NGO MAGAZINE - Nr. 3 (February 2012)

NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

NGO MAGAZINE

FOU N DE RS :

EU R OP E A N CE N TE R S N 7 &

CE N TER F O R ED U C A TI O N

A N D DE VE L OP ME N T - C ED

A MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO THE NGO SECTOR – NR. 3 / FEBRUARY 2012

• CED, five years with you • YATA Macedonia delegation visits Brussels • CDI, Bona Mente Conference

SADUDIN BAJRAMI PAGE 6

The role of a student

© NGO MAGAZINE - PUBLISHER: EUROPEAN CENTER SN7 & CENTER FOR EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT - CED Editor-in-chief: Daut MEMETI; Editors: Metin MUAREMI, Kaltrina AZIZI, Fatos VELIU, Alma AZIRI, Astrit REXHEPI, Mensure ILJAZI Phone: 00 389 70 523 764; E-mail: info@sn7.org.mk, info@ced.org.mk; Web: www.sn7.org.mk/ngomagazine.pdf A digital edition is an online magazine or online newspaper delivered in electronic form which is formatted identically to the print version.

NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

FACEBOOK TIPS FOR NGO’s Make your Facebook page work for you. Here are some hints and tips that Facebook would recommend: 1. Be personal, educational and think about your audience – speak directly to your users, supply them with the information they require in a format that is easy to understand and suitable for your target audience 2. Create content worth sharing – by providing engaging, quality content you will ensure users return to your page and are more likely to engage with you in return 3. Join the conversation – if users are commenting on a post you made on your page, join them. This will give your brand a tangible voice and persona 4. Make the best use of relevant tools – There are more than 550,000 active applications available on the Facebook platform. Use them innovatively to make your page unique 5. Continue to grow your connections and promote your page – build relations with similar organisations where you are likely to find users interested in your organization by ‘liking’ their page and engaging with them through posting links and comments 6. Promote your page – provide links in advertising material and your company email signature 7. Make your website ‘social’ – Install our social plugins, allowing Facebook users to ‘like’ content, create recommendations and see an activity feed, amongst other features.

This activity links back to the user’s personal profile page and spreads your brand further 8. Use your partners – Encourage links to your Facebook page on any supporters’ websites 9. Drive customer awareness – Utilise the Facebook ads tool to further increase your page membership. Ads can be targeted specifically by gender, age, location, language and interests meaning that your organisation can reach the right audience.

(Source: Conor Byrne's Blog)

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EUROPEAN CENTER SN7 ORGANIZED REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOPIC

European future of the youth

European Center SN7 organized a regional conference on topic “European future of the youth”. The conference was held at the EU InfoCentre in Skopje, on February 07, 2012. The conference was attended by representatives of the nongovernmental sector from our country and beyond, representatives of the public institutions, creators and protagonists of youth policies, representatives from the educational institutions, researchers for youth future etc. Daut Memeti, the president of the European Center SN7 noted that the conference coincides with d

the long-term strategy of the European Center SN7. “Our organisation fully committed on youth development, involving young people in decisionmaking and ensuring equal opportunities between generations”, said Mr. Memeti.

Otherwise, the secretary general of the European Center SN7, Fatos Veliu, during the opening speech said that the topic of the conference “European future of the youth” presents a challenge for all generations. “Dealing with young people and their future is a big responsibility, but also is a huge satisfaction", said Mr. Veliu.

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." – By: Henry Ford

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NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

CED, five years with you

Before five years, motivated by the idea that things should be changed, either in the approach that we teach children, also in the way of acting locally related to cultural developments in the societies, it was found Center for education and development (CED). Even in that time the organization had a clear mission and vision that there should be institutional action in the society, so that positive changes would be promoted, through which young people will find their selves and will contribute for their future.

