ASSOCIATION FOR MULTICUTURAL INTEGRATION “INCLUSION” OHRID

Total budget: MKD 330.000

Timeframe: 01.01.2021 – 30.05.2021 (5 months)

CONSTITUENTS

The association for multicultural integration “INCLUSION” Ohrid was established on 23.01.2011 with the goal of respect of human rights, democracy, equality, freedom of expression, solidarity and social inclusion of the young people of Macedonian ethnicity and smaller ethnic communities in the municipality of Ohrid and the Republic of North Macedonia. The activities are implemented by their active participation in the decision-making processes, with leadership, informal education, youth activism, youth work, volunteer work and creating socially aware and responsible young people, who should become the future leaders in the communities where they come from.

Our main target group are high school students aged 15-19, as well as young people up to 30 years of age, who come from different ethnicities.

ON THE PROJECT SUPPORTED BY CIVICA MOBILITAS

Through one prism – we are all the same

BACKGROUND

The need is specially defined with the students od sixth to ninth grade, as well as with the high school students of different ethnic communities in the city where often they do not know the language, traditions, culture and customs of the other ethnic group. According to the research conducted for the needs of other projects, the young generations do not know the cultural and historical features of the ethnic groups that live in this region, they do not build bridges of joint friendships and trust and they have a high threshold of intolerance on any grounds. From this aspect, we think that the implementation of the project will contribute to improving this situation in the municipality.

The municipality does not have an integrated approach to stimulating the intercultural understanding and tolerance among the young people in the region. This will be covered with the project, because the young people from different ethnic communities have the need of trainings to strengthen their capacities in several areas, such as: leadership skills, creation of public policies and strategies, multicultural movements and presenting their cultures at multicultural meetings, etc.

The young leaders from the municipality have the potential to change and improve the situation in Ohrid, but they need directions and established forms of identifying and analyzing the problems, preparing and proposing local initiatives, as well as lobbying and advocacy for their implementation.

The project activities are created to encourage open communication and stimulate the young people to participate in their implementation. The participation of the municipality and schools provides a long-term vision for building tolerance and understanding in the region. The involvement of the municipal authorities will create a firm basis for further development of the youth cooperation in this part of the country.

The project has been designed to build partnerships and networking among the youth CSOs, municipalities, schools, young people and the citizens of different ethnic communities, who live by the lake.

GOALS AND RESULTS

Goal: Building an intercultural and tolerant society via an essential political support with which the Republic of North Macedonia will be built as a civic state of everybody living in it: Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Vlachs, Roma, Bosniaks, Egyptians and other communities in order to have better intercultural communication and building a spirit of mutual respect.

Objective: Increasing the intercultural communication and cooperation among the primary schools and high schools and with the other young people from the municipality to develop the leadership skills with the young people and have them obtain management skills for carrying out initiatives that will aim at integration of the communities, presenting the positive aspects of living in a multicultural environment, strengthening the multiethnic tolerance and recognize the importance of the joint cultural spirit with the young generations. 

RESULTS

1. Established cooperation with eight primary schools and four high schools in Ohrid, covering 300 students in the primary and secondary education, as well as 100 parents;
2. Same number of joint workshops in each of the primary and secondary schools implemented (with 20 students present at each individual workshop). The workshops will cover eight themes: tolerance, discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, violence, hate speech, effective communication, confidence building and cooperation;
3. One coffee meeting organized, i.e. discussion of 20 young people with three representatives of MPC, IVZ and the Catholic Church in Ohrid, on topics related to religious tolerance and joint cohabitation. At the end of the meeting, the participants will release 20 balloons and hand cards with messages for peace, tolerance and cohabitation;
4. A multiethnic and multicultural camp organized with the participation of 20 high school and university students from various ethnic communities, two trainers and two representatives of the association. The camp participants will obtain the necessary leadership skills and knowledge, with respect to the topic;
5. One day virtual educational field trip, with 20 high school students, university students and representatives of the association. At this event, the curators of the national institution “Institute and Museum” from Ohrid will organize an online tour though the most significant cultural and historical monuments of the communities living in the municipality. After its end, the video will be uploaded on You Tube.
6. Written and published journalist articles related to the Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, Vlach and Egyptian tradition, in cooperation with an ethnologist from the Institute and Museum Ohrid. The articles will be published on a web portal and documented by camera, in order to be placed on You Tube and be presented on a video beam;
7. A multicultural visit with 20 participants from various institutions, citizens, representatives of party youth organizations, MPs and municipal councilors, as well as CSO representatives.

ACTIVITIES

1. A constitutive meeting with the team in charge of project implementation;
2. Multicultural workshops in the primary schools and high schools in order to develop the awareness and stimulate respect for the existence of similarities and differences, in the features of different ethnicities and religions;
3. Tolerant coffee discussion of 20 young people with representatives of MPC, IVZ and the Catholic Church from Ohrid on topics related to religious tolerance and joint cohabitation and the essence of peace and cooperation;
4. Youth multicultural camp of 2 days;
5. As part of the activities within this project, it is planned to also organize a visit of the children to religious facilities (church and mosque) in order for them to become acquainted and respect the cultural differences;
6. Writing and publishing journalist articles on the customs, tradition, culture and food of the selected ethnic groups (Macedonia, Egyptian, Albanian, Serb, Vlach and Turk) and their translation to several languages;
7. A multicultural visit that will mark the end of the project and present the results to the public.

Web page