Youth Engage Inspire in Macedonia
British Embassy completes programme assistance with the National Youth Council of Macedonia.
Possibilities of how state institutions can inspire youth engagement in creating policies was the key theme at the national conference organised with the aim to enhance dialogue of youth organisations in Macedonia with policy-making institutions as two important pillars in the Macedonian society. Debate focused on the need for youth to take part in societal processes equally with other stakeholders and thus use models and practices on European level, including the role of the youth in the European integration of the country.
Our ambassador Charles Garrett shared the panel with Fatmir Besimi, Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia for EU and Ivana Davidovska, President of National Youth Council of Macedonia. Speaking at the panel ambassador Garrett said:
Macedonia has a quarter of its population aged 15-29. That is a massive driving force. I am convinced that youth has the capacity and strength to be a credible partner to government institutions in creating youth policies. We in the Foreign Office highly value the contribution that youth can make to policy making, and we believe that youth is not only open, but can offer new ways of thinking, and as such, are important drivers of change. That is best illustrated by the work of the Youth Inspiration Group which had the opportunity to visit Macedonia at the end of 2014, as part of our cooperation.
The Youth Engage Inspire project was implemented by the National Youth Council of Macedonia, umbrella for 57 member organisations. The project activities included assessments of the capacity requirements on the required skills of their membership, regional assessment of youth needs, recruitment and social mobilisation work which would strengthen the Youth Council and increasing visibility of the organisations within the network to make them more observable to the youth, and to the public in general.
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