Our projects were successful thanks to the organizational and professional capacities that were involved during their implementations. It is very easy to fulfill the project aims, when they are led by professional, but in the same time by people which are motivated to work with young people. From its beginning the organization as its target group has the young people, and only through direct involvement them on the education process we could promote the excepted changes. We have never forget to involve in our projects the teachers, students, leaders of the different institutions who were directly involved in different activities. We were aware that the projects would be accepted only if they promote skills and if they are applicable. Always we strive to increase the quality of our projects, the implementation methods, monitoring and evaluation. The different projects are based

on participative pedagogy, where learning is understood as process, which depends from the learner. Since 2006 the organization has implemented more than 15 projects and more than 50 activities. Projects and activities were striving for education, capacity building and initiatives for different cultural activities in the region. The methodology that we were using in our projects is mainly through non formal education methods, such as: individual work, group work, tutorials, presentations, role plays, dance theatre, campaigns, creative workshops, Medias and the intercultural education. The seriousness of our projects and different actions is seen through the different national and international cooperation’s with: Ministry of education and science, Children Foundation Pestalozzi, Switzerland programme for the Western Balkan, Pro Helvetia, Contemporary art centre, Centre for non formal educationTriagolnik, New York University (Skopje), British council. Currently the organization is member of different coalition of organization such: SEGA, MOF, RCC, and ADAEL. The organization is open for everybody, so every individual who would like to contribute to make changes within his/her region, at the same time to increase its capacities, might join to us on creating a better future for the youth. In the name of the all organizations members, we thanks all previous members that have contributed until now on implementing different projects and promoting the positive values which the organization has built until now. We hope that on the tenth anniversary CED would be serious institution which functions not only in the country but wider in the Balkans, by promoting changes on the education system, culture and the development in general. We believe that only with positive energy, sustainability and creativity, objectives might be achieved; CED continues to live and function.

PROJECT MANAGER!?

A project manager is the person responsible for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which are cost, time, and quality (also known as scope).

FROM CULTURE TO DEVELOPMENT

Being aware that more than half of population in Macedonia lives in rural areas, but in the same time identifying the needs within the communities in these areas, CED works on the field of promoting the cultural development in these areas.

According to the strategic plan of the organization we work with different NGOs, individuals and other citizens groups to function as non formal group on solving different cultural issues. Until now we have implemented several activities so that the rural region become attractive destination for the tourists and other interested organization. Based on this idea CED, through the project RCC cooperates with the Switzerland programme for the western Balkan, through which we realize more then 4 activities by year. In December 2011 for the first time under local organization it was organized open debate for the idea of declaring the Sharr Mountain as National park. On this event more than 40 people, leaders of NGOs in Macedonia and Kosovo were participating.

The organization believes that only through genuine culture events, national protection of the beauties of the rural regions, and the idea of brining cultural events to the rural areas, Macedonia could be developed country, where each individual is valued according to what he does, and not where he or she lives.

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NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

YATA Macedonia delegation visits Brussels

YOUNG ATLANTICISTS WITH NEW LEADERSHIP The Youth of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia on 18.01.2012 in the facilities of the University American College Skopje held its regular Annual Assembly. At the Assembly the members had the opportunity to review and adopt the Annual Report for the work of the organization as well as the Activities of MEACM for 2012. Regarding these two documents the participants had a very fruitful debate. At the Annual Assembly of MEACM a new presidency was elected: - President: Ilija Djugumanov - Vice-presidents: Stefanija Madzoska and Emir Berisha - Secretary General: Jordan Tasev The new presidency consists of 14 additional young Atlanticists elected following the criteria for gender and University balance. At the Assembly the Executive Office of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia was present and the President, Lazar Elenovski, gave a short and encouraging speech.

Delegation of YATA Macedonia on invitation by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, from 22nd to 25th of January 2012 visited NATO HQ and SHAPE in Brussels and Mons, Belgium. The youth opinion formers, in the NATO HQ, had briefings and discussions with high representatives of NATO. The first briefing was dedicated to the current political issues and forthcoming NATO Summit in Chicago, held by Mr Alexandros Papaioannou from the Policy Planning Unit, Office of the Secretary General.

During that one hour, the Macedonian delegation had possibility to listen more on the role of the new strategic concept as well as the priority issues on Chicago Summit agenda.

Next session was dedicated on the states of Western Balkan. Representatives of NATO PDD were Ms. Barbora Maronkova, Regional Coordinator for the Western Balkans and Mr. Laurie Walker, Balkan Officer, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division. Afternoon session was dedicated to Afghanistan, on which the youth could debate with Mr. Daniele Riggio, Information Officer with responsibility on Afghanistan within NATO PDD. Also meetings were held with Ms. Joy Davis-Kirchner,

representative of the U.S. Mission to NATO and photo exhibition held by Chez delegation on the topic “Our security is not given” was accessed, opened by Kolinda Graber, Deputy Secretary General for Public Diplomacy. The day finished with a round table on public diplomacy and new media, followed by a meeting with representatives of the Macedonian Mission to NATO. The visit of SHAPE was a high-level visit. Two sessions were held, first one dedicated to NATO, SHAPE and ACO, and the second one was dedicated to NATO operations. The third meeting which was held, was dedicated to questions and answers, and was especially beneficial for the young atlantists. During the informal part, the Macedonian representatives had an opportunity to spend time with YATA representatives. Opportunities for the future cooperation were considered. Previous work of YATA Macedonia was presented and highly remarked by the Montenegrin fellows as well as Macedonian representatives in NATO HQ and SHAPE. This visit was also very strong team building tool for the new Presidency of YATA Macedonia.

