STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE FIRST CHILDREN'S EMBASSY IN THE WORLD MEGJASHI2011-2015 ENG

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ПРВА ДЕТСКА АМБАСАДА ВО СВЕТОТ
МЕЃАШИ - РЕПУБЛИКА МАКЕДОНИЈА
The First Children's Embassy in the World MEGJASHI -
Republic of Macedonia
Strategic Plan
Draft version
For the period 2012 – 2015 year
First Children’s Embassy Прва детска
in the World Megjashi
Republic of Macedonia
Kosta Novakovikj str, no.22a
1000 Skopje
Теl/fax: + 389 (0)2 2465316
fax: + 389 (0)2 2463900
first@childrensembassy.org.mk
www.childrensembassy.org.mk
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php
?id=100001382871995
http://www.facebook.com/pages/First
-Childrens-Embassy-in-the-World-
Megjashi-Republic-of-
Macedonia/122833937782558
Skopje, February 2013
Draft version

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I. INTRODUCTORY
The First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi-Republic of Macedonia
(Children’s Embassy Megjashi) defined its mission, strategic goals and priorities for
the first time during its funding on 29.04.1992. The first strategic planning was
conducted in 2001, for period of 5 years. The same version of the strategic plan was
revised twice, in 2005 and in 2007. In July 2011 this strategic plan was created, for
period of 5 years.
This strategic plan is consisted of:
 Revised mission;
 Organizational structure;
 Strategic goals of the organization;
 Specific development directions and its influence on the strategic goals for
the next three years;
 Strategies i.e. the approach and the activities which will enable
accomplishment of the strategic goals;
II. ORGANISATION’S HISTORY
The First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi-Republic of Macedonia is
civil organization for protection of the children’s rights, established in 1992 year, in
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
Children’s Embassy Megjashi acts on a international, regional, national and
local level. According to the Statute of the organization, members can be both,
individual, as well as collective members. The Children’s Embassy Megjashi acts in
the following areas:
- Psycho-social, legal and other kinds of support of the children who need
help, especially the marginalized groups of children.
- Monitoring and promotion of the children’s rights in the Republic of
Macedonia and wider.
- Making initiatives for improvement of the legal regulations for protection
of the children in Republic of Macedonia, and implementation of these
regulations.
- Peace building activities and activities for non-violent conflict resolution.
In the previous period (1992-2011) the Children’s Embassy worked primarily
on protection and promotion of the children’s rights, as well as on informing,
counseling, education and advocacy of the children’s interests. These fields will stay
as top priorities in the next period, as well.
In fulfilling these goals and missions, the Children’s Embassy Megjashi in the
previous period closely collaborated with the state institutions and organizations,
other civil society organizations, as well as the media. Most often the cooperation is
with the Social Work Centers, the Ombudsman, media, the Broadcasting Counsel….

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Children’s Embassy Megjashi is member and actively cooperates with many
international organizations for children’s rights, such as: Global Campaign for
Education, The European Federation for Street Children, Global March against Child
Labour, Child Helpline International, European Children's Network; EUROCHILD;
Human Rights House Network; Child Rights Information Network; UNITER for
Intercultural Action.
Children’s Embassy Megjashi is founder and member of several domestic
coalitions of civil organizations: Macedonian coalition of NGO’s for monitoring of the
children’s rights (informal coalition); Civil Platform of Macedonia; Coalition “All four
fair trial” and “Macedonia without discrimination”.
III. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The management structure of the Children’s Embassy Megjashi is determined
by the Statute and is consisted of: collegiums, executive collegiums, supervisory
board, Child-Ambassador and Ambassador.
IV. PROGRAM LAYOUT
Main activities of the Children’s Embassy Megjashi are:
 Providing help for children and youth by psychosocial help and support,
psychological counseling and psychotherapy through the direct services for
support of the children’s personal development, as well as advocacy of the
children when their rights are violated, disputed or endangered;
 Monitoring of the implementation of the Children’s rights Convention as well
as the other international and national acts regarding to child protection, by
methods of research, collecting, processing and presentation of the
information regarding the children’s rights condition;
 Influence and positive changes of the policies related to children’s rights on
national and regional level through advocacy and lobbing for the children’s
rights, as well as collaboration with the adequate institutions and other
organizations from the country and the world for protection of the children’s
rights.
 Promotion of the children’s rights on national, regional and international
level by raising the level of the public awareness about the need for more
efficient protection of the children.
 Building culture of peace and non-violence, by creating programs for peace
education.

