Annual Report 2019 - Volunteers Centre Skopje

2019

Annual report

VOLUNTEERS CENTRE SKOPJE

Content 3

About us

4

Facts - Numbers - Statistics

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Our Team

10 ERASMUS+ 11 EVS / ESC 12 VOICES 14 Projects 22 Local Activities 24 Volunteer for Earth - IVD 2019 26 Kultur Contact: School meets business 27 MMUN 28 VET 29 VET: BET4VET 30 Support for others: Daily care Center 31 Support for others: In my World & Lastovica 32 Partners

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About us V

olunteers Centre Skopje is a non-governmental youth organization created in 2006 by former EVS volunteers. The main goal of the organization is to give non-formal educational possibilities to young people, in different fields, on local and international level; to promote the idea of volunteerism and to connect young people without reference to their nationality, religion, political, economical or social status. Our aim is to contribute to a multicultural civil society, to reinforce existing democratic structures, to support young people in developing their individual abilities and skills and to foster closer cooperation among young people.

Contact us

Our Vision

Volunteers Centre Skopje takes active part in society by offering equal opportunities and working to improve the living standard of young people

Our Mission

VCS Skopje is an active provider of information and opportunities about volunteering and nonformal education, both locally and internationally.

It uses European funds for youth opportunities and programs and actively involves young people in decision making processes.

www.issuu.com/vcsvoices

www

www.vcs.org.mk

Volunteers Centre Skopje

www

www.voiceskopje.org

VOICES mkd

+389 2277 2095

vcs.skopje

vcs_contact@yahoo.com

contact_vsc

Emil Zola 3/3-1, 1000, Skopje

Volunteers Centre Skopje

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Statistics WE HOSTED 22 VOLUNTEERS FROM 8 COUNTRIES Finland Estonia Poland Germany

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Belgium France Spain Turkey

Over 150 people from Macedonia sent abroad to international projects: European Solidarity Corps, Training Courses, Youth Exchanges, Seminars, Kickoff meetings, APV, Study visits...

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Our Team

Nikola Stankoski

Vafire Muharemi

DIRECTOR

PROJECT COORDINATOR

Andrej Naumovski PROJECT COORDINATOR

EDITOR OF VOICES

Goran Galabov

Laura BabaitytÄ—

Goran Adamovski

VET COORDINATOR

PROJECT COORDINATOR

COORDINATOR OF ACTIVITIES EDITOR OF VOICES

Ogi Ancevski

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IT SUPPORT

Volunteers

Selina Niemi

Mathis Gilsbach

Ewelina Chańska

FROM FINLAND

FROM GERMANY

FROM POLAND

EVS VOLUNTEER 2018 - 2019

EVS VOLUNTEER 2018 - 2019

EVS VOLUNTEER 2019

Dorota Łyczak

Sascha Schlüter

Tanguy Payet

FROM POLAND

FROM GERMANY

FROM FRANCE

EVS VOLUNTEER 2019

EVS VOLUNTEER 2019 - 2020

FRENCH CIVIC SERVICE

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR 2019 - 2020

2019 - 2020

Camille Labbaye

Kirsi Suomi

FROM FRANCE

FROM FINLAND

FRENCH CIVIC SERVICE

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019 - 2020

2019 - 2020

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Volunteers

SHORT TERM EVS PROJECT

Soma Hartikainen FROM FINLAND ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

Emilie Kanervo

Johanna Wahlberg

FROM FINLAND

FROM FINLAND

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

Dina Cox

Emma Vranckx

Jellica Collier

FROM BELGIUM

FROM BELGIUM

FROM BELGIUM

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

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Farxiyo Liban Farah

Pentti Haukipuro

FROM BELGIUM

FROM FINLAND

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

ESC VOLUNTEER 2019

VOLUNTEERS AT ORGANISATIONS COLLABORATING WITH VCS:

