YOUTH BLOGS FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION

As part of the Connecting Youth (CY) regional youth platform, the National Youth Council of Macedonia is opening a call for Youth Blogs for Regional Cooperation. The blog intends to be a free space for honest conversations about the topics that are related to this platform and are relevant to youth audiences from the Western Balkans region. This call is open to young nationals of North Macedonia (aged 15-29).

Submit a blog entry on the following link, no later than July 31, 2022.

ABOUT CONNECTING YOUTH AND ITS BLOG FEATURE

Connecting Youth (CY) is a grassroots regional youth platform implemented by the Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI), together with the umbrella youth organizations of the six Western Balkans Countries – National Youth Congress of Albania, National Youth Council of Macedonia, National Youth Council of Serbia, High School Students Union of Montenegro, The Kosovar Youth Council (KYC), Youth Council of Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina with the support of Hanns Seidel Foundation.

The blog section of the CY website will be an additional resource for all those who are interested to engage with the topics that are the platform’s main focus. The blog will contain user-generated content with topics that are relevant to the partners, youth stakeholders, and the general public. This blog will aim to attract youth to engage with and contribute to the objectives of CY work.

THEMES

Blog posts and articles will relate to the main thematic categories that CY has in focus, such as education, participation and employability. Within these three main categories blog entries related to other important topics will be added. The proposed blog topics are available below:

• Any progress in the dialogue between youth organizations and institutions?
• Youth Guarantee: How do I get involved?
• Connecting youth to the sectors that count: but which ones?
• Youth participation in the WB: How can we harness space for meaningful participation in policymaking?
• What should the future of education look like?
• Deconstruct the belongingness feeling with your territory?
• Green Deal: A voice and role for youth?
• EU Enlargement from a youth perspective
• How to harness the dynamism of the youth in terms of their political participation?

We are looking for short, precise, and focused articles in simple language, which can be easily understood.

BLOG FORMAT

• CONTENT: Blog posts and articles have to relate to the main thematic categories listed above.
• LANGUAGE: The blog post has to be written in English and it will be proofread by the communication team.
• LENGTH: The texts shall not be longer than 1,000 words.
• PHOTOGRAPHY: Each post has to have at least one photograph or artwork (with copyrights cited).

ELIGIBILITY

• Be citizens of North Macedonia;
• Are aged between 15 and 29 years by July 31, 2022

SUBMIT A BLOG ENTRY

In order to submit a blog entry for review, please fill out the form on the following link, no later than July 31, 2022.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Following the completion of the call, 3 blog entries will be selected and will be published on the Connecting Youth website. Please note that no additional prize will go to the selected blogs entries.

The blog entries will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• BLOG CLARITY: The topic and priority being addressed should be clearly identifiable
• FACT-BASED CONTENT: Your arguments should be based on carefully collected sources.
• STRUCTURE: Your essay should have a clear structure and not exceed 1,000 words.

EDITORIAL POLICY

The blog intends to be a free space for honest conversations about the topics that are related to this platform and are relevant to youthaudiences from the Western Balkans region. New themes around the main categories can be proposed and added to the blogging list of articles. There will be no strict editorial policy as long as the articles are fact-based, fair, and respectful towards all community members. This section will be aligned with CY’s work, beliefs, and commitment. If any of these criteria are not met, CDI and NYCM hold the right to suggest editorial changes to the blog posts.