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IV.1. in the Children’s Embassy Megjashi work following services for direct
support of the children:
- SOS telephone for children and youth 0800 1 22 22 (free of charge line)
- Psycho-social counseling
- Free legal service
- Day center for children who doesn’t go to school
- Service for material support of the socially endangered families
- Children’s workshops
IV.1.1. The SOS telephone for children and youth operates for nearly 20
years (since 1993) and until now there are total of 19.217 registered phone calls. The
SOS telephone for children and youth 0800 1 22 22 is a service for direct help and
support for the children, the youth and their families. This telephone for help and
support represents a promoter of the children’s rights throughout the years. The SOS
telephone for children and youth as well as the psychological counseling will
continue their work in the following period as well.
IV.1.2. The Free legal service acts with official letters to the state institutions
in cases where there is a serious doubt for violation of the children’s rights and
demands from the institutions an answer about the way they acted on a specific case
and the measures and the activities they undertook in order to protect the child and
act in child’s best interest.
IV.1.3. The Day Center for children who doesn’t go to school gives support
for the children from the municipality of Aerodrom and it provides the basic needs of
the children for hygiene, shower, snack, educational and recreational activities. The
Day center for children who doesn’t go to school will continue with its work in the
next period as well.
IV.1.4. Service for material support of the socially endangered families.
Children’s embassy Megjashi since the beginning of its work conducts and develops
activities of socially-humanitarian character, implemented through the social service.
This service exist and responds to the needs of the socially endangered families,
mostly from Skopje, by donating close, shoes, toys, house ware equipment etc. Most
of these items are donations from the citizens and from the socially aware
companies.
IV.1.5. Children’s workshops worked continuously since 1993 until 2009,
when due to lack of funds were put to rest. These workshops are form of
organizing of children’s free time by creative activities, especially for those
children who cannot afford to pay for such activities. The purpose of these
activities is to provide as equal accessibility to the services as possible, for
children who are socially endangered (challenged), as for the other children.
In order to avoid stigmatization of the children, members of these workshops
are not only socially challenged children, but children from different social
background.

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IV.2. Besides the services for direct support of the children, significant part of the
activities of the Children’s Embassy Megjashi are also:
IV.2.1. Monitoring of the implementation of the Children’s rights Convention as well
as the other international and national acts regarding to child protection, by
methods of research, collecting, processing and presentation of the information
regarding the children’s rights condition;
IV.2.2. Influence and positive changes of the policies related to children’s rights on
national and regional level through advocacy and lobbing for the children’s rights, as
well as collaboration with the adequate institutions and other organizations from the
country and the world for protection of the children’s rights.
IV.2.3. Promotion of the children’s rights on national, regional and international level
by raising the level of the public awareness about the need for more efficient
protection of the children.
IV.2.4. Building culture of peace and non-violence, by creating programs for peace
education.
IV.2.1. Monitoring of the Children’s rights
Children’s Embassy Megjashi since its constitution until today follows the
implementation of the children’s rights, conducts monitoring and reacts in the cases
where the children’s rights are violated, disputed or endangered. In 1992, when the
organization was founded, majority of the people were not enough informed about
the children’s rights, how those rights should be implemented etc. Simply, part of
the population could not accept the fact that the children have rights too as the
adult people. That is why it wasn’t easy, in such traditional environment such as
Macedonia, to create the awareness that the children have rights of their own and
those rights have to be respected. Today, most of the people know the fact that the
children have their rights and that if those rights are not respected, there is a Law
according to which those people can be punished. Today, Children’s Embassy
Megjashi, through its mission, made an immense success in that direction.
In order to empower the voice of the civil society sector, in 1997 Children’s
embassy Megjashi formed the National Coalition for children’s rights and signed
Memorandum of agreement with 14 civil organizations which in their portfolio also
include the children’s rights. The cooperation with these organizations will continue
in the following period as well. Children’s Embassy Megjashi signed agreement with
UNICEF for project for building capacities in the civil society sector for monitoring of
the children’s rights in the period of 2011-2013.
IV.2.2. Advocacy and Lobbing for changes in the law legislative with aim to
improve the children’s rights condition in the state, and wider. The Children’s
Embassy Megjashi was the first civil organization for children’s rights in the Republic