Triine Viisma

Ana Fernández Hernández

FROM ESTONIA

FROM SPAIN FOR YMCA

DAILY CENTRE FOR CHILDREN FROM THE

EVS 2018/19

STREETS - SHUTO ORIZARI, EVS 2018 - 2019

Madis-Siim Kull FROM ESTONIA FOR IN MY WORLD, EVS 2018 - 2019

Astrid Chapeau FROM FRANCE FOR IN MY WORLD, EVS 2019

Gülay IşIk

Soner Yakar

FROM TURKEY FOR LASTOVICA

FROM TURKEY FOR LASTOVICA

EVS 2019 - 2020

EVS 2019 - 2020

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Erasmus+ A

s in the years before, also in 2019, VCS continued to implement activities in the framework of the Erasmus + Programme of the European Commission. We are using the youth component of the program (KA1 segment) and during the year we have sent abroad/received many young people on EVS and other projects (youth exchanges, training courses, seminars etc.) by using the possibilities offered by Erasmus +.

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Volunteers Centre Skopje is accredited 2006 and is an organization for Coordinating, Sending and Hosting EVS volunteers. Our reference number is 2014-1-MK01-KA110-000293. The main activity for our EVS volunteers is VOICES magazine and they can choose in what other activities they want to be involved in. 2019 we have sent 10 EVS volunteers from Macedonia to Hungary, Finland, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom.

EVS T

he European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a part of the Erasmus+ program for young people of the European Commission. EVS is a partnership between two or more NGOs (sending, hosting and coordinating organizations).

The EVS is funded by the European Commission and aims to improve young people‘s skills. Volunteers participate in EVS through the sending organization in their country of residence and the hosting organization that receives and hosts them during the period of their project. Volunteers receive free accommodation, insurance, food and pocket money as well as language classes. Volunteers can work in a wide range of fields such as culture, youth, sports, children, cultural heritage, arts, environment, and development cooperation.

therefore the choice of an EVS project is a very delicate and important phase. There is the possibility to do a short term EVS (2 weeks – 2 months) or a long term EVS (2 months – 12 months).

If a person decides to do both, the total duration cannot be longer than 12 months and the short term project should be done first. Starting in 2019 the European Volunteering Service will be replaced by the name European Solidarity Corps (ESC).

At the end of their project every volunteer will receive a certificate confirming their participation - the Youthpass certificate. The circumstances of accommodation, tasks, working hours and days of work for international volunteers vary from one EVS project to another,

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Voices V

OICES magazine is the main activity of our organization.

The last year was successful and satisfactory. The entire team of VCS Skopje, together with local and EVS volunteers were involved in the magazine, divided into several teams for: design, translation (one translation team in Macedonian and one translation team in Albanian), writing articles and proofreading texts. VOICES is the title of our EVS project. We publish online every month with texts in three languages: Macedonian, Albanian and English. Printed editions are issued every third month, four times a year. In our magazine,

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we are dealing with various topics and aspects of everyday life that young people are interested in. We publish interviews, reports, opinions, we critically look at social development. In addition, we organize regular weekly workshops during which we learn about the basic rules and techniques of journalism, how to recognize the news, and how to write about them. How to make an interesting reportage, how to prepare an interview, how to express opinion. We learn how to design the layout, how to properly express ourselves with the ultimate goal of being media literate.

Be part of Voices! www

www.voiceskopje.org

VOICES mkd

www.issuu.com/vcsvoices

vcs.sending@gmail.com

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Projects I

n 2019 VCS was involved in over 40 projects all across Europe. We have sent participants to training courses, youth exchanges and other seminars, and in all these projects we work with great partner organisations to empower young people from Macedonia and across Europe.

2019 PROJECT COUNTRIES: Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Macedonia, Serbia, Sardinia, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania

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“No Hate Speech: Methods and Techniques Combating Hate Speech”, 15.04-24.04.2019 Struga, Macedonia This project “No Hate Speech: Methods and Techniques Combating Hate Speech” won the “Inspiring Project of The Year” - award from the Portuguese National Agency. This project had two parts. The first part, the training course served as a more practical start of the project, where participants learned more about different sorts of discrimination, stereotypes; shared countries realities and good practices about offline and online hate speech; learned more tools and methods that help fighting hate speech. The second part was carried out in Braga, Portugal later on the same year.

