"Distorted Realities" in Macedonia

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Good afternoon!

Earlier this year we announced that Ratiu Foundation for Democracy , through the program “Make your Voice Heard!”, will have the quality of partner in three European projects within the Youth in Action framework. Alis Costescu, project manager for ‘Make your Voice Heard!’ and Oana Botezan, project coordinator for ‘Not for Sale – Choose for Your Own Good’ (CRD’s program aimed to prevent and fight against human trafficking) have returned to Romania after ending ‘Distorted Realities’, project coordinated by the Quantum non-governmental organization.

“Distorted Realities” took place in Macedonia (Skopje, Bitola and Struga) between the 20^th and the 29^th of March and aimed at exploring social stigmatization, observing the stigmatization mechanisms and exchanging experiences, illustrating good practices and methods of fighting and eliminating stigmatization. Throughout the 9 days in this project, 20 participants from 10 countries (Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania) visited non-governmental organizations that look into activities related to socially stigmatized groups: HIV infected persons, Roma, LGBT, drug addicts, etc. visits and case studies have been followed by partnerships and intercultural learning activities.

Participation in this project brought about an unprecedented experience due to the fact that we were given the chance to examine the foreign non-governmental organizations’ way of action and approach, as well as the quality of the organization process and of the participating organizations.

Below are the organizations we came to visit:

UNPFA Macedonia - United Nations Population Fund Macedonia (the main UNPFA activities are looking at promoting gender equality, monitoring and promoting human rights, raising awareness and preventing HIV/AIDS etc);

H.E.R.A – Health Education and Research Association (the organization’s activities are focused on promoting and defending reproductive rights);

EGAL – Equality for Gays and Lesbians (HIV prevention campaigns within the LGBT community);

H.O.P.S – Healthy Options Project Skopje (the target groups to whom their projects aim at promoting a healthy lifestyle are drug addicts and sex workers);

Coalition for protection of sexual and health rights of marginalized communities (promotes the right to health and reproductive health among marginalized communities);

Umbrella (the organization implements projects addressed to Roma people, namely promoting gender equality, education and school after school programs);

Sumnal (same as Umbrella, the organization carries out projects addressed to Roma people, education and school-after-school programs);

Youth Educational Forum (carries out activities based on non-formal education, research and debates – useful in personal and professional development of youth and also in promoting their critical thinking);

YMCA, Bitola – Youth Men’s Christian Association (promotes social inclusion and a lifestyle based on social involvement of youth);

Youth Forum, Bitola (the organization involves youth in projects promoting multiculturalism, intercultural dialogue and social involvement through volunteering);

Poraka – Center for improvement the quality of life of the persons with intellectual disabilities (their programs are addressed to persons with low and average intellectual disabilities).

We are waiting for our departure to Portugal and hope that this future project will offer us the same delightful (and useful) experiences and partnerships!