedand significantaccomplishments

34

STORY 5

Our storyOur story The project “Raising awareness of youth for the

consequences of alcohol and cigarettes” was

implemented by us, the members of “Initiative of

unemployed intellectuals” in partnership with the

members of “Young Enthusiasts” from Vinica. Aim

of our project was to decrease the presence of

alcohol and cigarettes at youth in Vinica. In order to

accomplish this aim we organized a campaign

(

composed of the

following activities: peer education training,

organizing workshops in high school “Vanco Prke”,

organizing handball game and promotion of free-

of-alcohol drinks.

campaign for promotion of healthy life styles and

encouraging youth to sports)

For the purpose of starting the project activities, we

organized a meeting with the director of the high

school “Vanco Prke”, gaining agreement for

conducting certain project activities in the school.

During May 2009 we organized two-day training for

16 peer educators. From the training, the young

e d u cato rs a c q u i re d k n o w l e d ge o f t h e

consequences of the alcohol and cigarettes at

youth.

Peer educationtrainingPeer educationtraining

The peer education method was selected because

the same is based peer to peer education,

considering that youngsters accept mostly from

their peers, having close and direct approach,

without shaming and asking what do they want to

know. Using this method we organized 30

workshops entailing 350 youngsters from 1 and 3

grade from the only high school in the city. These

workshops were organized in order to transfer the

information for the consequences of the alcohol

and cigarettes. At the end of the workshop

i n fo r m a t i v e - e d u c a t i o n a l l e a f l e t s w e r e

disseminated to the participants.

st rd

Organizingworkshop in highschool VancoPrke

Organizingworkshop in highschool VancoPrke

36

In order to affect bigger promotion of the

activities of our campaign we established

cooperation with the owners of the local café-bars

in our city, providing smaller prices of the non-

alcohol drinks, after the handball game.

Afterwards, the same evening the volunteers of our

organizations disseminated leaflets in the local

clubs in order to raise awareness at youth for the

consequences of using alcohol.

Promotion of free-of-alcohol drinksPromotion of free-of-alcohol drinks

Director of high school “Vanco Prke”, Mr. Tihomir

Tasev ”I salute the initiative of NGO “INI” and

“Young enthusiasts”, which contributed to greater

information of youth from the Gymnasium for the

consequences of alcohol and cigarettes on the

health of youth. I hope that we will continue our

cooperation in realization of similar projects that

are of interest of youth”.

Aleksandra Anastasova - student in high school

“Vanco Prke”: “Although we all consider that we are

well informed of the consequences of alcohol and

cigarettes, with the workshops maintained by the

young educators we gained detailed information on

the damages that can affect young organism. The

workshops were very detailed and reached us,

opening discussions on which we expressed our

opinions. I consider that activities of such type

should be organized more often”.



As a part of the campaign for promotion of healthy

life styles and encouraging sports to the youngsters

a handball game between 2 women youth clubs was

organized in the sports object in Vinica. The game

was of public character on which 70 youngsters

visited the event. To the participants of the game

were shared t-shirts with the logo of the project,

and on the visitors leaflets were shared.

Organizinghandball gameOrganizinghandball game

37

Lessons learnedand significantachievement

Lessons learnedand significantachievement

If such project is realized in future, we consider that

the project shouldn't be implemented during

elections because different groups of people

understand the project as part of pre-election

campaign for certain political party. Also we would

have changed the time period of implementing

activities. Activities in the school year will be

finished by 31 of March of the current year.

Especially important for us was that through this

project we learned how to conduct process of

internal self-assessment of the organization. This

process helped us to set up new goals against our

weaknesses and we identified strategies how to

improve them. Our organization decided to

conduct process of organizational self-assessment

every year.

st

Marija Gorgieva peer educator “I'm very satisfied of

the seriousness and interest by my peers and also

by their including and expressing their opinions and

positions on the subject. I think that the best part of

the workshops was the exchange of opinions and

experiences of certain number of our peers which

spoke in open for their experience with cigarettes

and alcohol”.

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C O N T E N T

1.

2.

3.

4. 1:

5. 2:

6. 3:

7. 4:

8. 5:

9. 6:

10. 7:

11.

12. 1

13. 2

14.

Coalition SEGA

Action for youth organizing in Eastern Macedonia

Youth in advocacy processes on local level

Action Creation network of youth organizations

Action Workshop for assessment of the needs of youthorganizations and informal groups

Action Legal and financial support for the informal groups forregistration as “citizen associations”

Action Signing Memorandums of Cooperation with theorganizations

Action Capacity building processes of the youthorganizations

Action Support of local advocacy campaigns

Action Signing contracts with grantees

Comparative analyses of successful and unsuccessful actions withpractical recommendations for work on advocacy campaigns

Story

Story

Story

Story

Story

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15. 4

16. 5

3

7

8

9

10

13

14

15

21

26

30

35

6

10

10

13

B T D T h e Balka n Tr us t fo Dem c yr o r ac

A P R J E C TO F T H E G M S H L F UN DO E R A M A R A L N

Coalition of youth organizations

Youth in creating changes in the community_SEGA 2009

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