Project Description

The main objective of the project is to support the government of North Macedonia in preparing for accession negotiations by enhancing its administrative capacities and human resources for EU integration and the achievement of the priorities of the government reform agenda in the accession process. The Project also supports effective communication of the benefits of the EU accession process to the public and works on increasing awareness of the effects of the EU accession process through involvement of civil society and media throughout the accession phases.

The overall objective of the intervention is to contribute to awareness raising of the public regarding the EU accession of the country and what are the benefits and obligations from the membership.

Specific objectives include strengthening of the journalists’ skills to report and create media content on the process of EU integration of the country, through conducting trainings.

The impact of media on dissemination of information related to the European integration process is integral to securing broad public awareness and knowledge of the process and should contribute towards capacity building to fight disinformation and fake news. The media has the potential to influence the public opinion in a variety of ways, by devoting resources for covering EU accession processes as well as adopting a more analytical approach to the effects of the EU membership. Therefore, journalists are a key partner in the road to accession of the Republic of North Macedonia, helping to increase public support by producing balanced and informative reports on the EU accession.

Three interactive trainings and discussions of journalists on the EU integration of North Macedonia - "Yes, maybe, no" were held in the cities of Veles, Tetovo, Bitola. The interactive trainings were conducted by EPICENTAR International and People 2 People. Journalists from various local media attended the trainings conducted in the period from 07.11 to 10.11.2022.

The training was conducted by a team of international experts from Serbia:

Olgica Lola Milojevic - moderator and political scientist
Jelka Jovanović - editor and journalist,
dr. Maja Vukadinović – media, information and digital literacy trainer
Nikola Radisic – guest journalist, N1's EU correspondent

The general goal of these trainings and interactive discussions was to learn and share experiences about the importance of the European integration process and the role of the media, institutions in North Macedonia and the EU. It is also important to discuss the possible ways of reporting how we could inform the public more qualitatively and more efficiently about the various aspects of the EU integration process, about the news, the current achievements, but also the challenges for the further approach to the EU membership.

The discussion was held within the framework of the Project "Nordic Support for the Progress of North Macedonia" implemented by UNOPS within the framework of the activity for improving the capacities of the media for reporting the EU accession process financed by the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation SIDA.

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