Youth activists, members of youth forums, of different political parties, who led four advocacy campaigns using news social media, were presented with certificates for their innovation, leadership and work done by USAID.

Twenty-five activists were awarded certificates at the ceremony held on June 26, 2013. Minister of Health, Ferid Agani, Minister of Diaspora, Ibrahim Makolli, representatives from political parties and civil society were present at the ceremony.

“Facedog Kosova: One like, One murder Less”, “Half of Population, Right Representation”, “Save the Cave”, and “Don’t Smoke” are volunteer advocacy groups using new media to advocate on relevant topics across Kosovo. The initiatives, including environment protection, implementation of the ban on smoking in public areas, animal protection and equal gender representation in local government , came out of the USAID funded New Media School, a six month project, which aims to present opportunities to strengthen skills and expand the network among young activists from political parties and civil society.

New Media School project is designed to train the next generation of leaders for political parties and NGOs.  The School started this year as a pilot project with the major political parties and NGOs, and as part of the curriculum the students were asked to carry out an exercise demonstrating their new skills.  As result, the participants conducted four advocacy campaigns.