1. Yputh in advocacy proccesses
on local level
Youth
in creating changes in the community
Analyses of successful actions with
practical recommendations for work on advocacy campaigns
Coalition of youth organizations
B T D T h e Bal k a n Tr u s t f o r D e m o c r ac y
A P R O J E C T O F T H E G E R M A N M A R S H A L L F U N D

2. Youth in creating changes in the
community
Coalition SEGA, 2009

3. Author: Zoran Ilieski
Editor: Coalition of youth organizations SEGA
Design: Katerina Ilioska
Technical preparation: Maja Ivanoska
Printed by: Printing Company ACETONI
Number of copies printed: 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

4. Coalition SEGA 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
th
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
th
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 3 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.
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.
Working areas Coalition of youth organizations SEGA has defined 3
strategic aims in the new Strategic plan for the period
(Strategic aims) 2010 – 2012, developed according to the vision and
mission of the Coalition. The Strategic aims are
determined according to the so far functioning of the
Coalition using realistic approach based on the
external factors that affect the work of SEGA and also
the previous experience with the target groups. The
approach in the formulating of the strategic aims
encompasses three segments that include external
3

5. working of the Coalition in the field of youth policies,
continuous development of the internal capacities and
direct work with youth.
Strategic aim 1 LEADERSHIP IN DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH POLICIES
Goals:
!Initiating an starting processes for adopting law
regulations in Macedonia that determine the status of
youth
!Applying functional models of youth policy and youth
participation
!Recognizing and accepting Coalition SEGA as
national representative of youth from Macedonia on
international level
Strategic aim 2 FOSTERING MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT OF
THE CAPACITIES OF THE COALITION
Goals:
!Developing system for financial working and
allocating stabile sources of financing
!Developing programme for managing and
upgrading the human resources
!Strengthening the capacities for delivering trainings
in the field of youth participation, youth activism and
youth advocacy
!Educating, motivating and informing the member
organizations with developed capacities
Strategic aim 3 DIRECT WORK WITH YOUTH AND INCLUSION OF
YOUTH IN THE COMMUNITY PROCESSES
Goals:
!Active involvement of youth in preparation and
implementation of youth activities on local level
!Strengthening the capacities of youth for
participating in the community processes and their
informing on the youth trends
4

6. Training course “Project Cycle Management”
Assessment workshop on the needs of the
youth organizations and informal groups
Signing contracts with the grantees
Training course “Communication skills and
team work”
Training course “Advocacy & Lobbying”

7. Youth in creating changes in the community
Actions for youth organizing
in Eastern Macedonia

8. Actions for youth organizing
in Eastern Macedonia
st
Youth in advocacy As of 1 of November 2008 Coalition SEGA started
to implement the project “Youth in advocacy
processes on local processes on local level” supported by Balkan Trust
level 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. The entire
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
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9. 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.
In order to present the project activities and to
Action 1 inform the Mayors, informal groups and youth
Creation network organizations meetings were organized at start. On
the meetings with the Mayors foreseen project
of youth actions were presented, on which the Mayors
organizations offered their support for the actions and additional
financial support for implementing the activity
Support for local advocacy campaigns. Therefore,
Memorandums of Understanding with the
Municipalities that offered additional financial
support were signed. With the financial support
collective fund for supporting local campaigns was
established with amount of 309.400,00 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 meetings
were maintained with informal groups and youth
organizations to which the project was presented
and the possibility for their inclusion as well.
8

10. 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.
In order to conduct assessment of the needs of
Action 2 youth organizations and informal groups workshop
Workshop for for organizational self-assessment was organized.
On the event two representatives from each of the
assessment of the selected organizations and informal groups
needs of youth participated. Within the analyses, tools for
organizations and organizational the organizations and young people
through which
self-assessment were prepared,
informal groups identified their strengths and weaknesses, the level
of the personal capacities and the needs for
intervention for building their own organizational
capacities.

