Author: Marija Vasilevska

Inspired by the importance and need of development of digital skills, which can be used to make a positive impact on society, the Macedonian American Alumni Association initiated a project for strengthening young people`s digital skills. The project titled “Digital skills for civic engagement“ was implemented in cooperation with the Center for Social Innovations Blink 42-21,  and it aims to equip young people with digital skills which will support them in their future civic engagement actions. It targets young people and local grass root CSOs aiming to empower them with digital skills that will allow them to participate in the local municipalities` processes and make their communities better places for living.

One part of the project is a virtual training program “Digital skills for civic engagement”, and it combines new technologies and innovative approaches that might be implemented by future generations to help them become more active participants in their societies. The program includes the following five modules: 1. Digital skills for civic engagement; 2. Critical thinking, Disinformation and Accountability; 3. Digital activism and media Civic Engagement for Public Diplomacy; 4. Value-based participatory leadership and 5. Development of Digital campaigns for Civic Engagement.

A few online sessions have been organized within the project, with the support of American Corners. First, there was an information session aimed to mobilize and inform as many young people from the whole country  as possible, who would be willing to participate in the project training program. Meanwhile an open call for participation in the training program was shared on social media, and at a few state and private  universities in the country. More than 150 participants applied, a 100 of whom were actively involved in all five modules.

On March 17th, the virtual training program: ”Digital skills for civic engagement” started  within the first module “Critical thinking, Disinformation & Accountability”. The module was focused on the importance of the development of critical thinking skills and how that can lead to reducing disinformation and increasing accountability  in the society.

On March 23th, the second module titled “Digital activism and media” started and it focused on improving the participants` skills in producing short videos through the usage of a free software. In addition, the participants learned how to develop social media campaigns and  include short videos in those campaigns.

On March 31st, the third module titled “Civic Engagement for Public Diplomacy” was realized. The module focused on the importance of civic engagement and the practices of different types of public diplomacy that citizens are undertaking, such as going to international events or applying to educational exchange programs.

On April 7th, through the next module titled “Value-based participatory leadership” the participants learned  about the importance of leadership, and how that can be reflected in every aspect of the society.

Finally, on April 12th, the last module titled: “Development of Digital campaigns for Civic Engagement” took place. The module aimed to emphasize the importance of digital campaigns and teach participants how to create such campaigns through specific international examples.

All the specific modules helped young people who participated in the program to improve their participatory leadership skills and strengthen their capacities to become future young leaders with abilities to identify and address social challenges and design civic engagement projects using technology. The participants also learned new skills to help them create campaigns, as well as tools and communication strategies for civic engagement on a new media channel. It is important to note that MAAA members, experts in social media campaigns, digital storytelling, community engagement, data analysis, media literacy, and combating disinformation, were leading the  modules, together with some international colleagues from the DCN Global Network.

The project will continue during the summer, when a group of  MAAA members will support the participants in the training program to improve their skills gained through the modules by helping them develop and conceptualize community engagement projects. At the very end, the developed projects will be presented at a conference.