Dates of the project: May 2020 – April 2021
Partners: CID and National Endowment for Democracy
Objectives:
- To develop competencies of 24 young people to gain practical knowledge on democratic participation which the participants can further multiply in their communities and to foster social cohesion through cooperation between the various ethnicities of Kumanovo and the region;
- To build a space to teach democratic values and principles, human rights, leadership, intercultural dialog and building community trust;
Description:
The Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID) will use renewed Endowment support to promote youth civic engagement and dialogue in four multiethnic communities in northern Macedonia. The activities will have a special focus on fostering interethnic and interreligious dialogue, and will enable the young participants to serve as agents of social change in communities affected by the May 2015 armed clashes in Kumanovo. Building on its prior NED-supported activities, CID will continue to expand a grassroots network for youth activists, and develop its leadership abilities and collective influence.
Following an open call for applications, CID will select 20 youth leaders up to 20 years old from four
multiethnic communities in northern Macedonia to participate in an initial five-day workshop, followed
by five two-day interactive trainings, on youth civic engagement and advocacy. The workshop and
trainings will focus on developing the young participants’ skills to promote positive changes in their
communities through peer outreach, community mapping, establishing local partnerships, conducting structured dialogue, and using offline and online tools for advocacy. The three trainers leading the workshop will aim to foster solidarity among the youth through sessions based on small group work, simulations, role playing, and discussions. CID will base the trainings on the needs of the participants. Ten experts from Macedonia or neighboring countries will design and conduct the trainings, which may include topics such as multicultural communication, critical thinking, democracy, and active youth engagement.
Following the trainings, CID will identify ten of the most promising participants to further build their
project management and fundraising skills and train them as future mentors for other youth-led initiatives. ID will guide the youth leaders as they recruit through public calls and establish teams of young people to implement at least five public advocacy campaigns that will promote human rights, peace building, and conflict resolution. The campaigns will initiate a constructive, youth-led dialogue at the community level. ID will strive to sustain the space created for youth engagement by organizing a two-day seminar for representatives of educational institutions, municipal governments, businesses, and civil society organizations whose work directly or indirectly targets youth. The seminar will motivate participants to create sustainable support for the youth-led campaigns and serve as mentors for youth in their communities. Following the implementation of the campaigns, CID will organize a roundtable at which participants and decision-makers will come together to discuss the process, challenges, and potential opportunities for sustainable support.
While implementing the activities, CID will produce a brief publication on creating sustainable youth
initiatives and results. The publication will be available in the Albanian and Macedonian languages.
Finally, CID will organize two workshops at a closing event for participants, peers, media, and
community representatives to share the project’s results with one another and initiate discussions on
developing future mechanisms for youth participation