The training on “How to make advocacy campaigns” happened in Kumanovo on the 29th of October and 2nd of November. Several young people from both Macedonian and Albanian communities worked together in the office of CID on the concepts of youth participation, democracy, human rights, and organization of campaigns. The trainers – Florim Rexhepi, Gabrijela Boskov, Lendita Ajdini, Matej Manevski and Milos Ristovski used the technique of bilingual training as an efficient tool to integrate both languages and have the group work together.
After the first day of the training, the participants had the task to do the mapping of society and create the diamond of needs, which were presented on the second day of training. The Macedonian team decided to focus on improving the hygiene in the school bathrooms, while the Albanian team chose to work to improve the hygiene in school classrooms.
The participants went through an unusual situation but they managed it well and ended up agreeing that Kumanovo needs activities that would bring communities closer. ”The training was a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about advocacy campaigns – what they are, what they stand for. We were able to interpret some of the things that really bothered us and disabled us from doing the things that we really like or that are basic needs. We put them into ideas and went through the activities that we can do, so that we could make something better”, shares Sara Ilic, one of the participants.
While the projects are in process of design and submission, the CID team is eagerly monitoring and assisting the evolution of the process.