11. In the period of December 2008 – January 2009
Action 3 legal and financial support for registration as citizen
Legal and associations was provided to the informal groups
from Eastern Macedonia. The legal and financial
financial support support contained of preparation of documents for
for the informal registration, preparation of Statute of the
organizations and other acts within the
groups for documentation needed registration of citizen
registration as associations. In the meantime five youth
“citizen organizations were formed: “Cultural movement of
youth – POSTMODERNA” – Berovo, “OPIM” –
associations” Radovish, “Vision NOVA” – Sveti Nikole, “Voice of
youth” – Delchevo and “Young enthusiasts” –
Vinica.
In order to ensure successful implementation of the
Action 4 project “Youth in advocacy processes on local level”
Signing and active participation of the representatives from
the selected organizations in all project activities,
Memorandums Memorandums for Cooperation with the 10
of Cooperation organizations that were included in the project
were signed. With the Memorandum of
with the Cooperation were determined the responsibilities
organizations 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 r ga n i za t 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 In the period of January-February 2009 capacity
building process of the youth organizations was
Capacity building organized through trainings on the following
subjects: “Communication skills and team work”,
processes of the Project Cycle Management” and “Advocacy &
youth Lobbying”.
organizations
10

12. Communication On this training, 20 participants and 10 youth
organizations from Eastern Macedonia acquired
skills and team knowledge and skills in communication (verbal and
work 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
aimed 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.
Considering the fact that the existing and newly
Project Cycle established youth organizations included in the
menagment project have small number of previously realized
project/activities financed by donors, training on
project cycle management was organized. The
methodology used during the training was based on
learning by doing.
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 main aim, project aim, results and
activities. 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.
11

13. Lobbing and One of the main expectations of the project Youth in
advocacy processes on local level is to strengthen
advocacy 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 in advocacy and develop draft local
campaigns. The first part of the training contained
review of advocacy aspects, defining the subjects
Advocacy & lobbying, advocacy and related
concepts, public relations and social marketing. In
this context successful advocacy stories were
presented, preparation steps in one advocacy
campaign, basic elements of the campaign and
classification of the elements as well.
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.
12

14. In order to support the youth organizations
Action 6 included in this project and to apply the acquired
knowledge and skills from the organized trainings,
Support of local how to affect the local authorities on local and
advocacy regional level, within this project support for five
campaigns 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
Action 7 th
supported projects on 19 of March 2009 in the Big
Hall in the Municipality of Sveti Nikole was
Signing contracts organized official signing of the Contracts with the 5
with grantees 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.
13

15. Youth in creating changes in the community
Comparative analyses of successful and
unsuccessful actions with practical
recommendations for developing advocacy
campaigns

16. STORY 1

17. We, the citizen association Cultural movement of
Our story youth POSTMODERNA and our colleagues GAMA
f ro m B e ro vo i m p l e m e nte d t h e p ro j e c t
“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.
In a period of three days the volunteers from our
Analyses of the organization visited the city library and two school
current state with libraries and registered the inquired information of
the culture in our the books fund, the frequency of visits and most
used literature through previously developed form
city 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.
The questionnaire was realized on 150 respondents
Preparation and in the city of Berovo. Thus, citizens and
conduction of representatives of relevant institutions were
the pool surveyed. The questionnaire contained questions
16

18. related to the needs, problems, possibilities and
initiatives in the field of the culture in Berovo.
Through the analyses of the poll the current state
Analyses of the on the culture was identified, review of the
poll and the possibilities, desires and expectations of the
survey citizens was also 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, till then didn'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.
In order to raise the awareness for the culture in
Preparation and Berovo, we prepared and printed brochure in 800
printing of samples, which we promoted through public
promotion tribune and distributed in cultural and educational
institutions and the citizens in our city.
materials
According to the foreseen activities, the results of
Preparation and the research and promotion of the brochure we
organizing public organized public tribune in order to present the
project. The tribune was with support of the office
tribune 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
rd
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 of the Home of Culture
“ D i m i ta r B e ro v s k i ”, t h e l i b ra r i a n , N G O s
(representatives of “Ternovas”, Ecology association
“Brica”, “GAMA”, MAASP in Berovo), media, young
people and other interested people.
17