TOP 10 QUALITIES OF A PROJECT MANAGER

Inspires a shared vision; good communicator; integrity; enthusiasm; empathy; competence; ability to delegate tasks; cool under pressure; team-building skills; problem solving skills.

Volunteering

Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life, but people also volunteer for their own skill development, to meet others, to make contacts for possible employment, to have fun, and a variety of other reasons that could be considered self-serving. Volunteerism is the act of selflessly giving your life to something you believe free of pay. Although if a person volunteers they may not earn money, it produces a feeling of self-worth and volunteers earn respect and Favors instead of money. Volunteering takes many forms and is performed by a wide range of people. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work in, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Other volunteers serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster or for a beach-cleanup. Such volunteers do not work for free and are given regular pay.

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NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

BONA MENTE: Support Committees for Inter-Community CICR

BONA MENTE Conference

Civil Association Community Development Institute (CDI), organized a national conference on December 21, 2011 at the "EU Info Centre" in Skopje under the project "BONA MENTE: Support Committees for Inter-Community CICR" CDI that was implemented in the past 11 months with financial support from the European Union, through the IPA of 2008. The conference aims at promoting the results achieved within the project and opening the discussion about the need to amend the Law on Local Self-Government, in order to strengthen the role of CICR at the local level.

Representatives of civil society, committees for Inter-ethnic Relations between the communities of 21 municipalities, members of Parliament, and other participants attending the conference had the opportunity to become familiar with the contents of CICR manual titled "Everything I want to know about CICR" altogether with the analysis of policies for CICR that CDI has drafted under this project, as well as specific proposals for

amendments to the Law of Local Government that CDI proposes for increasing the participation of minority ethnic communities in decisions making that affect them by strengthening the role of CICR. In his speeches the Executive Director of CDI Sreten Koceski, and General Secretary Damir Neziri presented activities that were conducted as part of the "Bona Mente: Support for CICR," while Professor of Law Faculty in Skopje, Ms. Renata Deskovska addressed the legal aspects of the proposed amendments to the Local Government and how these changes will impact on improving the functionality of these committees in the future.

The conference presented the following activities that CDI will implement in 2012, which will aim to adopt the proposed amendment by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. This project represents a continuation of a series of activities that CDI realized in the past 6 years, and which aim to improve the performance of CICR and increasing their role at the local level.

Community Development

Institute (CDI) published

“Manual for volunteers”

Community Development Institute (CDI) within the annual programme supported by CIVICA Mobilitas, during the year of 2011 developed and published the Manual for volunteers.

The purpose of this manual is to facilitate the way towards voluntarism for both today’s and also future volunteers, and to show the organizers of the volunteering activity the role of volunteering, the contents of the Law on volunteers and to provide answers to the most frequently asked questions about the ongoing implementation of the Law which will contribute for stimulating and recognizing the importance of voluntarism in Macedonia. According to the authors of this manual who are volunteers themselves, volunteering include voluntary work, or activity of people who by their own good will invest their time, effort, knowledge and labor, without financial compensation for the benefit of certain individual, group, community.

The voluntary work offers a lot of opportunities to young people that want to help their community in any way and at the same time to develop their communication skills and gain the experience they need. For these reasons CDI works actively on promoting voluntarism and encouraging young people to engage in voluntary work as many as possible.

