Association for Cultural, Sport and Educational Development – YOUTH ON BOARD from Shtip, N. Macedonia is voluntary, non-profit, non-governmental, non-partisan association of citizens, established by the free association of citizens for exercising, protecting ,and coordinating their interests, rights and beliefs to promote civil society, civic engagement within the local community as well as to perform activities to en-courage moral values, strengthen inter-ethnic relations and economic development on the territory of Shtip, the region and abroad, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of our country.
The main goals of the Association are: to improve the quality of education attainment of young people, advocate for purposeful and effective improvements within the non-formal and formal education sector, work to create an environment where youngsters living in the community could improve and develop their professional lifestyle and their ability to quickly find a job or successfully open their own business; modern interactive methods and content that stimulate youth; increasing the qualitative and quantitative portfolio for cultural, sports, volunteering and other activities for young people; enhancing the appeal for cultural events amongst young people by advocating and working on increasing their part in the planning, development and executing processes within events of such kind, create and implement a policy from the youth, by the youth and with the youth present at all levels, starting from the needs and interests of young people, supporting and promoting youth organizations, determination of measures and recommendations related to the youth sector; through a variety of activities we enrich knowledge and inter-ethnic and intercultural friendship amongst young people so they can set up a positive atmosphere; networking with local, national and international youth and cultural organizations; and, strengthening leadership, self-awareness and self-esteem amongst young people through their involvement in organized formats of action. In addition to this we are active advocates for the lawful rights of our youngsters in all aspects of their lives within our community.
Through our work we stimulate and empower our youngsters to be more interested for their rights and be more proactive within their community, furthermore through our work we aim to portray and promote a spirit of philanthropy as means for encouraging cultural integration and improving the collective wellbeing of our community with all its ethnicities. Our work also includes environmental activism and one of our goals is indeed to further develop our agenda in this regard, as we recognize the fundamental need for work in this sector within our community. In addition to this our organization represents a strong advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, and this problematic is something we are very passionate about and dedicated to contribute to the resolution of it in our community. Besides this, we dedicate great portions of time and effort in promoting sustainable healthcare education specifically in fields such as sexual education, healthy lifestyle, and healthy nutrition, preventing sexual abuse, preventing violence within the households etc.
Owing to the fact that we primarily work with young people aging from 16-29 our organization had signed a memorandum with the University of “Goce Delcev” from Shtip with whom we have had fruitful cooperation in the past. As previously mentioned one of our main goals is to focus on working on creating a more sustainable and effective youth policy that would allow for our youngsters to be more included with the decision making process in our local community, this remains our main priority for the upcoming year. Besides this our agenda for the next year includes aiming to do more work in the previously mentioned fields of activism, thus we are able to achieve a more complementary agenda, one encompassing all our aims and goals into a more unified structure that would be most beneficial to our youngsters.
Activities and experience of the organisation in the areas relevant for this application?
YOUTH ON BOARD is citizens organization for cultural and educational development. It offers youth opportunities to develop their personal skills and capacities, learn new perspectives, and be-come the best versions of themselves. We aim to teach youth to be more inclusive, respect-full, and active citizens; to appreciate where they come from and to make their futures come to life. We have to transform the youth in ideas, passion and actions!
Erasmus Projects
- Lobbying and representation
- Networking and experience
- Writing SWOT analysis and other methods of valuation
- Increasing the role of the youth in making decisions
- Increasing of the integrations of the Youth Councils in making decisions at local level
- Strategic youth influence
- Coordination for equal development and enhancement of the Youth Councils in the Republic of Macedonia
- Strategy of the Youth Councils for decision influencing on local level
- Maintaining a structured dialogue
- Active Youth, Active Citizens – BG – 2022
- Food Eunites – IT – 2022
- TRAINING COURSE Productive Networks – Spain – 2021
- “Take Action, Create the Change!” TACC – KA2 – BG – 2021
- Dragon Dreaming – Make Your Dreams Come True – LT- 2021
- Local youth councils at international scale – Capasiti building – PT – 2021
- Creativ recycling – PL -2021
- Take Care – PL – 2021
- Your life, your choice – PL – 2021
- AEFRH Asociación Española de Fiestas y Recreaciones Históricas –KA2 – SP – 2021
- Developing cross-sectoral cooperation for youth employability in the Western Balkans – HU -2021
- Speak up! – Lithuania – 2020
- Empower Youth – Romania – 2020
- Združeni v kulturi (UNITED COLORS OF EUROPE) – Slovenia – 2020
- Overcoming Prejudice – Romania – 2020
- Diversity through pop-culture – Croatia – 2020
- The European Union – yesterday, today, tomorrow – Poland – 2020
- Citizenship – North Macedonia – 2019
- Game Exchange – Estonia – 2019
- Democracy in EU and Beyond – Romania – 2019
- Protect yourself – Poland – 2019
- EQUALITY IS FOR EVERYONE – Finland – 2019
- Storify Yourself – Bulgaria – 2019
- Youth in Rural Development – Cyprus – 2019
- Me & You – Hungary – 2019
- NET ART FOR TOLERANCE – Latvia/ Cyprus – 2019
- Connecting People, Organizations, Communities, Europe – Finland – 2019
- StartUp Battle – UK/Armenia – 2019
- 1,2,3 ECOLOGY SYSTEM – Spain – 2019
- Youth work VS Fake News – Poland – 2019
- Youth Council for Active Citizenship – Romania – 2019
- TO BE here TO BE me – Spain – 2018
Our activities and experiences that prove relevant include:
Local projects:
- Creative camp (https://youthonboard.com.mk/)
- I am a leader (https://youthonboard.com.mk/)
In coopeartion with Western Balkans Alumni Associoation:
- Social Entrepreneurship trough the prism of Erasmus+, 2019 – project number 2019-B1_019
- First scientific conference for critical environmental issues of the Western Balkan Countries, 2019 – project number 2019-B1_010
Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Counties:
- 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training – 03-04.06.2019, Belgrade, Serbia
- 7th Ministerial Meeting – Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training & Research and Innovation, 25-26 June 2018 Brussels, Belgium
- 6th Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Platforms on Education and Training & Research and Innovation” – 28-29 September 2017 Belgrade;
Staff Trainings and Visits:
- Erasmus+ Staff Training Week Queen Mary University of London, 17– 21.06.2019, London – UK
- Erasmus+ Staff Training Week in Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany -13-17.06.2019
- Study visit at the University of Salamanca – Salamanca, Spain 02.04.2019
- How to raise funding for sport activities – University of Reykjavik, Iceland 20-22.06.2018
- Erasmus congress and exhibition 8-12 May 2018, Murcia – Spain
IPA CBC CCI N: 2007CB16IPO007:
- Activating Heritage in CBR BG-MK
– IPA Cross-Border Programme – „The potential of the heritage in the business sector, Project and business idea development and preparing, Handcrafts presentation and practicing, Practical work – development of a pilot project“
– IPA Cross-Border Programme – „Preparation of business strategy and business plan, Procedure for preparation of start-up budget, Handcrafts presentation and practicing, Practical work – development of pilot project “
What are the skills and what is the expertise of key staff/persons involved in this application?
Meet us:https://youthonboard.com.mk/meet-us/
Sanja Stefanova, MSc – President manager at Youth on Board Sanja Stefanova is Head of International Relation office at the Goce Delcev University in Shtip where she is responsible for the implementation of the internationalization strategy.
Sanja has a professional background in international admissions and she has been a participant and trainer on recognizable issues at national and international seminars and conferences. Sanja holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and for more than 5 years, she actively works in the field of youth as a Youth trainer. She started her career as youth worker at 2013 as a President of the Youth council at the Municipality of Shtip.
Sanja has extended expertise in working with youth with fewer opportunities, training youth workers on non-formal education and youth leadership programmers, project writing, project management, working with young volunteers, advocacy,
youth policy, youth research and now she is active member and manager at Youth on Board.
Sanja values and understands how vital it is to build a trusting and compassionate relationship when working with youngster. She uses art, drama, storytelling, dedication and perseverance as a way to build a therapeutic alliance with them, but most of all, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue supporting the amazing and resilient youth of Macedonia and abroad. “What I enjoy most is travelling to different places and meeting new people. For me, it’s all about life experiences, and I’m very grateful that my work allows me so many interesting and fulfilling ones. To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest
accomplishment.”
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanja-stefanova-a145787b/
Kiril Jordanov, Economist– President and Coordinator of Youth on Board Kiril Jordanov is an advisor for public procurement and Coordinator for implementation of the strategy for youth in the Local government in Shtip. He is also a private advisor for financial-legal and administrative procedures. Kirill has a professional background in domestic and international projects as an organizer and applicant.
He also has been a participant, leader, trainer and expert in many project implementations. Kiril’s educational background is in economics and finance for more than 8 years. He is also constantly working as a youth worker, project developer, project coordinator and in project
monitoring.
Looking back at the beginnings of his work in the field of youth, we go back to 2013 where Kiril become the vice president of the Youth council of the Local government. During the period engaged with youngsters and youth workers, developing and realizing programs and projects for youngsters with different backgrounds he gained a lot of knowledge, experiences and skills. A challenge for Kiril now in terms of youth is to work in non-formal and Informal education, capacity building, structure dialog between youngsters and decision makers, developing programs and projects, supporting young initiatives, working as a trainer, coach or expert, youth researcher and analyst. All of the above listed challenges he is now realizing through the organization Youth On Board with the help of his wonderful teams. Kiril’s vision is to live in a society where the youth is a strong structure with huge influence on the social flows. Only willing youngsters lead to a successful future. Let’s make our world a perfect place to live in. „Follow your passions and the things that make you feel alive. There is no bigger pleasure to love what you do and to finish the day tired but full with energy. Life is about making an impact and leaving something behind. If every one of us strives to be at least a slightly better person than the day before, the world would be a much better place to live in!“
The organization’s staff is constituted of people from various positions as regarded per the social spectra. Our organization includes people who work in academia, people who work in the social and societal sectors of government and outside of it, young experienced individuals (high school students, college students, and above) with years worthy experience in the youth sector, people who have worked on improving the social and academic status of our youngsters, worked on numerous local and national strategies that are aimed at improving the country’s youth’s status within society. To add on to this, our organization’s personnel is highly skilled in doing social work, work ranging from advocating for human rights, to working the youth non-governmental sector, working within cultural sector of our country and the educational sector, and a profound specialty to the majority of our staff is extensive work within the youth-sector, a field where our organization’s staff has pivoted and triumphed numerous times in the past.
Hristijan Karposh 39/14
2000 Shtip
Источен (Istočen)
North Macedonia
Partner Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise
Website: https://youthonboard.com.mk/
Phone: +38970899248