Participants came to this training course from 13 different countries: Portugal, Macedonia, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Poland, Latvia, Romania. Together they were discussing about the roots of prejudices, stereotypes, discrimination, social exclusion and the role of media in creating people’s opinion.

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Aiming to come to the solution, how in today’s world we can fight with hate speech and its consequences.

Participants learned the definitions and different kinds of discrimination, destroyed some stereotypes, shared about situations about hate speech in different countries, improved empathy and learned tools that they can use to help people in need, disadvantaged people, take action and speak up.

We had good reviews and feedback from the participants about the training course, the project was disseminated and reached a lot of people online and in local communities because we had open sessions, publications about the project in local magazines. As part of the project there were few videos produced and a gallery of photos that will help to spread the word. More information about the project can be found on Volunteers Centre Skopje’s web page, Facebook and Instagram. #speechnoh8

Youth Exchange “CUTE” 6.7-15.7.2019 Struga, Macedonia “CUTE” as in cooperative, understanding, tolerant and empowered was a youth exchange hosted by Volunteers Centre Skopje at Struga, Macedonia. This youth exchange was arranged for younger audience, age between 14 and 18 (leaders 18+) and it gathered together 32 young people from Macedonia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria and gave them opportunity to learn by workshops, games and intercultural encounters that broadened participants horizons and brought them a lot of fun.

This exchange aimed to improve young peoples’ personal and professional skills regarding intercultural cooperation and self-awareness.

During this time the participants learned how to cooperate with each other, how to strengthen their leadership capabilities and their organizational specifics through

various workshops and activities.

There were also mini projects for the environment and for the youth which empowered participants to realize needs, plan and take actions and make a change in their smaller or larger communities.

Through teamwork, they learned to understand each other and to accept differences. They gained skills how to tolerate and understand other people’s differences and imperfections.

The exchange had a strong focus on intercultural learning and each group had one evening to present their country, culture and cuisine. The youth exchange was successful with overall good work by the participants and many new friendships flourishing between them. Participants really felt that this youth exchange helped them to grow as persons, empowered them and gave them understanding, toleration, confidence and cooperation skills to use on further life.

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Training course “Get Updated: Project for professional development of youth workers” 01 – 10.09, Struga, Macedonia.

The Training course “Get Updated: Project for professional development of youth workers” was implemented 1-10 September 2019 in Struga, Macedonia as a second stage of the project organized by Volunteers Centre Skopje and Fayo Foundation from UK. It was meant to provide the youth workers opportunities for professional development through ensuring high quality of youth activities involvement. The aim was to improve and enhance participants` capacities in emotional intelligence, conflict

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management and communication skills. Besides Macedonia, on this TC participated youth workers from our partner organizations from Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Romania and Hungary.

Funded by EC in the frame of Erasmus+ this successfully implemented TC offered the participants possibility to exchange best practices, explore new methods and techniques as well as empowered the youth work capacities of all the partners involved.

Training course “Creative writing as a tool for community change�, 09-17.12, Struga, Macedonia 27 enthusiasts for creative writing from 9 different countries (Macedonia, Romania, Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK) took part in this training course. We got acquainted with the basics of creative writing and its numerous usages. The process and usage of creative writing, which we also applied practically.

Each day was divided into energizer, thematic workshops tackling different aspects of creative writing, more widely group work, besides individual activities which we shared afterward.

At the end of the day we had group reflection and evaluation. We shared our opinions about the program and the day. Then, our feedbacks were forwarded to the organizers of the project by a member of the group, for improvement purposes and reinforcement of the things we appreciated. One day was devoted to field workshops, with the goal of getting a very useful and valuable firsthand experience about the functioning of different NGOs. Through various workshops, we learned more about stereotypes, prejudice and

discrimination and how to fight them through our creative writing. Each evening, there were intercultural nights where we got acquainted with one another cultures. Every participant had prepared something in order to represent their culture in the best light possible and to bring us closer to it.