10 VALUABLE TIPS FOR NGOs ON TWITTER 1. Monitor Discussions & Relevant Updates 2. Identify & Follow 3. Customize Your Account 4. Create a Relevant Voice 5. Patience, Grasshopper 6. Engage Your Audience 7. Revisit Your Tweets 8. Use a Twitter Client 9. Be Creative & Innovative 10. Checkout HashTags

FRIENDS ARE LIKE GOLD. EACH ONE IS RICH AND THEY ALL LAST A LIFETIME

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NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

The role of a student Sadudin BAJRAMI It is amazingly interesting now day’s role of a student. It took centuries people in this world to come up intentionally or not and “vote” a pathfinder that will everlastingly be a key of exploring professions and help people survive and live, and this is the student that seems to be just a term. This term, as always, today presents a youngster whose future is enigmatic and has treasure of wisdom that is endowed somewhere in space, waiting and wanting this pure will of a student to explore it. This term also has a place that is an object where ideas enjoin the lecturer and the searcher to illustrate a way of progress in life.

And In spite of all, the will of this youngster and his/her purification may be restricted?

BECOMING A STUDENT I am a student myself and becoming a student we already know that it is a universal, unique and authoritative term. As students, we live in different sections of the world and all we do is inherit the lessons of those who were students, years, decades and centuries ago.

This seems to be that the student is the leader of population whose country is this planet earth, because, as students, we are all over the world and in front of any development. It is very much important to be cautious in our beginning of our search and understand why we are the leader of this planet; otherwise, we may end up in the many theoretical explanations that lead us toward to different life standings people own, which move us away of who we are supposed to be. We usually say that “future is unpredictable”, and this means that no one assures us if people were aware of living this lifestyle we have today, because our present time is what people in the past have considered as their future which we might like or not, and unpredictably we happen to live this way we do, same as our future might be for the new generations. We start our education in our own environmental places we live: among our families, in our nations and with the lectures that traditionally have been our guide. And I think, maybe the traditional lecture of living life this way, sometime leads us to making the

very famous question to ourselves: why do we use a small percentage of our brain, and why do we feel that we are excluded somehow from life? And the kind of answer I have for this is: we don’t seem to work properly to be included to life, because the purpose of this life is a human to be related and engaged to the nature’s environmental creation and respect it by being patient, tolerant and curious, but, we do the opposite, because we segregate eachother and study life superficially. It is necessary to care this way and be critical when learning what we are taught, explain it to ourselves and foresee whether it works globally, and if it doesn’t then we are, may be, unwontedly manipulated. This manipulation we can recognize if we understand that our world isn’t only our countries that have few millions of people, many borders that restrict our will to explore deeper in life, but our country is our entire world, and we’re its citizen. This way of understanding life involves and introduces to us the purpose of its values.

BEING A STUDENT Being a student many people or students understand it as just being someone who attend some courses in state or private universities, but in reality a student can be anyone, (especially youngsters who might have no chance to attend educational courses, but work in some random jobs or just hang around the streets, having no given opportunity to do what many others can, but learn from being pushed away ), because to be a student to me means to be a researcher who looks for lessons that adapt people easier to life. And if those of us who are students, think by any chance that attending the lessons and finishing the years that we are required before we get degrees complete our lesson that adapts us easier to life than we are wrong, because our lesson is our life and in different sections of our world our lesson changes: If in one part of the world dominate democratic means then in another on dominate communism means or whatever else. So, what I want to explain isn’t what democracy or communism means, but how people have different ways of standings and political views which for every oncoming generation are a wrong traditional lecture, and that deceives our brains, by taking our will that we are supposed to use in our normal lives, and they make it a product to fed their conspiracies’ theories. So, every step we take as

students we should never forget that our role isn’t to be able to manipulate with others or relate to different organizations, but be a role keeper and this term, “the student” is an organization itself, because it includes everyone at the same time and its means aren’t to agree with whatever foolishness we realize or comes out, but to study it and see whether it is a problem for us and our future. I personally disagree with the way that we as students accept life, and I also irritate those washed brain people who institutionally use their positions to manipulate with us and pretend like they are doing something that makes them exceptional in their careers, but in reality they are the screwier. We attend our courses in our universities, and we can see that state universities have people who usually have nationalistic views whose lectures are a total lie when teaching a student to learn how to be against one another’s nations, instead of leaving us live life and respect it as it is, and the second one are also our private universities where we can realize how materialistic minds work. These aren’t reasons to be against professors, because there are good professors who knew what it meant to be a student and who clearly know what they should teach students, but are against the concepts that institutional laws allow to happen. This is or isn’t the way to teach and study, but a best way to tell ourselves what kind of students we are is to learn how to earn our lifetime grade which is very deep in life. These life perceptions might look quite idealistic which stand away of realism, but, nevertheless, the idea is a title that beneath it stands the providence of a predictable future according to factious reasons. And these reasons may look complicated, but life connections are unlimited, and the complicated mathematical number connections from zero to nine can tell us what our life is all about. So if we want to know and get rid of our psychological and physical pain then we should always ask ourselves: why our will is restricted?

