Past Projects

2008

• Visa!? I just apply at every embassy and see which country wants me
  • This is the slogan for one of the posters that were made during the Loesje workshop for creative writing. The workshop was held at 15.05.2008 in the IPK office and organized by our intern Maaike van Adrichem from the Netherlands. All posters are printed in the Macedonian and Albanian language.

2007

• New Year's Celebration - party

  • On the 28th of December IPK organized a party for their volunteers at NGO Linda.

• The theater performance - How to make homemade ajvar

  • This comedy theatre performance about Macedonian culture and tradition was an initiative from an IPK volunteer and covered by the IPK youth fund. This project was cooperation between Blue Sky and IPK.
    

• Knowledge quiz

  • In December IPK organized a big knowledge quiz in Macedonian and Albanian for all secondary classes of the gymnasia in Kumanovo. The finale of the quiz took place in NUKC Trajko Prokopiev with the six best classes, three Macedonian and three Albanian. This project was an initiative from an IPK volunteer.

• Cup in futsal

  • In September 2007 an interethnic tournament in Futsal (small-scale football) was organized by an IPK volunteer. Eight teams from different high schools participated. The winner was the team 'Galaktikus' with the second and third place going to 'Apollo 7' and 'Dream Team'.

• Fashion show

  • On 19 September IPK organized a fashion show for charity. The clothing line was designed by one of our volunteers. The money that was raised during the event in Caf? bar Dejavy was used for buying materials for classes for children with a mental disability in the primary school 'Braca Miladinovci'.

• Time Out camp

  • From 12 to 15 July a camp for journalists was held in Mountaineering House "Ponikva". The goal of the camp was to build the journalist's skills, transferring knowledge from older to younger journalists and to recruit new journalist for the Time Out magazine.

• Camp GLOW

  • From 9 to 14 July IPK organized Camp GLOW ( Girls Leading Our World) in Strezevo, near Bitola. Camp GLOW lasted a week and was facilitated entirely in English by American, Macedonian, and Albanian young women. Sixty girls from different ethnic backgrounds and locations in Macedonia were provided with trainings on topics like leadership, mental empowerment, self esteem, culture and stereotypes

• How much you know about me?

  • From 18 to 23 June 2007 a cross-border camp in Srezevo near Bitola, Macedonia was held. Participants were young people aged 16 to 22 from Kumanovo and the Serbian towns Vranje and Presevo. IPK organized this camp in order to bring young people from the region together and to give them opportunity to meet each other and learn about each other. This project is important for the future developments in the area, because today's youth grow up in a culture where xenophobia is the norm and cultural misunderstandings are abundant. Presentation and discussion topics included cultural and inter-cultural communication, religion and customs, multiethnic environments, discrimination and segregation, citizenship and how to become active citizens and promote tolerance between the different ethnic groups in each of the communities represented at camp. The camp included a series of performances by the youth that gave them the opportunity to showcase their community's customs, religious beliefs and holidays, folk dances and music, traditional cuisine, and other aspects of their lives that make up their cultural identity. This project was funded by the East West Institute

• Reach for the Stars

  • IPK's Youth Board of Directors organized a local talent show open to any Kumanovo and Lipkovo youth (ages 6-21) to take part in this talent show. 31 IPK volunteers helped organize the event by advertising at local and village schools, booking an event location and finding several local sponsors. In the end, more than 400 kids auditioned and over 100 people came to watch the talent show.

  2006

Media:

• Time Out Magazine (all year)
  

• Youth Bridges Magazine (all year)
  

• Photography Project (November 2005-February 2006)
  
  • IPK organized a photography training course to improve the quality of pictures in both of its magazines.
    

Education:

• Collage/Job Interview Preparation

• The idea of this project was to prepare IPK volunteers for when they apply to colleges and jobs. However, once the Macedonian Goce Delchev High School learned of the organization's program they asked if IPK would be willing to administer the project in their school because of the colleges new interview admission requirements. As a result, IPK collaborated with the English and chemistry department to make eight presentations to all of the current 3rd and 4th year students on how to write a resume, prepare for an interview, and go through a mock interview where they could be critiqued on their performances.
  

• Introduction to the NGO Sector (March-April)

  • This three weekend program allowed youth participants to learn about various local, national, & international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Participants also got the opportunity to visit different types of NGOs located in Kumanovo and report their findings to the rest of the group.
    

• Language courses from IPK volunteers ( September-December)

  • Around 25 volunteers of IPK got free lessons in the Spanish and Albanian language. The lecturers were two professional language teachers. This project was covered by the IPK youth fund.