At the end of this project we got introduced in depth to the Erasmus+ program, the volunteering activities and opportunities it offers. The conclusion of our training course was officialized with a semi-formal party with the awarding of our attendance certificates in this project, i.e. our Youthpasses. This project enabled us to gain considerable experience and remarkable practical knowledge about the usage of creative writing as a tool for community change, overthrowing stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. As individuals and participants, we are exceptionally satisfied and proud to have been part of this initiative and to have contributed with our effort, time, will and energy into its success.

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Youth Exchange “Balkan Convergence” 7 – 14.5, Struga, Macedonia.

The project “Balkan Convergence” was a project organized together with Volunteers Centre Skopje, Macedonia, Magna Vox, France and No Reception, Greece.

The project had three actions: on 7 – 14 of May in Skopje, Macedonia, on 14 – 19 of May in Dijon, France and on 25 of August – 2 of September in Patras, Greece. The Youth Exchange that took part in Skopje, with participants from all these three countries, was an energetic project with cooking, singing and interviewing people around Skopje.

The project was focusing on music, journalism and catering, and it courage young people to participate and share their cultures. The Youth Exchange in Skopje included also an evening party with musicians in a restaurant in the old town of Skopje, inviting all the young people to join and experience cultures.

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“Together to a carefree smile” 20.3 – 31.12, Skopje, Macedonia.

In the period from March 20 to December 31, 2019, the Volunteer Center Skopje in cooperation with the Association for Better Health, Education and Social Care SANOS Skopje realized the project “Together to a carefree smile“.

The aim of the project, implemented under financial support of the City of Skopje, was to meet the needs of patients who are seriously ill and who face insurmountable tragedy every day and cannot cope with the labyrinths of the health system.

They were provided with psychosocial assistance and support with the engagement of a psychologist.

During the project period, seven days of training were organized for psychosocial support of parents / caregivers of children with marginal diseases in the premises of SANO as well as preparation of a volunteer program, while the trained volunteers volunteered at the Oncology Clinic in Skopje and “Parents house” for a period of three months.

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Local activities

T

his year again, VCS has organized several activities, in order to promote the intercultural, capacity building of youth workers, volunteerism and opportunities for young people from the city of Skopje and outside. Our local and EVS volunteers over the past year implemented a range of activities of creative, social and educational character. Activities aimed at encouraging young people to be more active, upgrading their knowledge and skills and of course creating new local and international friendships.

VCS organized a range of workshops at local schools aiming to train young people and raise awareness on a number of issues such as equal rights or discrimination in the form of nonformal education. The workshops are also aimed to empower young people by teaching them new skills such as presenting them self, teamwork and personal development.

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WIZZAIR MARATHON As every year, VCS took part on WizzAir marathon with volunteers, by handing water and snacks to the runners and keeping the road clean.

MOVIE NIGHTS For the early evenings we displayed German, France, Polish movies for the public.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE Our volunteer from Estonia organized workshops about photography and introduce the participants to the first steps.

GERMAN & FRENCH CLASSES Our volunteers from Germany and France kept weekly conversation classes with the basics of the German and French languages in our office for several participants.

LANGUAGE KARAOKE Classical event for the evenings every month, held in Studio Pub. Microphone was in someone’s hand all the time, people sang in different languages and had a good time.

MEET NEW OPPORTUNITY, MEET EVS! Event in Gostivar to promote Erasmus and EVS programs for young people.

BOARDGAME NIGHT Teaming up with our partner American Corner Skopje, we held board game nights together in our and in their office.

PUB QUIZ Questions from cultures, languages, countries, food... Our pub quizzes took place in Beertija Pub with many teams competing victory!

OPEN STAGE The stage was open for all performances at Beertija Pub. Several people took the stage by playing guitar and singing, as well as audience sang along.

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Volunteer for Earth

International Volunteers Day

O

n 5th of December 2019 we celebrated International Volunteers Day. The day was full of actions as it consisted of 3 different events: Trash Hunting, panel Discussion and Open Stage. The main motto of the day was ‘’Volunteer for Earth’’.

