Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC)

Multi-Ethnic Extra-Curricular Activities for Secondary Schools

Project Goal:

Provide students from different ethnic groups with the opportunity to interact and socialize, learn about each other, thus improving inter-ethnic relations among secondary school students and wider community.

Project Strategic Objectives:

	To strengthen multi-ethnic co-operation and dialogue and build confidence among youth, in particular in the former crisis area - Kumanovo region;
	To increase awareness on issues such as multiculturalism, living in the multi-ethnic society, anti-bias, conflict prevention, stereotypes and prejudices, democracy and promote tolerance and cultural sensitivity;
	To increase participants’ ability to live and work in a multicultural environment through their participation in the project activities.

Timeframe:

Start Date: 1 September 2007 / Completion Date: 30 June 2008

Funding: OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje - http://www.osce.org/skopje/

Project Partners:

OSCE in cooperation with a MCEC

Project Stakeholders: High school students from Kumanovo region, their teachers and parents and wider communities

Project Summary:

The project will start at the beginning of the academic year, giving schools enough time to compile enrolment lists for each class. In the framework of the project’s activities (sessions, field visits and specific follow-up activities in the schools) 70 students transitioning from primary schools to the secondary schools in Kumanovo region will meet, socialize and get to know each other in a “safe environment” (representatives of four e/A classes and four e/M – two classes per school as well as students from the other ethnic groups as per the class structure, aged 14-15). The project activities encompass discussions on multiculturalism, anti-bias, conflict prevention, stereotypes and prejudices, democracy, tolerance and cultural sensitivity and field trips in the month of September to be followed up by monthly activities in Kumanovo’s four secondary schools. 2 teachers (e/A and e/M) from each school and 4 kids, ex-participants of the 2006 OSCE Summer Camp “Living in a Multiethnic society” will be participating in the project activities as well. The project will be prepared, planned and implemented in close cooperation with the School Directors, school teachers and parents.

Activities:

Activity I:

4 two–day sessions, each in a different location in and around Kumanovo.The sessions will be implemented using a participatory and interactive learning approach. The discussions will be combined with work in the small groups and recreational activities.

	1^st weekend (in Krusevo)
	2^nd weekend will take place in the “Macedonian” part of one of the Kumanovo secondary schools
	3^rd weekend will take place in the “Albanian” part of one of the Kumanovo secondary schools
	4^th weekend will take place in the “Albanian” part of one of the Kumanovo secondary schools

Activity II: 1 two-day visit to Skopje.

This visit will give participants the opportunity to learn about government structures, visiting the sites of all decision-making in their country as well as all cultural and historical sites the capital has. Additionally, they will be learning about this together which will contribute to further decreasing inter-ethnic tensions.

Activity III: Follow-up activities with the wrap-up Forum

Objective: To further transmit the knowledge acquired after participants return back to their schools and communities as a means to ensure the sustainability of the project. To conclude the project a Forum will be organized that will bring together all the first year pupils of the four secondary schools to present their experiences and lessons learned. The Forum will be open also to all the other teachers, pupils and their parents.

These activities will take place in each Kumanovo secondary school and all participants are expected to take part. Each school will be given a lump sum of 2,000€ to prepare and implement the follow-up activities. They should tackle topics such as multi-culturalism, gender, religions and languages from around the world, environmental issues, human rights, gender equality, conflict resolution. The activities will include visits to religious places, visits to the cinema or theater to watch foreign movies, debates, field visits, language classes, sport activities, chess, dance and forum theatre, photography courses and round tables. All follow-up activities will be gender-sensitive to make sure they are attractive to both boys and girls. Each school is expected to organize activities that will involve the wider school and community. It is foreseen that monthly meetings will take place in each school for the remainder of the school year. Two teachers from each school will be involved, it is hoped they will help transmit the knowledge learned to future groups of students. There will be 2 tutors assigned to help teachers prepare and implement the follow-up activities. The OSCE and MCEC will monitor and evaluate these activities very closely on an on-going basis to ensure their quality and success.