Start date: August 17, 2016
End Date: August 17, 2021

Implementer: East West Management Institute (EWMI), in partnership with four local civil society organizations (CSOs): the Foundation for Internet and Society “Metamorphosis”, the Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI), the Foundation for Open Society in Macedonia (FOSM), and the National Youth Council of Macedonia.

OBJECTIVES

The Civic Engagement Project will strengthen the constructive engagement by civil society organizations (CSOs) on policies and issues of public concern, and increase and sustain youth involvement in public life in Macedonia. Through CEP, participating young people and CSOs will acquire knowledge, gain motivation and develop skills that will allow them to contribute to policy discussions with the government, the private sector, the media and other CSOs. The overall goal of the Civil Engagement Project is to enhance CSOs and youth’s capacity to advance public policies, improve public services, promote good governance and contribute to improving the standard of living of people in Macedonia. The Project is committed to gender equity and the protection of the rights of socially excluded groups in Macedonia.

COMPONENTS

COMPONENT 1: Strengthen Civil Society Organization Alliances: through its Partnership Grants Program, the Project will 1) support CSO alliances to become leaders in shaping and constructively engaging in issues of public concern; 2) enhance their capacity to engage citizens, media, government institutions and other stakeholders in advancing the public’s wellbeing; and 3) strengthen their institutional capacity.

COMPONENT 2: Strengthen CSOs: Through flexible and tailored grants and capacity development assistance, the Project will support CSOs, including think tanks, that work in the following priority areas: good governance, public service improvement, rule of law, anti-corruption, human rights, economic growth, business enabling environment, and monitoring and oversight of public institutions.

COMPONENT 3: Strengthen Youth Engagement: The Project will organize annual yearlong LEAD (Linking, Engagement, Advocacy, Development) program that will equip 80 highly-motivated young people with skills, knowledge, and networks that will enable them to become leaders in advancing public interests at the community, regional, or national level. The Project will pair each LEAD MK Fellows with a mentor and ensure organizational support for their LEAD MK Projects. Every year, the project will also organize a Youth Activism of the Year Award to promote civic engagement and recognize successful youth, CSOs and/or groups that engage in promoting their communities’ wellbeing.

COMPONENT 4: Strengthen Youth Activism: Through grants and capacity development assistance, the Project will support youth CSOs and non-registered youth groups that 1) focus on educating young men and women about their rights and the opportunities for participating in public life; 2) promote youth to work with public institutions at the central and local government level on issues that affect Macedonia’s youth or the community at large; and 3) provide opportunities for youth to give back to communities and society, and focus on priority political, economic, cultural or social issues that might impact their lives.

KEY EXPECTED OUTPUTS

Strengthen CSO alliances:

• Up to five CSO alliances that promote advances in key areas of priority concern for citizens;
• At least 15 CSO alliances’ strategic actions undertaken in their focus areas;
• The expansion of CSO alliances with other CSO, think tanks, media, private sector, and academia stakeholders;
• Established mechanisms and practices for generating civic activism and bottom-up support for CSO alliances initiatives; and
• Organizational change that leads to the CSO alliances’ sustainability put in place.

Strengthen CSOs:

• Up to 17 CSOs supported to lead civic engagement in their focus areas;
• CSOs assisted to use information management tools to catalogue and communicate with expanded constituencies, as well as with partners and donors inside Macedonia and abroad;
• Approximately 51 citizen mobilization interventions that contribute to CSOs seeking citizen support for and involvement in advocacy initiatives.

Strengthen Youth Engagement

• Multi-faceted, tailored yearlong leadership development delivered to 80 competitively-selected young men and women;
• At least 80 small scale projects implemented by youth at the community, regional or national level;
• Youth Civic Engagement Award delivered to best practices and success stories of individual youth and youth CSOs activism in Macedonia.

Strengthen Youth Activism

• 30 youth CSOs equipped with skills and support needed to energize young men and women and provide them with opportunities to become actors of progress in their lives and in their communities.

Contact Information
Contact at USAID: Melita Cokrevska, mcokrevska@usaid.gov
Chief of Party: Ana Drakić, adrakic@ewmi.org
Public Outreach Specialist: Natasha N. Stankovic, nstankovic@ewmi.org