OSCE Skopje Mission promotes scouting for young people from minority communities

SKOPJE, 14 July 2005 - Thirty children from different ethnic backgrounds will today join a five-day scout camp in Ohrid, supported by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, in which they will meet their peers from the National Scout Association.

Participants at this fourth and final camp may later join the Scout Association and spread interest in the multi-ethnic scouting programme throughout the country.

"Scouting for Everyone" is a five-month pilot project of the scout association Goce Delchev, aimed at promoting inter-ethnic communication in the municipality of Sveti Nikole.

"We are pleased to support this local initiative, which involves young people of different ethnic communities," said Ambassador Carlos Pais, Head of the OSCE Mission.

The project targeted 60 teenagers from Roma and Vlach communities who benefited from playing, learning and exploring together with 60 Macedonian members of the Association.

Michael Bogdan, a volunteer from the U.S. Peace Corps, facilitated the initiative.