Youth Forum Bitola

My next meeting in Bitola was with Youth Forum. I do not have as much information about this NGO mainly because they were mostly uncooperative in the interview, in fact insulting myself and my research technique. They barely volunteered any information outside of a direct answer to my broad question.

Youth Forum began in 1999 by young people to meet the needs of the disadvantaged youth without an ability to express themselves artistically. It was very difficult to get started (finding office space mainly). They want to give information to young people about culture, arts, and the protection of human rights. They wanted to be able to give information that people would need when they need it. They are a grassroots organization, and claim, that their people are very enthusiastic. It was very difficult for them to implement any changes in the beginning, but now things are different. Some things can’t be helped, but the majority of the problems are with a lack of enthusiasm.  Many people are depressed, and it is difficult to push for them to become more active. Especially with no cooperation from the municipal government.

They do most of their activism in Bitola, but some of there members also act as a journalist in other parts of MK. They began with a researching of problems in Bitola for the youth. The youth there are very diverse but many are interested in the same thing (such as theater and sports). Thus it became easy to direct them to create a play together, or play a game. And once you can bring them together, it is easier to share how similar people are. Some people still cause problems, but Youth Forum feels they are gaining ground.

Youth Forum sponsors shows, concerts and publishes a magazine. They have also completed two “docu-movies” about Bitola and the surrounding areas. They stated that it is very difficult to provide these services because the space for public theater is missing in Bitola. They want bigger support from foundations, donors, and other small NGOs.

There was more interest in the past, but now only a few connected people are interest. They feel like since there is no real violence going on now, no one is interested. Youth Forum likes to help the Roma, Albanian, and Turkish NGOs, but is afraid that they will collapse within the next few years. These NGOs need more support. There is really no ethnic violence now, there was violence in the past (particularly around 2001). According to Youth Forum, the Roma were really discriminated against with jobs that were really forbidden for them to enter. Some coffee bars refuse to serve the Roma. With no interest from the government, the discrimination continues.

They haven’t received national government funding but the municipality helps to cover the rent or electric bills. The Agency for Sports helps some, with $1000, but that allows some publications to be made. Mostly they receive foreign aid. Without this aid they wouldn’t be able to survive, some have been from local embassies.  

Youth Forum would like to be able to work in the schools, but they are unable to do so. They do promote the EVS volunteering at local universities. Youth Forum is both a sending and receiving organization.

They are working closely with a new program “Open Municipality” that aims to make the municipality more open to the public.They cover the meeting of the local city council. Then they investigate how they work and publish the findings. They claim that their coverage is different than the local newspapers. They claim that the newspapers often just say “There was a meeting.”

They host 2-3 events a month and a few annual activities. They are trying to gain a interest from the community. They are always open to the community to discuss their work and plans. They have a lot of ongoing projects, including conferences and seminars. They try to do everything to benefit the youth. They have more than 100 members, but only 15 are generally active at one time on a certain project.

They have faced many problems in their years. According to Youth Forum, there is no mentality on volunteering, or thinking it is ok (they want jobs, and therefore shouldn’t volunteer). There is an NGO forum of civil organizations, but it doesn’t work properly. They try to help with minority NGOs, such as including them in the documentaries. Youth Forum was told to be quiet before the election, and they would receive cash after the election. No one reacted to Youth Forum going public with this information.

They also fight against the perception that the NGOs are created to cause the problems in society. The real problem is that the people spending the money are not receiving truthful or good reports. There are some NGOs who didn’t use the money correctly. In the past it was easier to gain funding, due to the Kosovo crisis. Some NGOs didn’t use the money correctly. They fight the perceptions by being diligent. According to them, the difficult problems are with personal mistakes, but most people have an agenda. Be it political basis or even “trying to help.” There were more integration with the NGOs, there wouldn’t be as many problems.

Fulbright Personal Statement

This is directly copy and pasted from my application:

            When I was 15, I volunteered at a city dump in Porto Velho, Brazil where people lived and raised their families. I had never seen such poverty in one location, and never have since. It was eye opening and shocking experience that jarred me from my safe, assumed perfect world. I began to consider the multitude of problems that others faced. I learned that there was so much that I did not know about other cultures and that they did not know about the US. This consideration and surprise is part of what lead me to study international relations in college. From an early age I was interested in politics and why the world is the way it is. I always questioned my mom and other adults about things that I thought never made sense. Like why did all the moms on TV stay home all day while my single mother was always working? This confusion contributed to my desire to study politics in college. As I progressed through college, I became more interested in gender and how it affects the political system. When given a chance I wrote about women and politics to further my knowledge. I knew I wanted to focus in on women in the international arena when completing graduate research.

I discovered my career goal of working for the State Department ever since I discovered exactly what it is the State Department does. As I matured and expanded my boundaries, the career track I wanted changed, but I have never wavered on wanting to join the State Department. I want to become a Foreign Service Officer with a track in public Diplomacy or Consular work. I want to help brighten the image of America abroad. I believe that the only way to do this is to interact on a daily basis with the people of the country I am working in. I have had the opportunity to do exactly this in both Brazil and Russia. I hope to continue to do so when I live and study in Skopje, Macedonia under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship during the 2011-2012 academic year.

As I started college, there was no doubt in my mind I would study abroad as part of my desire to see international relations in action. I was able to achieve one of my life goals in my second year at college when I completed a semester study abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was purely exhilarating to see another culture in such depth, to live, breathe and be a part of it. One day, early in the semester, I was wandering around downtown St. Petersburg, utterly lost, freezing cold, and unable to talk to anyone since I had only had three classes of Russian. I was having the time of my life. It was then, when I couldn’t stop smiling in the weather that I usually detested, that I knew that this, right here, this culture is what I wanted to study.  I fell in love with the city and the history of Russia. I suddenly knew that my life was going in the right direction and that I wanted to study this culture and others like it. I needed to know more about the world that I lived in, especially the former Soviet Union. Upon my return on the US, I started taking more courses on Russia and Eastern Europe, which only solidified my desire to work for the State Department later in life, after getting an advanced degree.

When thinking about my future after undergrad, I knew that I wanted to complete graduate level research on civil society in Eastern Europe before undertaking a US master’s program in diplomacy. I had always known about Fulbright and tried to emulate the philosophy and ideals behind the program. I became interested in Macedonia when learning about Eastern Europe; the Balkans were largely ignored. They were never part of the curriculum. I knew that I wanted to delve deeper into the Balkans and write my thesis about them. I tried to check books over the summer to learn more about this area, the region that created the political science term “balkanization,” but there was literally only one book about the region at my local library. When I looked further for a book specific to Macedonia there were none. This only sparked my interest more, only made me want to study this culture more. Going to Macedonia to study gender and government will tie all of my interests of improving the world around me together; it will link my past studies and my future career.