The USAID activity for youth who actively create opportunities is a five-year initiative that aims to support young people to become successful and independent, to contribute to their communities and a better future in the country.
The activity is carried out by Advancing Economies for Stronger Communities, an American non-profit organization, in partnership with the Youth Educational Forum (YEF) and the Center for the Development of Managers and Entrepreneurs (CEED Hub) Skopje, with the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Within the Activity, MOF will organize trainings, promote research and advocacy, support youth-led events and community service. Through such initiatives, young people will acquire the necessary skills and resources to become successful leaders, foster a culture of integrity, and make positive changes in their communities and beyond.
More information is available at this link.
The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors/YEF and do not reflect the views of USAID or the United States (US) Government.
“Youth Think” is a five-year program that works with young people to help them better navigate and participate in today’s information ecosystem in a way that informs and includes, rather than divides and polarizes. Building on IREX’s ‘Learning to Discern’ approach to building media and information literacy skills, this project fosters awareness of media literacy across society, through partnerships with schools and universities, support for youth clubs, youth-led campaigns and opportunities for young journalists and media.
“Youth Think” prioritizes young people as they search for and develop high-quality and engaging informational content that meets their needs and interests.
USAID’s Media Literacy Project “Youth Think” is implemented by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) in collaboration with local partners the Macedonian Media Institute (MIM), the Institute for Communication Studies (ICS) and the Youth Educational Forum (YEF).), and is financially supported by USAID.
Through the general organizational support, the Youth Education Forum addresses the unequal opportunities among young people in current educational and youth policies by creating analyzes and researches, participating in working groups for the creation and improvement of youth policies, current information through journalistic texts and products and enabling equal access to formal and informal education for young people.
YEF realizes these commitments by creating partnerships with local youth and national organizations and strengthening the capacities of small local and thematic youth organizations as well as student representative bodies.
The project is aimed at achieving the following goals:
These goals will be achieved with a series of activities such as:
The project focuses on combating divisive narratives and hate speech, encouraging social cohesion and dialogue among young individuals. Through activities, positive narratives aimed at countering hatred, hate speech and gender norms will be promoted and improve intergroup understanding. The main goal is to improve youth dialogue and trust across the region through positive narratives based on facts and the promotion of gender equality in public spheres.
With the Fostering Youth Activism through Online Media project, the Youth Educational Forum, through the Radio MOF multimedia platform, publishes content in the form of short news, research stories and analyses, as well as audio program-podcasts that have informative, reliable and objective media content.
Within the framework of this project, the democratic and political processes in the country are explained in a simple and comprehensible way for young people in order to encourage youth involvement in them. The contents promote critical thought, debate and involvement of young people in the policy-making process in the spheres of society that are important to them.
The project further aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by youth from vulnerable categories by showcasing their stories. The goal of the project is to encourage young people to become active and informed citizens who contribute to the creation of a more inclusive and equal society.
The project “Engaging youth to improve the narrative of the people UNHCR stands for” implemented with the support of the UNHCR, aims to reshape the public’s perception of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons. Through five key activities, youth and UNHCR beneficiaries work together to achieve this goal.
Through these initiatives, the project aims to combat negative stereotypes and advocate for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.
The Regional Mobility Program (RYLMP), a joint initiative of the Center for Education Policy (CEP) from Serbia and the Center for Science and Innovation for Development (SCiDEV) from Albania, supported by the offices of the Open Society Foundation from Serbia, Albania and Macedonia, aims to aim to strengthen cooperation between young people in Albania, Serbia and Macedonia.
RYLMP facilitates cross-border cooperation, highlighting research competencies and social engagement, youth advocacy and regional cooperation. Recognizing common challenges faced by young people – such as the quality of education, unemployment and limited political participation – the project seeks to empower young people through trainings, meetings with institutions and stakeholders and mentoring.
The project’s goals include strengthening regional youth cooperation, improving cultural understanding, promoting youth advocacy skills, and supporting civil society networking. Through joint efforts, the program aims to respond to common issues and create opportu
The project aims to encourage cooperation between youth organizations from North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to improve intercultural competences and media literacy among young people.
Through moderated virtual exchanges, the project exposes stereotypes propagated by online media and social networks. Specific objectives include:
realization of virtual meetings for 1,600 young people aged 15 to 18 years to reduce social distance and prejudices towards neighbors;
improving the media literacy skills of 800 people aged 18 to 25 to combat misinformation and hate online and
strengthening the capacities of 30 trainers in using digital environments for learning, that is, for teaching media literacy and critical thinking.
Using examples of ethnic stereotypes and misinformation, the project encourages virtual discussions to increase intercultural competences and resistance against online manipulation.
