About
We are a non-profit, civil, non-religious, inclusive organization that offers opportunities for our youth and active work with them. Our mission is to empower young people and develop the inherent potential they have by providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to become active leaders in their communities. This is realized through experiential education that celebrates diversity and builds academic and social competencies.
We work in the field of non-formal education for youth, offering youth support in decision-making processes, promoting youth activism, volunteering, healthy habits and building society that change values and behaviors among young people.
YMCA in our country was founded in 2002 and carries out activities that can be local or national. The YMCA is part of the World YMCA which is spread in 119 countries with more than 58 million people.
Management Board:
Monika Angeloska-Dichovska – President
Blagojche Kolicoski – Member
Aleksandar Georgiev – Member
Executive Office:
Viktor Iliev, Executive Director of YMCA
Jovche Krsteski, Project Coordinator
Natasha Darkov, Project Coordinator
Ivana Atanasovska, Project Coordinator
We are grateful to receive support
also from many other long and short term volunteers.
VALUES that we nurture and support:
Caring
To care for yourself, the others and the community.
Honesty
To be truthful in what you say and do.
Respect
To treat yourself, all people and your community with dignity and acceptance.
Responsibility
To be accountable for your promises and actions.
Courage
To face challenges and lead.
Creativity
To find new solutions to challenges.
Passion
To find your inspiration to create change.
Аbout YMCA and the field of work
The YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) is one of the oldest and largest youth movements in the whole world. In a way, it can be considered as one of the first civic organizations that aimed to improve the wellbeing of young people. Founded by George Williams and his 11 friends in 1844 in London, the YMCA currently operates in 119 countries in 11,220 locations, includes 725,483 volunteers and reaches 58 million people.
The YMCA works on projects and actions aimed at developing young people through a wide range of youth activities, regardless of religion, race, gender or culture. The YMCA World Alliance is headquartered in Geneva, while YMCA Europe is headquartered in Brussels. In other countries, the YMCA can be found under different names depending on their national languages: YMCA, IMKA, CVJM, UCJG, KFUM, NMKY, CEVI, HANTH, ACM, ACJ, etc. In Macedonia and other countries in Southeast Europe, YMCA is known as YMCA. The official sign of the YMCA is the red triangle, which expresses the basic commitments of the YMCA: harmonious development of man on a spiritual, mental and physical level.
National and local YMCA organizations work in a wide range of program areas depending on the challenges and needs of the youth and local communities where they operate, including: sustainable development, education and vocational training, gender equality, climate change, health, interfaith dialogue, security of food, leadership development, migration, civic participation and human rights education, emergency response, peace building. All these fields are systematized and explained in the YMCA World Vision 2030 strategy with four pillars of influence where YMCA organizations create long-term changes in the lives of millions of young people and the environments where they live. On all continents of the world, the YMCA works to empower young people and transform communities through an embedded model for change that consists of: SPACE-CHANGE-IMPACT. This model is the DNA of all our activities and therefore being a part of the YMCA is a life-changing experience.
Brief timeline of the activities of YMCA in Bitola:
2020-2022 YMCA Bitola was part of the first state certified procedure for receiving officially recognized (within the framework of our country laws) youth workes! We also took part in the joint effort in establishing local youth center in the Bitola municipality.
2016-2019 We have become part of the non-formal Outdoor as a Tool Network, Network for NGO financial sustainability and in 2017 we expanded our Youth Development Program GLOW-YMLP by start working on a network of youth led clubs of campers alumni.
2013-2015 In 2013 YMCA Bitola received the annual award for innovative practices in the work with volunteers. In 2014 and 2015 we organized and co-organized several international trainings as part of the EU youth program “Youth in Action”. We became part of the World YMCA program for young leaders “Change Agents”, together with other twenty youth associations we founded the Union of Youth Work, in order to attain recognition of the youth workers and the youth work as a profession in the country. In 2015 as a result of the successful collaboration in the YMLP camp (Young Men’s Leadership Project), YMCA Bitola expanded the collaboration with the Peace Corps on the GLOW camp (Girls Leading Our World). The camp program of YMCA Bitola offered numerous camp learning opportunities in several international camps in The Netherlands, France, Germany, etc.).
2010-2012 In 2010 we started working with the European Voluntary Service, cooperation with Peace Corps and joined Coalition of Youth Associations SEGA, followed up by working on program on children rights and closer collaboration with the local schools. In 2011 YMCA Bitola became the national office of YMCA Macedonia, and this year along with Peace Corps, YMCA have begun working at the Young Men’s Leadership Project. In 2012 we initiated a core group for development a YMCA Europe camp program which later in the years was realized.
2007-2009 We have joined in the international Synergy network for personal development trainings. Our YMCA team focused more on outdoor camps and training programs and began attending various outdoor type of workshops, personal development trainings and gained many active followers in the upcoming years. We organized the Balkan Leadership Trainings #5 and #6 in Macedonia together with YMCA Europe. In 2008 YMCA Macedonia become member of YMCA Europe.
2004-2006 Developed several youth programs involving local youth as volunteers such as: the Y-Movie, the fire juggling group Acid Triple, Y-Comics, NotifY newsletter. In this period we successfully organized the first larger international event Balkan Leadership Training #3 for 80 participants and the Balkan Program Festival “Balkan Mosaics” with YMCA Europe with more than 130 participants from many countries from Europe.
2002-2003 Founding YMCA Bitola on 31.05.2002. We started with work on humble initiatives as was the case with taking mountain hiking trips, ping pong recreational competitions and similar. The Balkan Camp in Nymphaio, Greece allowed our participants to learn about camps and outdoor learning and to fall in love in camping. This camp was held for 10 years run by international team of campers alumni from the Balkan YMCAs. In 2003 in the National Park Pelister we organized camp for youth from Denmark and Macedonia.
2001 We started as non-formal youth-led club, building relations with YMCA Skopje and YMCA Europe.
About the founding of the organization by George Williams (later awarded by the Queen of England for this work), its popularization and spread in many countries of the world, about the role of Henri Dinan in the YMCA, about the founding of basketball by James Naismith at the YMCA College in Springfield , as well as volleyball by William G. Morgan, for the involvement and contribution of the YMCA in reducing the consequences of the two world wars (later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. John Mott), the work with refugees and other vulnerable groups, the spread the movement of the YMCA towards Eastern European countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall, etc. More on the history of the YMCA
