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1. Information providers / counselling structures

2. Youth-targeted information campaigns about democratic rights and democratic values

3. Promoting the intercultural dialogue among young people

4. Promoting transparent and youth-tailored public communication

Information providers / counselling structures

In North Macedonia, the State Election Commission (SEC) remains the only public institution formally responsible for providing information to citizens, including youth, on democratic rights—primarily related to voting. Through its official website and media campaigns launched ahead of each election or referendum, the SEC educates the public on their electoral rights and the voting process. However, apart from these efforts, there is a notable lack of comprehensive, youth-tailored public communication on broader democratic engagement.

The Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies, adopted in January 2020, mandates all state administration bodies, municipalities, and the City of Skopje to appoint Youth Officers. These individuals are responsible for the functioning of Youth Offices, ensuring coordination, implementation, and monitoring of youth-related matters within their institutions’ competences. 

According to publicly available data from the former Agency of Youth and Sport, 65 municipalities and 56 state institutions (i.e., state administration bodies) have appointed Youth Officers. This marks a moderate increase since the report published in July 2022, which showed that 80% of municipalities had fulfilled this legal obligation. It is important to emphasize that these appointments were legally mandated to be completed by January 2021, within one year of the adoption of the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies. Despite the progress, the data also indicates that a number of institutions are still not in compliance with the law.

The same law also obliges each municipality to establish at least one Youth Center by January 2025. These centers serve as supportive spaces for youth development, offering programs for personal growth, social and professional skills, access to relevant information, and engagement in community life. According to the 2024 Monitoring Report by the National Youth Council of Macedonia, by Мау 2024, youth centers were operational in only ten municipalities: Centar, Kumanovo, Probishtip, Shtip, Veles, Ohrid, Bitola, Lipkovo and Gostivar.

Youth-targeted information campaigns about democratic rights and democratic values

North Macedonia’s State Election Commission (SEC) has recently begun using social media outreach to engage younger voters. In March 2024 the SEC met with Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and NDI to discuss disinformation and best practices; it explicitly planned to use Facebook and Instagram “for the election campaign” and to establish direct contact with voters for “accurate and unbiased informing”. This represents a new push by the SEC to reach youth on platforms they use. 

In parallel, civil society groups have also run youth-focused democracy campaigns. For example, the NGO ODASS Skopje (with EU-funded EU4CivilRights support) ran a project called “Prepared, Proactive and Alerted Youth” from June–Nov 2023. ODASS created a social media campaign and website educating high-school students about their rights under the legal framework and their “fundamental and democratic rights” in North Macedonia. The goal was to empower young people with knowledge of their civic rights and encourage participation in democratic processes. (No official impact figures were reported for these campaigns, reflecting a general gap in measurable outcome data.)

Promoting the intercultural dialogue among young people

The Government of North Macedonia has institutionalized interethnic inclusion under the Ohrid (Framework) Agreement. The Ministry of Inter-Community Relations (formerly “Political System and Inter-Community Relations”) coordinates these efforts. Its legal mandate is to protect communities’ cultural, linguistic and religious identity, ensure use of minority languages, and promote equal representation of all ethnic groups in public life. In practice the ministry focuses on policy coordination: monitoring implementation of the Ohrid obligations, funding minority-language schools, and overseeing language-use and cultural-rights laws. While it has no dedicated youth wing, its work underpins youth inclusion – for example, by accrediting joint Macedonian-Albanian curricula in schools and by supporting “equal representation” quotas.

The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) is an institutional mechanism established by the Western Balkan Six to promote reconciliation and cooperation among youth across the region. With a Local Branch Office in Skopje, RYCO plays a key role in fostering intercultural dialogue by supporting youth exchanges, education programs, and cultural initiatives. Through flagship programs like Superschools, RYCO enables high school students from different ethnic and national backgrounds to participate in cross-border exchanges that promote tolerance and understanding. It also funds grassroots projects through its Youth Cultural Fund, supporting young artists and civil society organizations to implement creative activities that encourage regional cooperation and peacebuilding. RYCO’s work contributes to building mutual respect and shared values among youth in a post-conflict context.

The OSCE Mission to Skopje has been a major supporter of intercultural education and youth inclusion. Under its “Building New Bridges” (BNB) programme, the OSCE works with the Education Ministry and donors to fund integrated-schooling initiatives. In June 2023 the OSCE/MoE awarded grants to 14 schools to implement joint-curriculum classes – pairing Albanian- and Macedonian-speaking teachers to co-teach students in both languages. This pilot aimed to create tolerant, bilingual classrooms and promote daily contact among ethnic groups. Officials noted strong interest from schools (many applied) in using education as a bridge. The OSCE also granted five CSO projects under BNB: for example, funding an art-workshop series in Bitola to overcome discrimination against Roma youth.

Complementing schooling, OSCE has launched multiple Youth Intercultural Arts Fund (YIAF) calls to finance youth-led projects. These small-grant calls (2023–2025) offer €5–7k each for CSO proposals using arts/culture to foster dialogue. The YIAF explicitly aims “to strengthen inter-ethnic relations … and to instill mutual respect… among youth of different language and cultural backgrounds”. For example, the first call (open April 2023) sought arts-based activities against stereotypes. By 2024 the second and third calls emphasized the same priorities and solicited new projects through mid-2025. Grantees to date include multicultural film/arts clubs and peace festivals in mixed communities. OSCE also organizes youth workshops (e.g. 2024 “Youth Engagement to Counter Radicalization” training) which, while focused on security studies, reinforce understanding of multi-ethnic society complexities. In sum, OSCE’s programs have directly supported thousands of young people – e.g. 14 pilot schools and 5 CSOs in 2023 – with plans for more awards in 2024 and beyond.

Promoting transparent and youth-tailored public communication

Despite these activities, North Macedonia lacks formal guidelines specifically on “youth-tailored” government communication. In practice, however, some state strategies and campaigns have begun to emphasize youth-friendly messaging: for instance, the newly adopted National Youth Strategy 2023–27 stresses that youth information efforts should use content “in language which is understandable and adapted to young people. This national strategy (approved end-2023) includes “youth informing” as a key pillar, aiming to make public information more accessible to youth.

Meanwhile, some concrete outreach campaigns show an emerging focus on young audiences. In 2024 the government (through the Employment Service Agency and Ministry for Social Policy, Demographics & Youth) ran a dedicated social-media campaign to promote its 2024 Operational Employment Plan. That campaign specifically targeted young people and reached over 65,000 youth online. This is one of the few documented outcomes of a “youth-tailored” communication effort by state institutions.

In summary, no published national communication manual or set of standards for youth audiences has yet been introduced. Instead, progress has come through broader policy documents (Youth Strategy) and ad hoc campaigns. The Open Government Partnership also includes commitments (like digital tools for public consultation) that could benefit youth participation, but these are not youth-specific. Thus a key gap remains: without official guidelines or youth-focused media policies, state transparency efforts rely on general reforms. Stakeholders note that youth continue to receive much of their information via social media, but systematic, government-led youth communications planning is still limited.