In 2025, the Youth Center continued to provide a safe and inclusive space through various programs, activities and mentoring, which aimed to encourage personal development, cultivate leadership skills and create a sense of belonging among young people. The Youth Center is managed by 3 youth organizations from Bitola: YMCA, Sfera International and YCC.

After a successful 2024, the work of the youth center continued with even greater enthusiasm and desire for as many participants and activities as possible. The specific goals set by this center were achieved through the specific program activities that were offered, providing a space where young people can spend their free time, develop their competencies, and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit. Healthy lifestyles were promoted, environmental awareness was raised and information was shared about other opportunities for informal education, strengthening active citizenship and promoting volunteerism.

In the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2025 – 2,018 beneficiaries were covered by over 200 different activities, many of which were held multiple times.

The activities were offered by the youth workers of YCB, as well as by various youth work providers, i.e. over 13 different youth work providers used the spaces of the Youth Center Bitola to carry out their activities intended for young people.

The most visited topics were those related to the activities in the Center’s clubs. Of these, it is worth mentioning that creative workshops are quite visited by young people. After them are the topics related to learning various skills that will help them in their career path. The topics that directly relate to the environment and finally, of course, entertainment and social activities were also significantly visited. It should be noted that in the past 2025, the Center has devoted significant attention to its own advertising throughout the schools in the city, considering it necessary for young people to be informed about the opportunities we offer through our activities.

Finally, we would like to highlight two program activities, led by the YMCA:

• The GLOW Club for Girls, which for the second year in a row offers activities aimed at learning leadership, volunteering, communication and practical skills and which included about 80 participants throughout the year, as well as
• The Peer School for Personal Growth and Career Development, which, with about 20 peer educators, included about 200 other students in most secondary schools in the Municipality of Bitola, introducing them to these topics. Taking into account the past two peer schools from previous years, namely the one against peer violence and the one on mental health, certain changes in the approach and appearance of these “schools” are planned for next year.

The results of the work of the YCB in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025 are proof of the commitment to continuous work and organizing activities aimed at the professional and personal development of young people in Bitola, as well as to encouraging their participation in making decisions important to them in their local community.

Although the success of the programs is visible mostly through the interest in attendance at the activities of the youth center, which is continuous, in the annual period for 2025, lower numbers are noticeable than the total in 2024. This is due to the greater commitment of the Center to advertising in high schools in the past year – an activity that consumes a lot of time, energy and resources, and the results of which are not reported as numbers. We hope that these efforts for the Center will pay off in the future, since their goal was to increase its recognition among young people.

The full annual report of the youth center in Macedonian is available on the Youth Center website.