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NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

The European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA) was established on 17 April 1986 in Madrid, in accordance with a recommendation adopted by the first European Colloquium of Youth Information Centres organised in April 1985 in Marly-le-Roi (France). This Colloquium, which brought together some 200 youth information and counselling professionals from 18 countries, was an initiative of the Paris Youth Information and Documentation Centre (CIDJ), with support from the French Ministry for Youth and Sport and from the Commission of the European Communities.

ERYICA is composed of national bodies (non-governmental or governmental) which seek to guarantee the right of young people to full and reliable information, which helps them make the choices they face in their lives, and which promotes their autonomy and their active participation in a democratic society.

MISSION ERYICA is an independent European organisation, composed of national youth information co-ordination bodies and networks. It works to intensify European cooperation in the field of youth information work and services. It aims to develop, support and promote quality generalist youth information policy and practice at all levels, in order to meet the information needs of young people in Europe and to apply the principles of the European Youth Information Charter.

AIMS As stated in the Agency's Constitution, ERYICA has three aims: to promote respect for the principles of the European Youth Information Charter, and to work for their implementation; to ensure European coordination and representation in the field of youth information and counselling; to promote the establishment of a European arena in this field, especially by developing a European Network of youth information and counselling structures.

(Source: eryica.org)

AGE Platform Europe is a European network of around 165 organisations of and for people aged 50+ representing directly over 30 million older people in Europe. Its work focuses on a wide range of policy areas that impact on older and retired people. These include issues of anti-discrimination, employment of older workers and active ageing, social protection, pension reforms, social inclusion, health, elder abuse, intergenerational solidarity, research, accessibility of public transport and of the build environment, and new technologies (ICT). The Platform takes also active part in several EU projects. The majority of these projects are funded by the 7th Framework Programme. The purpose of its work is to voice and promote the interests of the 150 million inhabitants aged 50+ in the European Union and to raise awareness of the issues that concern them most. AGE seeks to give a voice to older and retired people in the EU policy debates, through the active participation of their representative organisations at EU, national, regional and local levels, and provides a European platform for the exchange of experience and best practices. It also aims to inform older people on their rights as EU citizen or resident and on EU policy making

processes and development.

recent

EU

policy

BACKGROUND AGE was set up in January 2001 following a process of discussion on how to improve and strengthen cooperation between older people's organizations at EU level.

Membership of AGE is open to European, national and regional organizations, and to both organizations of older people and organizations for older people.

Organizations of older people will have the majority of votes in AGE's decision-making bodies. Membership is open only to nonprofit-making organizations. AGE is cofinanced by its members and by the European Commission.

AGE AND THE EU INSTITUTIONS This section is designed to introduce visitors to the European institutions and to increase their knowledge and understanding of the main interactions between AGE and the major European institutions. It will serve as a useful tool for better understanding the main legislative instruments of the EU and to explain how organisations of and for people aged 50+ can get involved in AGE’s work to influence the political outcomes of such instruments through its policy work and lobbying activities.

(Source: age-platform.eu)

Community Building Mitrovica (CBM)

CBM is a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) operating in the field of peace and community building in the wider region of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. The overall aim of CBM is to facilitate contact and dialogue between citizens in the whole of Mitrovica municipality.

CBMs staff consists of devoted citizens – both Serbs and Albanians – who grew up in this region and want to restore the previous confidence and even friendship that war and politics have destroyed. By supporting many concrete projects which address the direct needs of the local communities, CBM contributes in a modest way to this aim. The work of the past years has gained the organization a strong reputation on both sides of the Ibar. Fields in which CBM works are: media, culture, youth, women, minorities, dialogue, and return of refugees and IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). CBMs projects are open to members of all communities living in Mitrovica, and wider. CBM often cooperates with other NGOs, helps out with local initiatives and works with local governmental institutions and international organizations in order to initiate, to develop and to implement activities, for the benefit of the communities, in Mitrovica, and wider.

Vision of CBM: Mitrovica, a safe place where accountable institutions and strong civil society cooperate in developing a democratic society, where there is an appreciation for diversity and opportunity for citizens to make choices.