• Material support for schools (December 2006)

  • o Two high schools (gymnasium Goce Delcev in Macedonian and Alabanian building) in Kumanovo, Albanian classes in Lipkovo and two primary schools (Bajram Sabani and 11 October) from Kumanovo were involved in a project for developing a mutual artistic program. IPK donated some materials for these schools (paper, maps, cds, flip chart, markers, small plastic chairs, books etc) as a reward for their cooperation with IPK in 2006.

• Distribution of New Year packages for kindergarten "Angel Sajce" (December)

  • IPK distributed New Year packages for 80 children from the kindergarten with mixed groups from Kumanovo

• Kids Came First Mentoring (KCF) Program

  • KCF is designed to mach bright and dedicated secondary school and college students with primary school children who are struggling academically or socially. Volunteers will mentor local primary school students by providing them with one-on-one attention, help with academic and social issues, and a positive role model.

• Youth

• Music and fashion show

  • Тhis project was an initiative from IPK volunteers and was covered by IPK youth fund. It was composed of two parts: creation of models and the fashion and music show evening event.

• Time Out camp of journalists

  • From 13 - 15 July a journalist camp for 30 youngsters was organized in Mountaineering House "Vrteska". The goal of the camp was to build the journalist's skills, transferring knowledge from older to younger journalists and to recruit new journalist for the Time Out magazine

• Academic Research on the Influence of Segregation on youth

  • IPK in cooperation with IKV and Utrecht University, The Netherlands, provides students with the opportunity to perform a research in Kumanovo and Lipkovo. The first research was performed by Pieter van der Wilt and investigated education segregation in Kumanovo. The second research was performed by Leotien de Zoete. Her research focused on the way the youth of Kumanovo spends its free time.

• Love and be loved

  • The aim of this project is to help the youth with solving problems of the heart, to help them pass the bad moments of the broken hearts without bitterness, and to live their lives without a bad consequence. This project was an initiative from an IPK volunteer and was covered by the IPK youth fund.

• Youth Board of Director (YBD)

  • Fourteen current and new IPK volunteers applied to be a part of this new project that was designed with the following goals in mind: 1. Diversify IPK's funds, 2. Make IPK more competitive when applying for grants, 3. Reduce the amount of time IPK staff spend on translations/interpreting, 4. Get more publicity for IPK and IPK events, 5. Create new incentives for volunteers to continue to be a part of IPK, 6. Create a continuous supply of Time Out Magazine and KCF.

• IPK Field Day

  • This was the first project organized by the Youth Board of Directors (YBD). The purposes of the event were to: 1. Publicize IPK to the community, 2. Involve IPK volunteers' parents in an IPK activity, 3. Recruit new volunteers, and 4. Raise funding for future YBD events. The YBD divided itself into four planning committees (logistics, publicity, refreshments, & activities

• Inter-ethnic communities - intercultural Europe

  • From 18-27 September a Youth Exchange was organized by IPK in Ohrid, Macedonia. Groups from 5 countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia) participated and gained a lot of valuable information, knowledge and skills about other cultures, intercultural learning, citizenship in Europe, values in Europe and how to be an active citizen in their communities. The participants valued the contacts very highly and some of them are still in touch with each other.

• Let them Eat Macedonian Cake theatre project

  • The Let them Eat Macedonian Cake production was a collaboration between IPK, the National Theatre of Kumanovo, and the National Museum in Kumanovo. The theatre performance was composed of three parts: a presentation on Macedonia and the Arts provided by the National Museum, a dinner of traditional Macedonian and Albanian foods and an interactive " Who-done-it mystery" performance. The play was performed by young actors. This project was covered by Swiss Cultural Programme Macedonia "Prohelvetia".

• Capacity building of local government councillors

  • Тhese project goals were to educate Kumanovo's counsellors, school administrations, teachers and youth about the new package of decentralization laws that have been passed in Macedonia. This project was covered by the Organizations for Cooperation and Security in Europe, in Skopje.

• Camp Girls Leading Our World (GLOW)

  • A youth leadership camp open to secondary school girls residing in Macedonia. The camp was focused on women related topics including leadership, women's health and the environment.

2005

Media:

• Time Out Magazine (all year)
  

• Youth Bridges Magazine (all year)
  

• Time Out Camp (October)
  
  • The Time Out Camp was created in order to both increase IPK's network of youth activists and to recruit new youth journalists to replace the ones who go onto college every year.

Education:

• Let's Grow Together Mozaik Program (February 2005-February 2006)

  • Kindergarten pupils were given the opportunity to share their native language with other children while learning a new language at the same time through games and other fun activities.
    