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of Macedonia and in that period of time the law legislation was not corresponding to
the needs of the processes of children’s rights implementation. That is why one of
the priorities was to make analysis of all the existing Laws which include the children
and to lobby for certain changes to be made in that respect. Also, at that time, the
Institution called Ombudsman did not exist and the Children’s Embassy Megjashi
requested opening of such institution, which in 1998 resolute by opening special
office, part of Ombudsman’s office, for children’s rights. In the following period, as it
was in the past years as well, we will ask forming of a special institution called
Children’s Ombudsman, and will continue lobbing and advocacy for the rights of the
children and for positive changes in the laws.
IV.2.3. Promotion of the children’s rights on national, regional and
international level. Since its establishment, the Children’s Embassy Megjashi is
constantly working on promotion of the children’s rights in many ways and many
different forms, such as printed promotion materials, web-site, facebook site, as well
as distribution of these in the schools.
IV.2.4. Peace building activities and non-violent conflict resolution are part
of Children’s embassy Megjashi’s work since its constitution until the present day,
transforming it according to the needs of the region (the Balkans). The organization
was formed as a civil, citizen’s initiative for supporting the refugee-children from
Bosnia and Herzegovina affected by the war in 1992. Since that moment until today
the peace building activities were organized according to the needs, such as:
humanitarian-recreational as well as educational activities for the refugee-children
from Bosnia (1992-1999); then, the same activities for the children from Kosovo
(1999/2000) and the children from Macedonia (2001-2006), as well as peace
educational activities for teachers and students from elementary and high schools
throughout Macedonia.
In 2010 the Children’s Embassy Megjashi started a project for Peace
Education and signed an agreement for its implementation with partnering
organization KURVE Wustrow from Germany, which, according to the plans, will last
until 2015 year.
Ways of financing of the program activities
Key partners in financing of the program activities of the First Children’s
Embassy in the World Megjashi are domestic and foreign donators. Other sources of
financing are the voluntary contributions and donations of the citizens, membership
fees as well as find raising events such as sports events, concerts, painting auctions,
auctions of valuable objects, publishing, providing expertise and services, etc..The
finances are used for accomplishing the goals of the Organization, defined and
determined by the Statute and the Program.
The First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi have sufficient material,
technical and staff resources necessary for realization of the programs: bigger
working space, adequately equipped offices, professional staff from different profiles
(psychologist, pedagogue, social worker, lawyer, economist) divided into 3 different

