Vasil Kocevski – Change agents

“As a change agent coming from Macedonia, I can describe my experience from the Regional Training in Switzerland as an enlightening, inspiring advertisement at the top – a real adventure.

About 50 young people gathered in one place to be the change, convey the vision and inspire action. After spending 4 days with my fellow change agents, I can say that I encountered people with the talent, skill, and motivation to lead change that will have a positive impact on society. Spending a few days in nature, disconnected from the rest of the world helped me to strengthen my character and create new friendships. With the help of the Scouts, we created a truly unique environment for a regional gathering. I spent a lot of time learning how the YMCA works in different countries and discussing ideas for the organization’s progress both locally and globally. I experienced some of the challenges of scouting and learned many useful practices from the scouts who were our companions. As the biggest highlight of the experience, I would choose the new friendships I made, meeting extraordinary individuals with interesting life stories. This is because I value relationships above all else. The experience made me realize that despite many differences, young people can be united by a common goal, the goal of creating a better future. Sharing the philosophy of the Bible, the YMCA encouraged us to show unconditional love to our neighbors. In my opinion, showing unconditional love is one of the most noble characteristics of a man. So that’s one of the lessons from the training that I keep the most.

As a final word, during my experience in Switzerland, I gained full confidence that young people can and young people will. We will be the change, communicate the vision, and inspire action.”

Vasil Kocevski – Study visit to YMCA America

“During my visit to America this summer, I decided to use the opportunity for a study visit to the American YMCA to get to know more about how the organization works in America. I made a short visit to the West Side YMCA in New York, which had a very impressive establishment, and a more extensive visit to the Cambridge YMCA in Boston. YMCA Cambridge mainly operates as a gym and is focused on sports activities. Fitness, basketball, boxing, and swimming are some of the disciplines offered by the Cambridge YMCA.

As I said at the beginning, my primary goal was to become more familiar with how the American YMCA works. To gain better insight and valuable information, I focused on management, recruitment, financing, and involvement in international activities.”

Marko Tomovski – “Do it for the Youth” – 07.2017 – Romania

“This June I again had the opportunity to be part of a wonderful experience where I gained new knowledge and skills, discovered a completely new perspective on what it means to be a youth worker, and met a wonderful group of ambitious, experienced, and nice people from 7 different countries.

The project was an excellent opportunity to penetrate the NGO sector and get a picture of how management, strategic planning, and the achievement of goals in a non-governmental organization function. For me, the training was a real revelation regarding what it means to be part of an association, to present the organization to new foreign partners, and to strengthen the relationship between the youth worker and the organization itself, as a place where changes occur. While representing YMCA Bitola during training or in discussions with other participants, I was especially proud and grateful for the opportunity to be part of the association that brings positive changes to our community.

Of course, the training would not have been realized without the positive energy and enthusiasm of the participants, as well as the trainers. We gained strong bonds and exchanged many different ideas, opinions, and cultural values ​​that enriched our personality. Whether I was working with young newcomers to the field like myself, or veterans with 25 years of professional engagement in the sector, it was always exciting to hear a different perspective and work together to meet goals.

Finally, I can add that the “Do it for the Youth” project exceeded my expectations, as it was a perfect combination of new knowledge, challenging activities, and meeting amazing people.”

Representatives of YMCA Skopje – leadership academy, session 1, Litomyšl – Czech Republic

“Two representatives of YMCA Macedonia from March 21 to 26 in Litomyšl, Czech Republic, participated in the first session of the Leadership Academy of YMCA Europe, where 30 young leaders from 18 different countries participated, including two representatives of YMCA Macedonia. This academy was planned in 3 sessions during 2017 and the next two sessions are in June in Moldova and in November in Belgium.

The first part of the training was dedicated to different types of leadership and the specific characteristics of a leader, especially in an NGO (non-governmental organization), emphasizing the need for inclusiveness and democracy.

Furthermore, in the second part of the training, human rights and their basic approach were discussed. The lectures were given by the expert in that field, Magdalena Gavronska, who, through various practical games and roles, showed the participants the position of a large group of vulnerable people with threatened basic human rights and made them think about how the YMCA would help them in those cases.

This first session of the Leadership Academy was also dedicated to creating new friendships in a wonderful atmosphere and bringing together different cultures and languages ​​through food, music, and laughter.”

Group of participants – 04.2017 – Netherlands

“A group of guys from Macedonia got together and went on a youth exchange in the Netherlands. We were Jac, Pece, Ane, Alexandra and Christian. Before this, the APV event took place, for which all of us who were group leaders prepared to present which activity to others during the exchange. APV was in April 2017. In July, we left for the Netherlands. The first part of the exchange took place at the Buitendor campsite. In our case, it was a large meadow where several large tents were pitched in which we were accommodated.

In this part of the exchange, the focus was on creating strong bonds between the participants. There was also a full-day workshop on getting to know one’s character traits through the DISC theoretical model. The team games successfully created a strong community between us, and at the end of the first part, we were already going to various locations around our camping area and sharing the experiences gathered from the forest around the fire.

The second part was an “outdoor” trip through the Netherlands. We were given sections of maps of the Netherlands and instructions with tasks. Divided into teams, we had to reach certain locations around the Netherlands within certain time frames, where we were given further similar tasks like getting to other locations, while at the same time sharing the previous experiences.

This part was by far one of the best for testing what we think we know or have learned about teamwork and togetherness among us, ie what we see about ourselves in the first part. The overall experience was great and memorable.”

Jovce Krsteski – Innovation Camp in Switzerland 2017

For several years, the World YMCA has organized a specific training where young people, as well as some more experienced ones, can share the different ways they implement different inventive practices in their Y. They can fall into different fields, but usually, the topics include the Ten Chants, Youth and Parliament, Environmental Action, and Advocacy. Mental Health and more recently, Youth Empowerment.

This training aimed to equip young youth workers with leadership skills, thereby increasing active citizenship and engagement on pressing issues (such as employment, health, civic participation, and the environment) affecting young people at community, national, European, and global levels. All of these participating youth help prepare other youth for structured dialogue and action, and help other young people build networks across geographic, cultural, and religious boundaries as part of the youth empowerment process if they work again in their D . The ultimate goal would be to create a network of youth workers who can share best practices and these experiences first within their YMCAs, but also wherever they work.

YMCA Bitola was part of the Youth Empowerment group and together with Angela Sokolovska, we presented how we organize our GLOW & YMLP camps.

Despite all this. this training was accompanied by a small tour of a nearby alpine summit. It was one that I enjoyed so much because not only did we learn a lot, but we also met different people from other parts of the world and we also had the chance to enjoy some parts of Swiss culture. This event took place in Leysin, from September 28 to October 3, 2017.