Educational games and inclusive radio show – winning ideas of RISE

On March 7, ARNO awarded the prizes to the latest generation of young social entrepreneurs from the RISE project. The event was held at the European House in Skopje, and many supporters of social entrepreneurship were gathered in one place. The jury selected as winners: “Horizon” – a platform for education and entertainment with multimedia courses and games, accessible to children from underprivileged families (through subsidized access), and “Inclusive Voices” – a radio show that shares stories and experiences of people with disabilities.
Through the RISE program, the winning teams receive financial support of 3,000 euros, additional training, mentorship, and regional networking opportunities. In this edition as well, the RISE project awarded a regional mobility grant of 500 euros to a third team – “Open Atelier” – an inclusive space offering creative workshops for people over 60, aimed at reducing their social exclusion.

“Today, we are happy that after 6 years, we can call this project a program – and a successful one – through which 5 generations of young social entrepreneurs have passed. For ARNO, the program meant defining a modern curriculum that we enriched with knowledge and content, regional cooperation with other incubators, a pool of encouraged young people who love their country and want to do something good for it, and a large ALUMNI community of all the teams, individuals, and even mentors and lecturers who joined us over the years. We are looking for ways for this program to continue and for social entrepreneurship to move higher on the agendas of governments.” – said Stefanie Prenkova, project coordinator at ARNO.

The closing event was also addressed by the representative of the French Embassy in Skopje – Irène Ketoff, and on behalf of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), Vladimir Gjorgjevski – Director of the local office, stated: “RYCO will continue to support programs and activities that bring young people together, build their capacities, and create positive social change at the local and regional level.”

The winners were selected by an independent expert jury composed of Vladimir Petkovski – social entrepreneurship associate/Economic Institute, Marina Peshovska – social entrepreneurship associate/SUGS Rade Jovchevski Korchagin, Vladimir Gjorgjevski – RYCO, Blerina Zendeli – SEEU Tech Park, South East European University, and Biljana Filipovska – Association for Creative Sustainability Wild Iris.
Hristijan Volkanovski, Suzana Trajkovska Kochovska, Sanja Stojkovska, Bojan Kordalov, Katarina Gerogievska, Daniel Stojanovski, Nikica Kusinikova, Barbara Sadovska, Slobodan Levkovski, and Diana Boškovska provided mentoring and expert support for the fifth RISE generation of young social entrepreneurs.

The last RISE journey involved seven teams with strong missions: Green Graphene (transforming coffee waste into graphene), Mindful Young Leaders (empowering youth through leadership and mindfulness), Open Atelier (creative workshops for older adults), Horizon (interactive learning platform for children), Inclusive Voices (radio show telling stories of people with disabilities), Raat Mesto (eco-tourism combining culture and nature), and Ruvo (second chance for pieces of clothing).

The RISE project is led by a consortium composed of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), SOS Group Pulse, and the Franco-German Youth Office, and implemented by six local incubators – ARNO, Balkan Green Foundation, Nesto više, Smart Kolektiv, IEC Tehnopolis, and Yunus Social Business.

The RISE project is co-financed by the French Development Agency (AFD), the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), and the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. ARNO is proud to have been selected as the local incubator and national structure implementing the 6-year project alongside regional partners.