Community Engagement

LOCAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

With the Local Community Development Foundation I supported the development of a more professional organizational culture, in the forecasting of funding opportunities, and the design of medium and long term plans for organizational goals and objectives.

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During my tenure with the Local Community Development Foundation I was awarded $2,500 from USAID and the Peace Corps' Small Project Assistance program to develop a community youth bank and deliver youth capacity building trainings in Štip.  The project will teach youth fundraising and outreach skills, develop their knowledge of project design, management, and evaluation, and their professionalism skills.  Through the project youth will have the opportunity to implement youth designed and community funded projects and activities.  

We implemented several European Union funded community development projects, including: “Get Trained, Get Support, Get a Job” and “Strengthening Participatory Democracy”.  “Get Trained, Get Support, Get a Job” increased the employability of marginalized women from Štip, Macedonia.  The project included trainings on public speaking, professionalism, and resume building.  It was funded with a grant of over 80,000EUR from the European Union.  “Strengthening Participatory Democracy” analyzed the efficiency of mechanisms for citizen engagement in policymaking at the local level, and built relationships between community stakeholders.  The project was funded by a 90,000EUR grant from the European Union.

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Utilizing connections I was able to create relationships between the Local Community Development Foundation and the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute.  This relationship will bring Structured Democratic Dialogic Processes to Macedonia for the first time.  Structure Democratic Dialogic Processes were designed to better analyze the needs of stakeholders with technology.  In Macedonia they will be employed in citizen based policy making.

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Further, I served as a mentor in the local Debate Club and organized a regional debate tournament in Štip.