Are you a young individual passionate about making a difference in your community and influencing youth policies?
We invite you to apply to be part of an innovative project aimed at shaping youth engagement in politics and society!

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The project “A Cross Regional Predictive Model for Youth Policy Shaping - Youth Observers” is a 24-month initiative aiming to create a new model for youth engagement in politics and society named “Y-Os” (Youth Observers). This project includes participants from Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Italy, encouraging policy dialogue, cooperation, networking, and the exchange of best practices. It aims to raise the capacities of youth and promote strategic cooperation between youth organizations across these regions.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

• Introduce “Youth Observers” (Y-Os) as an innovative way for youth policy engagement.
• Encourage stronger regional youth cooperation by identifying and connecting issues based on the EU Youth strategy.
• Promote policy dialogue and cooperation among youth organizations.
• Enhance networking and exchange of best practices.
• Raise the capacities of youth to participate effectively in policy shaping.

COORDINATING ORGANIZATION:
1. Mesdheu Center (MC-Albania)

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
1. Qendra Shkence dhe Inovacion per Zhvillim (SCiDEV), Albania
2. Center for Change Management (CCM), North Macedonia
3. Qendra per Studime Krahasuese dhe Nderkombetare (QSKN/CCIS), Albania
4. Institute for Development Policies (INDEP), Kosovo
5. EURelations GEIE, Italy

ELIGIBILITY:

• Youth aged between 19-30 years from Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Italy.
• Passionate about youth engagement, politics, and societal issues.
• Committed to participating in all project activities, including seminars, study visits, training sessions, and the final conference.

ACTIVITIES:

1. Youth Observer Groups and Participants:

• Establish 4 Youth Observer Groups (Y-Os), one in each partner country.
• Select 15 youth per Y-O, per country, around August 2024.

2. Seminars and Study Visits

• Youth two-day seminars (blended format: online and in-person) and study visits with 5 participants from each partner countries
  • YO's two-day seminar in Kosovo around August 2024 (25 participants in-person + online).
  • YO's two-day seminar in Italy, around May 2025 (25 participants in-person + online).
  • YO's two-day seminar and study visit in Macedonia, around January 2025 (25 participants in-person + online).

3. Training and Documentation

• • Hold 4 online meetings to discuss policy papers internally, around January 2026.
  • Organize 4 policy round tables as policy dialogue, one in each partner country.
• Design 4 policy papers, one per partner country, within September 2024.
• Finalize a regional Policy Paper titled “Mapping youth issues in engagement in policy dialogue,” one for each partner country, around January 2026.

4.Final Event:

• Organize a final project conference in Tirana, around February 2026.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

To apply, please submit the Applications to: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKERtJpO2sEEuFA8Q9dQlvLSZU0mCKQRSL2iTUU6rDup6ILA/viewform?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR29oltkPUBrUUolP__N7SAPzcG9mKFD1myaZ3TuiG22fiSTi5Ghf2rhlhQ_aem_2wEHd2z5y0JszJpeY9g12Q

Deadline for Applications: 1-21 July 2024

For more information, please contact: qskninfo@gmail.com

The Center for Change Management (CMP) within the project "Rethinking Management", which is supported by the Government of the United Kingdom through the British Embassy in Skopje, created the website www.odgovornavlada.mk, which in the pre-election period will have the function of a platform for monitoring the pre-election promises of the political parties, while after the formation of the government it will have the function of a platform for monitoring the implementation of the Government's promises according to the official work program of the government.
The platform currently allows an overview of the main promises in 11 selected areas of the following coalitions/parties:
- Coalition "For a European Future"
- Coalition "Your Macedonia"
- Coalition "European Front"
- Political party LEFT
- VLEN coalition
Responsible Government aims to encourage citizens to read the promises that political parties place in their pre-election programs, so the platform provides a quick and simple overview of the key promises, and make an informed decision for whom to vote for.
Responsible Government has a platform that provides a clear overview of how many concrete and measurable promises the parties have, whose implementation in the future can be monitored and whether the promises are realistic in general.
Responsible Government aims to help citizens, civil society organizations and the media to actively follow the pre-election parliamentary programs of the political parties and what they promise to the citizens.
Responsible Government aims to measure the delivery of results, promises from the winning party to inform the citizens.
Responsible Government strives to monitor the long-term operation and development of the state, the implementation of government policies, as well as strengthening the responsibility of the Government and political parties for (non)delivery of promises. This can be achieved through detailed and active monitoring of the Government's operations.

On March 4 and 5, 2024, as part of the "Reinventing Governance" project, the Center for Change Management (CCM) organized a lecture for representatives of central institutions regarding the delivery of results from planned public policies, with an emphasis on good practices from the United Kingdom.

We were honored to have these lectures delivered by Steve Batey, a former employee of the UK Prime Minister's Office Performance Monitoring Unit, who shared valuable and practical experiences and knowledge from his many years of work experience.

The participants of the trainings will be able to apply all the acquired knowledge in the operation of the institutions and thereby improve the delivery of results for the citizens!

The lectures were organized within the framework of the project "Reinventing Governance" funded by UK International Development by the Government of the United Kingdom through the British Embassy Skopje and implemented by the Center for Change Management (CCM) in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia

On March 4, 2024, in the premises of the Public Room in Skopje, in front of representatives of the public, civil and media sectors, we presented the findings of our research through which we monitored the abuse of discretionary powers by the public sector.

Specifically, the findings of the following researches were presented:

- The discretionary powers of the Municipalities https://shorturl.at/ajwMO

- The discretionary powers of the electoral administration https://shorturl.at/hzKT1

Researches show that the Municipalities and the State Election Commission spend huge sums from the state budget through their discretionary powers.

That is, the research on the discretionary powers of the municipalities showed that the municipalities spend large amounts of the citizens' money on various grounds (sports, cultural, social, etc.) on individuals and legal entities, without having a clear basis and without any justification. This research covered the municipalities of Centar, Kisela Voda, Karposh and Kichevo, and the data was analyzed from publicly available information for the period from 2019 to mid-2023.

The research on discretionary powers in the financing of paid political advertising showed that the State Election Commission (SEC) allocates huge sums of money to citizens in an insufficiently regulated procedure according to the Electoral Code and without better regulating that procedure with its own by-law.

The research was conducted within the framework of the project "Encouraging good governance and public administration reform" supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.

Within the series of trainings for the public administration, the CCM organized two series of two-day trainings for the representatives of the central institutions (ministries) regarding the processes for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the start-up plans of the institutions.

Strategic planning is a very important part of the management of the public sector, and that is why this period CCM organizes trainings for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of strategic plans, for officials from central institutions (ministries).

Representatives from several ministries had the opportunity to exchange opinions and learn new skills and techniques together with experts in the field of managing strategic plans and project cycles.

The series of trainings for public administration is organized within the framework of the project "Reinventing Governance" and is funded by UK International Development by the Government of the United Kingdom through the British Embassy Skopje and is implemented by the Center for Change Management (CCM) in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia

As part of the series of trainings for public administration, on February 19 and 20, 2024, the Center for Change Management (CCM) organized a training on the topic "Agile Project Management", where representatives from central institutions had the opportunity to learn more about project management , to transfer that knowledge to the work in the institutions.

The ultimate goal is better and more efficient delivery of results for citizens and management of processes within the framework of central institutions.

The series of trainings for public administration is organized within the framework of the project "Reinventing Governance" and is funded by UK International Development by the Government of the United Kingdom through the British Embassy Skopje and is implemented by the Center for Change Management (CCM) in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia