Dates of the project: July 2021-June 2023

Partners: CID and National Endowment for Democracy

Objectives:

  • To develop competencies of 30 young people to gain practical knowledge on democratic participation which the participants can further multiply in their communities;
  • To foster social cohesion through cooperation between the various ethnicities of Kumanovo and the region;
  • To build a space to teach human rights, intercultural dialog, advocacy, 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.

This project is designed to address the rising need for active civic engagement of young people in the community due to the effects of the pandemic. Based on the lessons learned from the past projects with the CID Academy module this project will create space for young people to advance their skills in Human Rights, Intercultural dialogue, civic engagement, and advocacy by using different digital tools. Starting with a 5 days training firstly we will be focused on creating the group spirit and cohesion, understanding the intercultural dialogue, and gaining knowledge about human rights. Afterward, we will continue working with the participants on a 2-three days training where they will build their capacity on using different digital tools for creative advocacy initiatives and campaigns. Mentors will have an important role in mentoring and helping the participants to create and implement their local advocacy initiatives and campaigns. They will work closely with the participant by supporting and mentoring them throughout the preparation and implementation period. It is important to mention that the mentors are going to be young people who were part of the previous CID Academy programs.

While implementing the activities, CID will produce a brief publication that will focus on gathering the best practices from the project as the main outcome for digital youth activists. The publication will consist of the following parts: introduction on the importance of Digital activism, gathering the good practices from the activities, sharing some tips and tricks for digital activism, description of the used digital tools as well as recommendations for interesting activities and campaigns that can be implemented online.

Finally, CID will organize three days evaluation meeting that will bring together the 30 participants to evaluate the implemented initiatives, the overall training, and its impact on their community.