USAID’s Civic Engagement Project (CEP) invited the general public to submit their votes for the nominees for the fifth round of the Youth Civic Engagement Award (YCEA) in 3 categories: individual category, informal youth group category and youth CSO/CSO Alliance category.

The call for votes was launched on April 14, 2021, at noon; and was closed on April 28, 2021 also at noon. The used platform was at surveylegend.com, a Swedish company that focuses on providing easy to use online voting services with a focus on security, reliability and close follow of GDPR compliance. SurveyLegend was used again, as last year, as it continues to use most up-to-date and most advanced technologies for Internet Security. The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol protects communications by using both server authentication and data encryption. TLS allows sensitive information, personal information, and login credentials to be transmitted securely.

RESULTS OF THE VOTING PROCESS

During the voting period between April 14-28 2021, a total of 9 166 votes were cast.

Voters had the opportunity to vote for 1 nominee in each category, however they also had the ability to skip a category without indicating they don’t want to vote in that particular category. Therefore, there is a different number of votes cast in each category.

In the individual category the following votes were cast:

1. Aleksandar Lazovski – 788 votes cast
2. Jana Ognjanovska – 727 votes cast
3. Gorazd Kitanovski – 1,164 votes cast
4. Blendi Hodai – 1,683 votes cast
5. Alen Umer – 1,632 votes cast

Blendi Hodai and Alen Umer are the winning candidates within this category.

In the informal youth group category, the following votes were cast:

1. Youth Club SIGN – 461 votes cast
2. Center for Equal Opportunities Ladybug – 1,295 votes cast
3. Water4Changes – 619 votes cast
4. Walkiie – 861 votes cast
5. Ways2Help – 646 votes cast
6. ODAS Education – 315 votes were cast

Center for Equal Opportunities Ladybug and Walkiie are the winning candidates within the informal youth group category.

In the Youth CSO/CSO Alliance category the following votes were cast:

1. Association Go Green – 621 votes cast
2. AVAJA Movement – 582 votes cast
3. Association for the protection of animals Amos Shelter – 882 votes cast
4. Kolektiv Z – 545 votes cast
5. Association Youth Alliance – Krushevo – 1,517 votes cast

Youth Alliance Krushevo and Association AMOS are the winning candidates in this category.