Mission of CBM:Local organization that identifies and advances joint interests of citizens through facilitation of interethnic dialogue and advocacy, as well as strengthening civil society against accountable institutions. (Source: cbmitrovica.org)

NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

ABOUT YEE Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) is a platform of many European youth organisations that study nature or are active in environmental protection. These member organisations come together from 28 countries. The aim of YEE is to encourage youth to be involved in environmental protection and to provide a platform where these organisations can work together. YEE gives an opportunity to contact other European organisations, to exchange experiences and ideas and to work together. All our activities are organised and carried out by young people under 30. YEE organises and encourages all activities that can increase the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of nature and the awareness of environmental problems among young people in Europe. Its aim is to promote the commitment of youth to the principles of environmental conservation. Therefore, young people's voluntary actions have to be stimulated for the protection and the rational use of the Earth's resources. Since environmental problems do not accept any borders, we act together within YEE in

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order to implement our ideas in our local groups and in joint activities. Within international actions, we intend to raise public awareness and to put pressure on enterprises and politicians.

YEE'S EUROPEAN ACTIVITIES FALL INTO TWO MAIN AREAS: 1) Supporting the work of the member organisations by promoting the widest possible exchange of information, ideas and experience among them, through publications and European training courses (e.g.: sustainable development, landscape management, ecology and economy, sustainable tourism, energy, climate change…)

2) Coordination of the activities of the member organisations by promoting direct cooperation between individuals on topics of mutual interest through European working groups and by organizing joint actions and campaigns on environmental issues of European importance. Such campaigns are: Climate Campaign, Green Energy Go Campaign, Sustainability Campaign, Ozone Campaign.

(Source: yeenet.eu)

SALTO: Why? What?

Where?

When?

Who?

SALTO-YOUTH stands for Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities within the European YOUTH programme. What is the history and scope of this network of SALTOYOUTH Resource Centres?

WHAT IS SALTO-YOUTH? SALTO-YOUTH.net is a network of 8 Resource Centres working on European priority areas within the youth field. It provides youth work and training resources and organises training and contact-making activities to support organisations and National Agencies within the frame of the European Commission's Youth in Action programme and beyond. SALTO-YOUTH's history started in 2000 and is part of the European Commission’s Training Strategy within the Youth in Action programme and works in synergy and complimentarity with other partners in the field.

SALTO PARTNERSHIPS & COOPERATION SALTO-YOUTH does not take over the work of other actors in the field - on the contrary SALTO strives to complement existing initiatives or build synergies between them.

• SALTO provides mutilateral Training Courses, in cooperation with National Agencies / Coordinators, about European Priority Topics and according to NAs needs.

• SALTO works together with the Partnership on European Youth Worker Training between the Council of Europe and the European Commission on publications like Coyote and T-Kits, through interlinking between their websites and by co-organising Trainer Meetings • The SALTO EuroMed Resource Centre is a partner in the EuroMed Partnership agreement between the Council of Europe and the European Commission • SALTO cooperates with the European Youth Forum and lists their Pool of Trainers members in TOY. (Source: salto-youth.net)

The European Youth Forum is the Platform of the Youth Sector of Civil Society in Europe.

Independently established by youth organisations it is made up of more than 90 National Youth Councils and International NonGovernmental Youth Organisations, which are federations of youth organisations in themselves. It brings together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe, organised in order to represent their common interests. Representation, internal democracy, independence, openness and inclusion are among the main principles for the functioning of the European Youth Forum and its Member Organisations.

OUR VISION Be the voice of young people in Europe, where young people are considered as equal citizens, and are supported and encouraged to achieve their fullest potential as citizens of the World.

The European Youth Forum represents and advocates for the needs and interests of all young people in Europe, through their positive and active participation.

OUR AIMS ● Increase the participation of young people and youth organisations in society, as well as in decision-making processes; ● Positively influence policy issues affecting young people and youth organisations, by being a recognized partner for international institutions, namely the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations; ● Promote the concept of youth policy as an integrated and cross-sectoral element of overall policy development; ● Facilitate the participation of young people through the development of sustainable and independent youth organisations at the national and international level; ● Foster the exchange of ideas and experience, mutual understanding, and equal rights and opportunities among young people in Europe; ● Uphold intercultural understanding, democracy, respect, active citizenship and solidarity; ● As the biggest regional youth platform in the world, we work to deepen European integration while at the same time contributing to the development of youth work in other regions of the world. (Source: youthforum.org)

NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

WHO WE ARE The amazing work that YouthNet does wouldn’t be possible without the people who work and volunteer here. YouthNet is based in offices in central London, and we’re grouped into a number of directorates that all work towards achieving our organisation’s mission.

