A Congress
initiative
to support youth
participation
Project report (max 2 pages)
Country
Municipalities or regions involved):
Youth delegate:
Macedonia
None
Martin Miloshevski
Basic information about results of the project (inform us what you did in max 1000 characters)
My primary idea of the project was to engage with existing local youth councils with the aim to
enable them to submit budget initiatives for urgent youth issues for the budget of their
municipalities for 2017. More precisely I planned to use the Manual of the Charter for participation
of young people in local and regional life of Council of Europe as key resource in the process of
preparation and submission of the budget initiative. For several reasons I was forced to change my
first idea and to adapt to the current situation in my country. Firstly I had several meetings with
donors in order to support my project but unfortunately the project didn’t fit in with their priorities,
and others were already working in the field with other organizations. Secondly there is an ongoing
political crisis in my country which reflects heavily on the cooperation and collaboration between
civil society and central and local government. Thirdly my organization was already working on a
project for strengthening the capacities of youth branches of political parties. In the end my idea
for the project was implemented through the existing project with the youth branches of political
parties. The aim of this project was to give concrete information to youth political branches
concerning youth policy, engagement, existing national and international youth policies with final
aim to help them prepare concrete proposals for the political program of their political party. It is
planned that parliamentary elections in Macedonia will take place on 11 th of December so this
workshop will help political parties to have better and realistic youth related proposals.
Workshop took place from 23 till 25th September which gathered 14 youth branches of political
parties. Every political party had the chance to send two participants. The workshop was divided in
two parts. First part was for giving information concerning existing national and international youth
policies where the Manual for Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life was one of
the most important documents. The second part was introduction to advocacy and lobbying, which
will help their proposals to be presented and successfully adopted in the political program of their
political party. For the purposes of this workshop one expert for youth policies from the pool of
trainers of the National Youth Council of Macedonia was included and one external expert for
advocacy and lobbing.
After presenting the documents, participants were asked to brainstorm and write concrete ideas that
could be developed and included in the political program. Through the help of the facilitators they
managed to write proposals.
Participants were provided with examples of youth polices that should help them in developing
their proposals. In the second phase of the project at the end of the October we will have another
meeting with the participants in order to track the development of their ideas and give concrete
steps how to advocate for their proposals.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe supports projects to promote
the direct participation of young people in local and regional democracy
Who were the participants of your project?
The participants were representatives of youth political branches of 14 political parties in
Macedonia. There were representatives from Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish political parties,
from right wing, social democrats to representatives of liberal political parties.
They were young people at the age between 18-29 with active role in their political party; some of
them part of the Governing structures of their youth political branch.
Did you use Congress documents? (i.e. Charter)
The Manual of the Charter for Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life was
presented as one of the most important documents that can be used in order to create better
environment for young people to develop.
Do you plan any follow up of your project?
Yes after the workshop there will be another meeting to track the development of their proposals
and give support if needed.
Number of participants
Outreach (how many people you
reached indirectly)
Number of
events/workshops/meetings
Did you involve disadvantaged
young people? (minorities, refugees
etc)
Did you co-operate with local
authorities? What were your
experiences related to co-operation?
Did you receive any financial or inkind support from
municipality/region?
Did you have media coverage for
your project? How did you promote
your project?
How did participants evaluate your
project?
If you were to do it again, what
would you do differently?
25
I can’t say it depends on how much the participants share
their experience and knowledge obtained through the
workshop.
1 two day workshop
1 one day workshop (upcoming)
Yes representatives of Albanian and Turkish minorities
participated in the workshop.
No I didn’t as I mentioned it is very complicated political
situation that affected heavily the cooperation between local
authorities and civil society.
No I didn’t.
The project was promoted on the Facebook page of the
National Youth Council of Macedonia.
The results of the evaluation have shown that participants
enjoyed the workshop.
I will include more participants and divide the project in
several modules lasting for two days.