19. After the presentation a discussion was developed
on the research results. “The situation of our city is
relevant regarding 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.
A lot has to be done in the field of culture in
Conclusion from the Municipality (revival of cinema, theatre and
the public tribune 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.
18

20. Initiatives from the Organizing auction in the central city area.
Upgrading the activities of the institutions
public tribune that work in the field of culture.
I nte g rat i n g n ew co nte nt s o n t h e
Manifestation “Maleshevijata on hand”.
The Mayor of Municipality of Berovo, Mr. Dragi
Quotations from Nadzinski: “I salute the tribune which is first of such
the project character in our city, gathering in one place the
participants 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
actions: enriching the manifestation
“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”.
Lessons learned As a new organization, in the beginning
there were difficulties to establish direct contacts
and significant and meetings with the relevant institutions (Home
achievements 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

21. 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

22. STORY 2

23. Our organization Development – Future from
Our story 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.
th
In order to establish coordinative body, on 13 of
Creating April 2009, we organized a meeting with professors
coordinative body 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.
Establishing team This activity we realized through forming a team of
five young volunteers. In the foreseen time period
for realizing of rd th
of five days, 23 – 27 of April 2009, the volunteers
petition 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
21

24. signatures for supporting our initiative, much more
than the firstly foreseen 500. The petition was
submitted to the Local Self-government of
Radovish.
Organizing a In order to submit the petition to the Local Self-
government, we organized a meeting with the
meeting with the Mayor. On the meeting we were discussing for the
Mayor of possible solutions of the problem i.e. providing
sport object for free of charge usage by the youth
Radovish 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.
On the classes of physical and health education in
Organizing the primary and secondary schools with assistance
educational of the professors (members of the coordinative
workshops 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.
23

25. Organizing a In order to present the results from the poll and to
open a discussion for the problem of free of charge
tribune 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
th
the only available sport object SRC “25 of May”.
Quotations from Representative from the Local Self-government of
the participants in Radovish: We fully support andof free of charge
existing problem “non-existence
understand the
the project available object for sport activities of youth” in the
community and on this problem is being worked on
through the Municipality strategies.
Our biggest lesson learned of this project is
Lessons learned referring to the approach we choose, through
and significant which we mobilized the citizens in order to
achievements 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
24

26. 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

27. STORY 3

28. The project “Beware of your acts, they become a
Our story 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.
Training for peer We organized training for peer educators with
participation of 48 students of which 26 students
educators th th
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.
With the workshops we obtained 966 young
Workshops in people, students from primary and secondary
schools 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.
27

29. Informative In order to efficiently inform the target group, 1500
leaflets were prepared and printed, which were
leaflets distributed by the educators to their peers and the
project team distributed the other leaflets to the
wider public.
Lobbying the Aiming to realize this action we maintained 8
individual meetings with all directors of the
directors of the schools in Sveti Nikole and one individual meeting
schools and the with the councilor for education, culture and
Local Self - sport within the Local Self-government of Sveti
Nikole. Also we conducted meetings with
government 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.
Mayor of Municipality of Sveti Nikole, Mr. Rober
Quotations from Georgiev, : “The subject is interesting and wide, and
the participants I'm glad that this initiatives are undertaken, one
in the project must work a lot on this field”.
Inspector for prevention Shtip, Mr. Lazo Paskov: “I
salute the idea for implementing such project
28

30. 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
Lessons learned learned that is very difficult to work with children
and significant which are in a period of adolescence.
achievements 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
th
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.
29

31. STORY 4

32. “For clean and ecological Delchevo” is the project
Our story 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.
Media In the first month of the project implementation we
presented ourselves through the media by organizing
introduction of press conference on which the project coordinator
the project 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”.
Aiming to promote the goals of the project we
Preparation of prepared a leaflet, which we printed in 2000 samples.
leaflet 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.
31