• English Classes

  • The English Summer Course project was implemented with the goal to:
    - Increase the interest of young people to learn foreign languages and increase their general level of English skills, as well as to promote an inter-active way of learning;
    - Give a chance and encourage young people to establish contacts with internationals and participate in international related activities, especially concerning youth capacity building.
    

• Capacity Building English Camp (June-July)
  

  • 50 marginalized youth from various ethnic backgrounds (Albanian, Serbian, Roma, Vlach) and villages (Cerkezi, Novo Selo, Umin Dol, Ljubodrag, Sopot, Vaksince, and Romanovce) partook in a two month capacity building program where they were taught English by American Peace Corps Volunteers and county nationals.

• Culture without Borders Camp
  
  • This camp was an attempt to reduce some of the prevalent misunderstandings and prejudices among inhabitants of the GPKT region. Camp participants were actively involved in workshops on language, traditions, habits, religion, cooking, weddings, music, etc.
    

Youth:

• Loesje Summer Camp (July-August)
  

• The Loesje summer camp was organized in Wernsorf, near Berlin, from July 23rd to August 6th. Two participants from Macedonia (as well as other Balkan countries), Frosina Tasevska and Spend Latifi, supported by the Inter- Ethnic Project of Kumanovo, participated in this camp.

• Mountaineering Youth Camp
  • This project was a children's camp implemented in the village of Dlabocica near Kumanovo with a mixed group of 20 children.
    Our main idea was to get children from a very young age in contact with each other to feel the difference between them, not as an obstacle but as a cultural treasure of diversity.
    
    

Women:

• Cosmetic Project
  

  • Ten young women participated in a cosmetic training course, in order to use the skills they learned to help them find employment in the cosmetic field. Two of the participants were employed by the cosmetic business that provided the training.

   

2004

Media:

• Time Out Magazine (all year)
  

• Youth Bridges Magazine (all year)
  

• Youth Journalist Training Camp (July)
  

  • This three day camp trained interested youth how to become better journalists.
    

• Education:

• Short-term Observer research project (April)

  • An IPK intern was given the opportunity to observe the second round of this year's Macedonian presidential elections

• Kokino Observatory Visit (November)
  

  • 39 children were invited to go on a one-day excursion to the Kokino Observatory, where a local biology teacher explained the significance of this important site

• "Promotion of Inter-religious Dialogue" pamphlet
  

  • This informational pamphlet explores the religious beliefs and practices of all the churches and mosques located in Kumanovo.

• What do adolescents need
  

  • Through this project IPK in cooperation with dr. Keleshov aimed to promote interethnic communication among high school students through a topic that is relevant for everyone: STD's (Sexual Transmitted Diseases). Dr. Keleshov convinced the youngsters that this topic is not a taboo and they should talk about this openly and use the information from the lectures appropriately. This project finished with the publication of a pamphlet that was distributed in the local schools.

• Let's Learn about Religion

  • A one day excursion with children from the primary school of Llopate. Through this excursion children got the opportunity to look beyond everyday life and get to know cultural and historical treasures in Macedonia

• Dancing Brings us Together (December-February)

  • This projected united children from various ethnicities and taught them the traditional dances from each of their heritages.

• Special Education Creative New Year's Workshop (December)

  • 24 IPK volunteers and staff members made New Year's decorations with a group of special education students for their classroom.

• New Year's Celebration (December)

  • Through this project the youth had the opportunity to participate in a public party on the square that was multiethnic and represented an opportunity to get acquainted with other ethnicities through the music event and the art exhibition
    The singers had an unique chance to show what they can do, sing in the language they want and the received a huge applause when they finished
    

 

Women:

• Women Reader's Club

  • IPK financially helped the Women Centre in establishing a mixed library in all nationality languages of Macedonia

• Women's NGO Capacity Building Workshop (December)
  
  • This 8 day training workshop focused on such topics as "Project cycle management" and "Fundraising" for women's nonprofit organzations active in Kumanovo. The training was lead by the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and enjoyed a high visibility within the local NGO community in Kumanovo.
    

 

2003

Media:

• Time Out Magazine (October-December)
  

• Youth Reconciliation Initiative "All Equal, All Different"
  

• From 1 august till 9 august 2003 the Youth Reconciliation Initiative Camp was organized in Ohrid. There were 60 participants (30 from Kosovo and 30 from Kumanovo).

• Documentary film -interviews of young life "All Equal, All Different"

  • For this project a 35 minutes documentary film was made about problems of young people from Kumanovo and Pek. Interviews with eight young people from seven different nationalities on different subjects about youth were recorded.

   

• Education:
  

• France Study Visit

  • Three IPK volunteers participated in a training for "Management of youth centres in conflict areas".

• NGO Training for Youth Leaders
  • Eight day training in management, for 25 youth leader