The activities of all networks focus on strengthening the capacities of coaches, trainers, PE teachers, social/youth workers and young professionals to use sport, physical activity and games as instruments for social inclusion of marginalized groups and community development. They raise awareness of S4D by staging social inclusive sport activities, improving the accessibility and increasing the participatory conditions of sport grounds and equipment. Networking, exchange and cooperation among different stakeholders on local, national and regional level fosters social cohesion and learning within communities and across borders.

In North Macedonia, general challenges such as poverty, long-term unemployment and incomplete education have contributed towards the development of antisocial behaviour in youth, teenage pregnancy and similar problems creating a disabling social climate within these communities. Young people being excluded from the labour market have limited or no participation in the civil society or other potentially beneficial decision-making processes.

GIZ on behalf of BMZ is working closely together with the municipality of Kriva Palanka with the general objective of improving social inclusion and cohesion of disadvantaged youth in this area, including youth from the Roma community, children with no parents, children with disabilities and children from impoverished areas. The project aims to enhance their non-formal education opportunities as well as provide them with the possibility to take part actively in the development of the youth and sport sector in their community.

The sport-pedagogical qualification of coaches and teachers is the main component of our advanced education and training programmes in the field of S4D ("Capacity Development on Individual Level"). Below you will find workshop documents from North Macedonia which give you some insight into workshop contents and discussions.

We invite you to have a look at the following teaching and learning material, which was created with our partner organizations in the Western Balkan. You will find a more detailed description about the materials in our collection S4D Tools for your Practice/Teaching and Learning Materials.

If you want to have more detailed and/or further information about S4D in the country, please have a look at the following publications.

The local sport for development nets (L-S4D-Nets) approach in the Western Balkan region is described in an interactive roadmap. The aim of this publication is to present the approach and to capture the main learnings. The roadmap also serves as a practical and hands on working aid that supports other sport for development programmes in shaping their own local networking activities.
Roadmap