33. Contacts and We prepared a plan for maintaining meetings with
the institutions foreseen in the project plan so we
meetings with held meetings with: Mayor of Delchevo, President
relevant of the Municipal Council of Delchevo, director of
institutions and the public enterprise for utilities “Bregalnica”,
Department of inspection surveillance, directors of
school the primary schools “Vanco Prke” and “Ss. Kliment
communities 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 to see Delchevo clean and
ecological. 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.
Action for Aiming to successfully conduct the cleaning actions
of public surfaces, we purchased 2000 bags and
cleaning public 2000 gloves for one use.
surfaces 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
th th
of 09 of May - 12 of July 2009. On the occasion of
nd
Planet Earth Day 22 of April we conducted action
for cleaning of the public surfaces, promoting the
project successfully and introduced the future
activities.
32

34. Ecology happening On organized music event of ASNOM in Delchevo,
we
12.06.2009 in the hall
announcing the start of
- Youth for clean the campaign For clean and ecological Delchevo.
and ecological The event was officially opened by the President of
the Municipal Council of Delchevo. The ecological
Delchevo patrols were also promoted and for the music part
were responsible young music groups from the
Municipality.
Forming In cooperation with the directors of the schools in
Delchevo and the teachers in ecology, we formed 3
ecological nooks ecological nooks, one per school. The ecological
nooks were set in the biology cabinet.
As a result of the successful cooperation of the
Forming schools, in the three schools we established
ecological ecological patrols composed by 15 students from
each school. The members of the ecological patrols
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.
Quotations from President of Municipal Council of Delchevo - Toni
Trajanovski: “It is my pleasure to cooperate with the
the project young members enthusiasts from “Voice of Youth”.
participants As Municipal Council we will provide further
unconditioned support in the implementation of
project that address youth in the community”.
rd
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
33

35. 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
th
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.
According to the interest shown and the
Lessons learned number of young people included in the project
and significant implementation, we can conclude that youth can
accomplishments 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.
34

36. STORY 5

37. The project “Raising awareness of youth for the
Our story 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
(campaign for promotion of healthy life styles and
encouraging youth to sports) 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.
For the purpose of starting the project activities, we
Peer education organized a meeting with the director of the high
training 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
educators acquired knowledge of the
consequences of the alcohol and cigarettes at
youth.
The peer education method was selected because
Organizing the same is based peer to peer education,
workshop in high considering that youngsters accept mostly from
school Vanco their peers, having close and direct approach,
without shaming and asking what do they want to
Prke know. Using this method we organized 30
st rd
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
informative-educational leaflets were
disseminated to the participants.
36

38. As a part of the campaign for promotion of healthy
Organizing life styles and encouraging sports to the youngsters
handball game 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.
In order to affect bigger promotion of the
Promotion of free- activities of our campaign we established
of-alcohol drinks 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.
Director of high school “Vanco Prke”, Mr. Tihomir
Quotations from Tasev ”I salute the initiative of NGO “INI” and
the project “Young enthusiasts”, which contributed to greater
participants 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”.
37

39. 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”.
If such project is realized in future, we consider that
Lessons learned the project shouldn't be implemented during
and significant elections because different groups of people
achievement 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
st
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.
38

40. CONTENT
1. Coalition SEGA 3
2. Action for youth organizing in Eastern Macedonia 6
3. Youth in advocacy processes on local level 7
4. Action 1: Creation network of youth organizations 8
5. Action 2: Workshop for assessment of the needs of youth
organizations and informal groups 9
6. Action 3: Legal and financial support for the informal groups for
registration as “citizen associations” 10
7. Action 4: Signing Memorandums of Cooperation with the
organizations 10
8. Action 5: Capacity building processes of the youth
organizations 10
9. Action 6: Support of local advocacy campaigns 13
10. Action 7: Signing contracts with grantees 13
11. Comparative analyses of successful and unsuccessful actions with
practical recommendations for work on advocacy campaigns 14
12. Story 1 15
13. Story 2 21
14. Story 3 26
15. Story 4 30
16. Story 5 35

41. Coalition of youth organizations
B T D T h e Bal k a n Tr u s t f o r D e m o c r ac y
A P R O J E C T O F T H E G E R M A N M A R S H A L L F U N D