As volunteers, we came up with an initiative to do something good for the environment in local level and share an important message about trashing. So the day started with Trash Hunting action in 4 different locations – Volunteers Centre Skopje, American Corner Skopje, Pelagonija and Daycare Centre for street Children in Shuto Orizari. Our international and local volunteers together with organizations, municipality of Kisela Voda, Ne Bidi Gjubre and the high school Vasil Antevski Dren cleaned these areas with a great team spirit and energy. And as Earth is our home every day, we wanted to share a message to keep it clean with #instantpickup concept – to pick up trash from the ground even if it’s not yours and show good example to the people around.

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The day continued later on in American Corner Skopje with panel discussion on the topic “Why volunteering matters?” – which fits perfectly to the theme of the International Volunteers Day. We had 5 interesting persons to share their stories about volunteering and their experience about it – in Macedonia and internationally. The audience was interested and actively listening, questioning and discussing with the panelists. We also discussed about environmental topics and how important volunteering on that level is – since the theme of our day was volunteer for Earth.

We closed the day with a fun event that was a prize after long yet successful day – Open Stage in Beertija Pub. The concept of the event was that the stage is open for any performers - volunteers who would like to sing or play some intruments. It gave the opportunity to people who have fewer experiences on a stage and would like to show their talents or simply enjoying performing for small audience. We had great performances from different people – coming together and jamming on the stage.

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Kultur Contact

School Meets Business

I

n 2019 continued the collaboration of the Volunteers Centre Skopje with the Austrian KulturKontakt with the continuation of the project entitled “School Meets Business� financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research, in cooperation with the Macedonian Ministry for Education and Science and the Center for Vocational Education and Training. This regional project involving also Albania and Kosovo aimes to strengthen the capacities and competences of the VET high schools for better and improved professional collaboration with the economic community through

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implementation of Work Based Learning and promotion of socalled school coordinators as a link between the schools and the companies. The aim of the project was the promotion of the quality and the importance of the vocational education on the labor market through strengthening the practical work (Work Based Learning) as a reform priority in all three countries involved.

The role of Volunteers Centre Skopje was coordination, organization and providing the logistical support on the events, participants and workshops that took place in Macedonia.

MMUN

Macedonian Model United Nations

O

n the 13th of January, the Coalition of Youth Organizations SEGA organized the 8th National Conference “Macedonian Model of the United Nations�, which was held on 13.01.2019 in the premises of the European University in Skopje.

"Model United Nations" (or just "MUN") was an educational simulation for students and/or academics, to get acquainted with the functioning of the United Nations Organization, with international relations and with

diplomacy in general. Volunteers Center Skopje sent their own team of 7 participants and one group leader to the conference.

Every participant represented a country and its position on certain topics. By exchanging and defending their positions, the participants could improve their skills in public speaking (of course in English) and critical thinking.

After long debates, the "countries" all together elaborated a position paper.

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VET

Vocational Education and Training Mobility

V

olunteers Centre Skopje in 2019 continued the collaboration with the partners in Vocational Education and Training Mobility-VET as a part of the Erasmus+ programme providing mobility and practical engagement, an internship of the young students in foreign companies related with their profession. By providing an opportunity to work in International environment, compare and exchange best practices, the VET program aims to strengthen the practical knowledge and skills of the students through performing practical activities in companies, institutions and private businesses that are interested in development of the future career of young people.

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Volunteers Centre Skopje, third year in a row, so far has created an environment for young people coming from abroad in industries like administration, IT related companies, automotive, nursing homes and health care for elderly people, renewable energy sources, tourism, professional cosmetics and beauty and other, providing all the necessary logistical support.

Upon completing their practical work the interns gain credits and certificates for successful completion of their internship in another country in the field related with their education.

VET

BET4VET

I

n November 2019, our VET collaborates from Spain, the association MUNDUS organized an important event related to the VET program of Erasmus+ as a celebration of European Mobility.