CENTRAL SERVICES AND CEO Central to everything we do, our Central Services team ensures the smooth running, effectiveness and excellent administration of the organisation. The team supports the Chief Executive and Board of Trustees with charity administration, assists the senior management team to ensure good organisational management and provides human resources leadership on the management of staff, volunteers and external freelancers and consultants. Our Chief Executive provides leadership and guidance, and is crucial in shaping the organisations vision and strategy.

DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING The Development and Marketing team raises money to ensure that YouthNet is a wellresourced charity and awareness of what our organisation does. A team of skilled fundraisers build and manage relationships with funders from companies, government and charitable trusts and foundations to ensure that YouthNet is a social business that can meet and exceed its objectives.

Contact the Development team if you would like to discuss a funding partnership or want to support us through individual giving. Our experienced researcher provides intelligence and research to support YouthNet, while marketing and communications professionals support internal teams and provide a consistent perception of YouthNet • and its brands across all stakeholders and beneficiaries. Contact our press team if you are a journalist or the marketing team if you would like to discuss a marketing opportunity.

OPERATIONS The operations team manages our websites and partnership work on a day-to-day basis.

9 They are focused on working with partners to create engaging, useful services and editorial content for visitors to the sites.

The team includes experienced journalists, online community experts and project managers, who work tirelessly to manage ongoing relationships with key partners and content providers. They also recruit content providers such as national charities, youth organisations, government bodies and not-for-profit organisations.

Contact the operations team if you would like to discuss opportunities to work collaboratively with YouthNet, or get involved as a contributor or have any suggestions about improving our sites and services.

TECHNICAL YouthNet is committed to harnessing technology for the delivery of valuable user services. This relies on having a sound IT infrastructure and a collection of people skilled in building and maintaining this infrastructure. Our technical team includes software programmers, technical project managers, IT support staff and systems specialists, who together, create a solid platform on which we can build our services. They also support our partners with their technical needs. Contact the technical team if you think you could help us improve our systems.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES YouthNet’s Trustees are collectively responsible for setting the strategic direction and objectives of our organisation. They ensure that YouthNet operates within the legal and financial guidelines set out by law and are fulfilling the charity’s objectives as set out in its constitution. They work closely with the Chief Executive and other senior staff in defining overall policy, setting targets and monitoring performance.

(Source: youthnet.org)

PROJECT PLANING • Pay close attention to the human factor • Involve your team in the planning process • Iterate your plan • Move tasks that involve risks closer to the start of your project • Leverage technology to save time

HOW TO WRITE A PROJECT PROPOSAL!?

A project proposal is a document that is written with a specific purpose in mind: to convince someone that a project can and should be completed. Although there isn't a universal format for project proposals, many elements in proposals are important, and often, mandatory. Above all else, you must remember that a project proposal is an argument. If you don't present a viable and logical argument, your proposal will likely be rejected.

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Analyze your audience. Decide who will be reading the document and how they will be interacting with the document. The simplest way to conduct an audience analysis is to write down what prior knowledge the audience may have about the topic. This will help you determine how much detail to include in the proposal.

2. Write an introduction and place it under a header labeled "Introduction." This should be a brief description of the overall project and a statement about why it is a relevant and important project.

3. Include a section about previous or related work. Place this under a header labeled "Background." If there is research or other similar projects related to your own proposal, you must include this information. Including this shows the reader that you have done your homework and are knowledgeable about your topic.

4. Write out the specific proposal under a header labeled "Proposed Work." This includes the entire scope of the project and the details related to each component of the project. Include a list of project outcomes. This allows the reader to see tangible results from your project.

5. Include a project timeline, which can fall under "Proposed Work." Alternatively, you can add a new section entitled "Project Timeline." The timeline should be based on each component of the project. Include information about how long a component of a project will take, who will be responsible for completing the task and the specific dates associated with a task. Present this data in a table. To insert a table in Microsoft Word, click the "Insert" tab and select "Table." Enter the number of rows and columns you want to include in the table.

6. Write out a budget and place it under a header labeled "Budget." Present the expenses that the project requires. Write out a brief explanation for each budget item.

