Ampersand

Ampersand is a non-governmental organization, whose vision is encouraging and strengthening individuals and organizations through development of their skills and competences, while making social impact and bringing closer the EU values and standards.

The mission of Ampersand is fostering and supporting sustainable development of local communities through international cooperation, education and training.

Our strengths are our motivation and way of doing. Driven by the change for a better world, wishing to see, we make honest actions and efforts to make an impact in society, by dedication to hard work, high standards and the right core values.

The organization is guided by policies of equality, equity, social development and the promotion of the need for constructive activism in every field in order to realize its vision and mission.

Our leading motivation is “change comes from within”, and in order to make the world a better place for living, for all of us, we must realize that therefore become the change we wish to see. Since “everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”, we want to raise awareness about the importance of individual`s actions and their impact, because as Eduardo Galeano once said, many small people, in small places, doing small things can change the world. And how to do that, if not through education, since “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Our vision is to become European Hub in Skopje, bringing European values closer to people, enforce public-private partnership in education and training, an open collaboration of NGOs with Universities and institutions, network and connect people, on a national and international level.

PROJECTS

AMPERSAND has experience in youth education, especially in Erasmus+ Programme. Relevant and complementary to this project are:

• Mentor Up is a (KA205) project initiative of the Municipality of Quart de Poblet whose aim is to raise the efficiency of the mentorship service and contribute to the improvement of basic core competencies of mentors offering such support in the context of ESC project type among the partner organizations involved, in order to engage in the process of preparing, creating and distributing certain online and offline tools, resources and training materials that will be helpful in standardizing and professionalizing the work of mentors within ESC projects and which will facilitate the support process offered to the ESC volunteers involved. Ampersand is involved in mapping the current situation, as lead partner of the working package that leads to the development of the training program and methodology, and as implementor or the training for mentors and youth workers. Additionally, Ampersand will bring the expertise in the development of the digital platform in the last phase of the project.

• Connected by heARTs is a Strategic Partnership responding to the needs and challenges caused by the pandemic. The main aim of the project is to develop a virtual training methodology for youth workers on how to join together and involve young people with and without disabilities in the creation of attractive, creative, and cultural activities, in order to help them on their integration path and overcoming prejudices and discriminatory attitudes of community members. Ampersand broth their expertise in developing the training methodology.

• CONFIDENT COmbating the Negative inFluence of socIal meDia on mENTal health”, that aims to change the negative self-image of young people caused by social media by:

-Mapping and reviewing scientific literature on the correlation between social media and youth mental health;

– Creating a training methodology for combating the negative impact of social media based on the needs of young people and youth workers;

– Providing young people with an online community where they will be engaged in peer-to-peer learning and learning by doing.

-Ampersand will lead the WP Training program and methodology development and contribute as well in the development of the online platform , as it has vast experience in IT tool

• SEED: Social Entrepreneurship for Education and Development is an Erasmus+ KA2 project with partners from Finland, Turkey, Macedonia and Spain. The project’s aim is to inspire and communicate a passion for developing both the entrepreneurial attitude of SE and the specific practical skills required, with hope that youth will then create more socially beneficial services in their local area. Ampersand is developing an online course and implementing international working session using experiential learning methodology.
• INTEGRA (FosterINg migranTs intEGRAtion with crowdfunding) – The general objective of the project is to increase social inclusion through education and training for young people, who suffer from social discrimination because of their immigrant backgrounds.

Its members have a lot of experience in nonformal education, training, mentorship, European Projects, national and local projects, in topics as entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, cultural management, conflict management, intercultural dialogue and coaching, career orientation, social inclusion, communication skills and active listening, gender equality, human rights etc. Our interests especially involve social inclusion and helping people with disabilities, having a team member who is a person with disabilities, we are highly motivated to work in these topics, raise awareness and create better conditions and opportunities.

AMPERSAND’s expertise is in developing content, such as methodology and programs for training for adults and youth education; dissemination of project results; coordination; organizing events; research; implementing training and creation of educational materials, such as videos, books, workbooks, booklets, guides, etc.

The most relevant expertise of AMPERSAND can be seen through its team members and key staff:

Aleksandra Najcheska, president of the organization, has graduated in marketing, mastered in public relations, and has many years of experience in the field of non-formal education, as a trainer in youth projects, and later as project coordinator in one entrepreneurial center. Her main expertise is in developing training programs and methodologies in different topics, involving youth work, digital tools, social inclusion, mentoring and mental health in young people. Her main filed is communication skills and active listening, as part of her master thesis, however she had successfully worked in projects where leading an international team they developed training program and methodology for mentor in volunteering project and digital guide for virtual training methodology. Currently she is working on developing training program and methodology in projects for social entrepreneurship and youth mental health. She is a certified coach for women entrepreneurs and she participates in the program Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, as a hosting mentor for new entrepreneurs. In this project, she will bring her also knowledge of managing Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships and leading the creation of Project Results, as well as her expertise in the development and delivery of training programs and methodologies.