The aim of the event was to bring their VET partners from Europe in their Zaragoza branch for networking and introducing the local companies and stakeholders included in their work. In the few days of stay in Zaragoza, we had the opportunity to visit their facilities, some of the companies that host VET students, learn first-hand what competences the students get, networking and exchanging contact for future projects as well as a cultural visit of the amazing Zaragoza, Province of Aragon.

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Support

FOR THE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

Day care center for children from the street

I

n 2019 we continued our collaboration and support with Association for defense of children rights & Day care center for children from the street. We assisted them for their EVS accreditation and helped them through EVS and French Civic Service volunteers. They held different workshop with artistic, physical activities. In the day center we also collaborate supporting the work of the teachers in the day to day and developing their own workshops for the children to reach their full potential. Furthermore, children have the opportunity to eat and wash in the center. The center is

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not only collaborating with families by providing training but also by puting donors in contact with people in need.

From October 2018, in behalf of the Daily Centre, VCS was coordinating the EVS project of the volunteer from Estonia, Triine Viisma. She was directly involved in everyday activities in the centre, and she worked there until 9/2019. Moreover, from September/ October 2019, Volunteers Centre Skopje was coordinating two French Civic Service volunteers from France, Camille Labbaye and Tanguy Payet, who were involved in the daily activities of the Day Care Centre.

Support In my World VCS Skopje in service of promotion of the volunteering supported throughout the past year as well the Association of citizens for treatment of autism, ADHD and Asperger syndrome IN MY WORLD-Skopje in coordination and mentorship of the EVS volunteers with the partner organizations from Estonia and Poland as well as finalization of the project.

IN MY WORLD aims to improve and promote better life standards of this category of citizens, better social rights and freedom, education, sharing experiences and “best practices� of the developed countries, the environment and ecology as well as encouraging and support of the scientific research activities.

In my World

Lastovica VCS Skopje also during the 2019 supported the association Lastovica that has a Daily care center for autistic children, with volunteers from Turkey who worked on a long-term EVS project assisting in their daily routine.

In my World

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Partners V

olunteers Centre Skopje cooperates with a number of partners to realise joint projects and support each other. VCS teamed up with many organisations in Macedonia and all over Europe to realise joint projects, youth exchanges and trainings.

The regional office of the coalition SEGA is located at VCS. SEGA is a coalition of NGO‘s in Macedonia that promotes cooperation and support among its members.

Recently VCS joined the Youth Bank Network Macedonia, which is a mechanism for grantmaking that empowers young people and puts them in charge of financing projects relevant to improve their livelihood.

Volunteers Centre Skopje, is part of the YOUTH WORK UNION as well. The Youth Work Union is a network of youth organizations and organizations that work with and for youth, whose task is to regulate and standardize youth work, support young workers and increase public awareness of the importance of youth work. The vision of SMR is to recognize youth work as a profession and to have a system of support for young people and youth workers.

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VCS is also part of the European Peer Training Network which connects organisations to promote training opportunities for young people across Europe.

Lastly, VCS is a member of the Youth4Media association. Members of Youth4Media work together on topics such as media education and intercultural dialogue in the field of media. It aims to support young people to learn and to actively participate in the field of media. Also, VCS is supported by the City of Skopje, the municipality of Kisela Voda and collaborates with Arbo travel agency.

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Join us

If you haven‘t yet, join our activities, learn, discover, make new friendships, expand your knowledge, develop your potential, develop your skills and enjoy.

See you at Volunteers Centre Skopje.

www

www.vcs.org.mk

vcs.skopje

www

www.voiceskopje.org

contact_vsc

www.issuu.com/vcsvoices

Volunteers Centre Skopje

Volunteers Centre Skopje

+389 2277 2095 vcs_contact@yahoo.com

VOICES mkd

Emil Zola 3/3-1, 1000, Skopje

Annual Report 2019 Content creators Kirsi Suomi Ewelina Chanska Selina Niemi Tanguy Payett Sascha SchlĂźter Goran Galabov Jules Striffler

Translators Goran Galabov Goran Adamovski Matej Bashovski Maja Koleska

Publisher Volunteers Centre Skopje

Design Selina Niemi

Director Nikola Stankoski

Coordination Andrej Naumovski