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sectors (finance and administrative sector, fundraising sector and program sector
with 4 programs) and teams consisted of volunteers, etc.. There is team work
environment with shared responsibility between the team members as well as
mutual cooperation.
The target groups are all the children and the youth, with special focus on the
marginalized groups of children by the direct support services in the Children’s
Embassy Megjashi.
A Child is every human being under the age of 18.1
Youth are all persons on the age between 15-29 years.
Users of the Children’s Embassy Services are: parents, schools, social work centers,
the Government of the Republic of Macedonia with its Ministries, organs and
commissions, Local self-government units, the Ombudsman, civil society
organizations and other institutions in Macedonia, and wider.
November 2010HFH Macedonia presentation
СОС тел. За деца и млади
Советувалиште
Бесплатна правна служба
Едукација
згрижување
Советување
Деца и млади
Новинари
Родители
натавници и воспитачи
Влада
Медиуми
Центри
за социјална работа
Народен правобранител
Министрества
Советување
Информирање
Обучување
Претставки
Лобирање
Застапување
Дирекно
советување
Дневен Центар
Graphic display of the target groups and service users of the Children’s Embassy Megjashi
V. Strategic Planning Process 2011-2015
In July 2011, Children’s Embassy Megjashi hired a professional who facilitated and
monitored the process of strategic planning. During the process of preparation of
the strategic plan, there were several analyses, evaluations and reviews made. In the
inception phase, the participants of the strategic planning workshop made analyses
of the capacities of the organization which are used in accomplishing the goals and
its mission. Then an evaluation of the environment in which the organization works,
acts and will act was made by determination of more characteristic treats which can
negatively influence the work of the organization, and which are not under direct
influence and control of the organization. The next step was establishing and
1
According to the Article 1 from the Children’s Rights Convention of the UN

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analyzing the institutional structure of the organization, by emphasizing all the
relevant factors and the type and the intensity of the communication which exist
between them.
During the strategic planning process, there was an analysis of the strong and the
weak sides of the organization, possibilities for future development as well as
analysis of the existing treats. Following, there is part of this analysis:
Strong sides:
- Good image and trust by the citizens;
- Non-Politically oriented organization with clearly defined status of civil
activist approach in defending of the children’s rights;
- Solid base of dedicated volunteers and supporters.
Weak sides:
- Not enough skilled staff for preparation of projects (Insufficient capacity for
project management);
- Unclear delegation of the working responsibilities (and coordination). There
isn’t any human resources system.
- Insufficient staff number for serving a target group which causes lack of
focus.
Possibilities:
- Large need of our services;
- Good possibilities which come from the EU policies and regulations, as well as
the UN Committee recommendations.
Treats:
- Children’s rights are not highly placed in the agendas (Government, Parties,
International Foundations…….)
- Insufficiently developed civil sector in the field of children’s rights.
VI. MISSION AND VISION OF THE ORGANIZATION
Mission: The first children’s embassy Megjashi is a civil society organization
which advocates and protects the rights of the children, speaks up for responsible
parenthood and respect of the children’s personality. It reinforces the civil society’s
movement for the children rights and the functionality of the institutions in the best
interest of the child.
The embassy promotes the peaceful activism and volunteerism by developing
active citizenship, based on the principle of nonviolence. At the same time, it
nurtures the differences and it pleads for equal opportunities for all.
The key values and principles of the work of the Children Embassy Megjashi
are: Participation (involvement) of children and adults in processes of making

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decisions which are in their best interest; Volunteer approach in the protection of
the children’s rights; Promoting and practicing peace and tolerance through respect
of the opinion and the behaviour of the others; Equal opportunities for all in
actualization and respecting of their rights; Informative, responsible and objective
approach in the work of the organization.
The main motto of the Children’s Embassy Megjashi is: All ideals in the world
are less important than the tears of a child.
The First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi stands distinctly and
unequivocally behind this vision for the future of the organization and is completely
activated in realization of its function.
VII. STRATEGIC GOALS
1. Increasing the volume and the ambit of educational, psycho-social and
legal services for children, especially the risk-groups of children.
2. Institutionalization of the peace education as a part of the regular
educational system.
3. Development of programs for education and promotion of the children’s
rights.
Initiating the children’s rights issue on the public agenda (Government,
Political parties, foundations, media, business sector… )
VIII. STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING THE GOALS
The First Children's Embassy in the World MEGJASHI – Republic of Macedonia
Kosta Novakovik Street, 22а
1000 Skopje
Теl: + 389 02 2465316
Fax: + 389 02 2463900
first@childrensembassy.org.mk
www.childrensembassy.org.mk
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001382871995
http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Childrens-Embassy-in-the-World-Megjashi-
Republic-of-Macedonia/122833937782558