Supported by: National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

Period: January 2016 – January 2017

Partners: Partners Foundation for Local Development, Romania (FPDL)

Aim: The Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID) will use 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 youth participants to serve as agents of social change in communities affected by the armed clashes in Kumanovo in May 2015.

Objectives:

  • To promote youth civic engagement and dialogue in multiethnic communities.
  • To develop the ability of youth leaders to devise and implement effective advocacy campaigns that unite their diverse peers to work for shared interests
  • To monitor the response by local communities and institutions to address the issues raised or to include youth input in decision-making processes

The interactive trainings, jointly led by experts from the FPDL and CID, will focus on developing the young participants’ skills to promote positive changes in their lives and communities through: supporter recruitment, peer outreach, community mapping, establishing local partnerships, conducting structured dialogue, and using offline and online tools for campaigning. Following the trainings, the participants will identify key challenges in their communities and develop at least four public advocacy campaigns aimed at promoting human rights, peace-building and conflict resolution from the perspective of youth.