7. Conclude by stating the significance of the project. Tell the reader how your project will directly impact or improve the reader's life.

By: Art Corvelay , eHow Contributor

NGO MAGAZINE – February 2012

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The Association of Local Democracy Agencies - ALDA ABOUT ALDA The Association of Local Democracy Agencies is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the promotion of good governance and citizen participation at the local level. ALDA in particular focuses on activities that facilitate cooperation between local authorities and civil society. It works in Europe (27 members state) to promote citizens' participation in the public and European Policies and in the Neighbouring countries to promote local democracy from below, with the engagement of citizens and multilevel stakeholders. ALDA was established in 1999 at the initiative of the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to coordinate and support a network of Local Democracy Agencies which was established in the early 1990es. It remains one of its supporting programmes. It is the umbrella organisation of the Local Democracy Agencies which are selfsustainable, locally registered NGOs that act as promoters of good governance and local self-government. ALDA is a membership based organisation gathering more than 150 members (including Local Authorities, Associations of Local Authorities and nongovernmental organisations) coming from more than 30 countries. ALDA is funded through membership fees and project funding from the European Commission, the Council of Europe and other public and private donors.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT ALDA? Most of ALDA's work is based on the method of multilateral decentralized cooperation. This method involves a multi-stakeholder approach which focuses on strong partnerships between Local Authorities and non-governmental organisations. These partnerships create positive synergy and ensure that common goals are reached in a successful way.

WHAT WE DO? In the framework of promoting good governance and citizen participation at the local level ALDA focuses on various themes, such as European integration, civic initiatives,

youth involvement, human rights, immigration, equal opportunities, sustainable economic development, decentralization and volunteering. ALDA conducts its activities through different forms of action: ●Coordinating and supporting the 12 Local Democracy Agencies in their activities ●Developing and implementing projects based on ALDA's expertise in the field of good governance and citizen participation at the local level ●Providing technical assistance to Local Authorities as project partner using ALDA's knowledge, network and experience in the regions where ALDA and the Local Democracy Agencies are working.

WHERE WE WORK? ALDA works in most of Europe and the European neighbourhood countries. Activities in the European Union focus in particular on the promotion of Active European Citizenship.

Activities in the Western Balkans and European Neighbourhood focus on good governance, citizen participation, European integration and decentralisation. Most of the Local Democracy Agencies are located in the Western Balkans, which gives a natural focus on that area. But ALDA is also becoming more and more active in the European neighbourhood. In 2006 a Local Democracy Agency was established in Kutaisi in Georgia and ALDA is currently working towards opening agencies in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ALDA is also leading several other projects and developing partnerships in other European neighbourhood countries, such a Belarus, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.

ALDA CONTACT INFORMATION The Strasbourg Headquarters Council of Europe; 1, avenue de l'Europe F-67075 Strasbourg, France Phone: +33 3 90 21 45 93 Fax: +33 3 90 21 55 17 Email: aldastrasbourg@aldaintranet.org alda@aldaintranet.org (Source: alda-europe.eu)

STAY TUNED! SEE YOU NEXT ISSUE!

BEST, Board of European Students of Technology is an international non-profit and non-political student organization, organized and run entirely by students.

BEST connects students from 89 technical universities in 30 countries in a network that is maintained through numerous joint projects, interests and friendships. Every year it organizes over 120 international courses, seminars and conferences in which students from different countries learn and exchange experiences and ideas. Our priority is to offer quality and to assist students in Europe, and to do everything we can combine the triangle "students - university companies. As a result of the need for greater exchange of students, introduction and operation of domestic students with colleagues from other universities and obtaining further education in their studies was established Board of European Students of Technology - Skopje.

BEST - Skopje is a full member of the great European family BEST. Thus, students of Sts. "Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje have the right to use the services of BEST, including the participation of free academic events organized by other local BEST groups. This is one of the privileges, but on the other hand there are obligations. One of those is committed each year to organize at least one BEST event that will be attended by around 30 students from across Europe, which BEST - Skopje will cover all costs associated with their stay in Macedonia.

BEST - Skopje this responsibility successfully meets for seven years, and last year was able11 to organize the biggest international seminar for training and motivation within the BEST BalkanJAM, which will have about 400 participants, and the fifth fair. Labour and many other events. The hard work of members, who sacrificed much of their free time, resulted in the successful organization of these events.