The "Local Volunteer Service" project stimulates volunteer activities among young people in Bitola
-The local volunteer service is an organized form of social participation that includes young people from Bitola aged 16 to 29. A total of 200 volunteers were involved in the implementation of the project. The idea of establishing such a service is to stimulate volunteer activities and increase the number of young people who will be involved in voluntary work in the local community.- he says Maria Merkovska-Krusharevska, toproject coordinator.
The members of the Local Volunteer Service during the period one November last until January 2023 year participated in a cycle of four trainings: јcapacity building for volunteer management, jincreasing capacity for visibility and promotion, Rworkshop for the design of the volunteer actions according to the design thinking method and pdispensary for visibility and promotion.
-Volunteerthe action "Break the cycle" included a campaign for prevention of spreadthat of peer violence that that's enough for now represented among the young population. With the volunteer action "Clear runway" was carried out hrunning out of the place "Where а"Vions" in Smolevo. In the third cvolunteer action "The hatred of Bitola's walls" it was done umetal intervention on the walls of дethicaland "Prolet" kindergarten, "Taki Daskalo" secondary school and "Steve Naumov" primary school, which contained hate speech. The volunteer action "And a mound and coffee and a stage for the city" the volunteers her used to express themselves artistically and recycle plastic by creating sculptures from waste. While in the last volunteer action "Re-bike cycle" were Mrleft bicycle parking spaces on four locations in Bitola, collection and donation of bicycles and a sports field were made- adds the project coordinator Maria Merkovska-Krusharevska.
Otherwise, on publicand discussion "Volunteering at festivals vs volunteering in the community" which is part of the project, psaid activitiesthose and the implemented campaign for the promotion of volunteering, MCC expects a change in the general attitude and perceptions of young people regarding volunteering, strengthening their knowledge about the benefits of volunteering, and thereby strengthening the participation of young people in the development of the local community.
The "Local Volunteer Service Bitola" project of the Youth Cultural Center - Bitola is implemented within the framework of the Regional Program for Local Democracy in the Western Balkans 2 - RELOAD2, financed by the European Union, and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)..
The project is co-financed by the Municipality of Bitola.
