The Council for Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (SPPMD), was founded on May 26, 1996 by community members, professors, medical professionals, social workers, pedagogues and members of the law enforcement community in Kavadarci, Macedonia. SPPMD is a non-governmental, non-profit, and non-religious organization whose main activities are aimed to fight against all forms of asocial and delinquent behaviour of the young people in Kavadarci.
The work of SPPMD is mainly divided in two sectors:
The NGO’s first activity was to hold tribunes with the mayor and city council of Kavadarci, in order to discuss the issue of juvenile delinquency in Kavadarci. Since 1996, the NGO has developed a reputation for quality programming and grant management. It is widely recognized as a leader among NGOs in Macedonia for its ability to organize, network, and link people and organizations, around issues that involve or are important for young people.
The first huge national activity was the development of National Preventive Action Plan in 1999 – 2000. The project involved 6800 youngsters from 41 Municipality, in conjunction with Ministries of Education, of Internal Affairs,of Law and of Labour and Social Work, as well as Supreme Court, Public Prosecutor, Ombudsman, Correctional Institutions and National Association of Lawyers.
From 2000 to 2007 SPPMD has organized the work of the Babylon children and youth center, where over 1000 youngsters from the town and villages participate in different non-formal activities annually. Later this center developed in a Youth Club whose premises are kindly donated to SPPMD by the Municipality of Kavadarci. Currently in our Youth Club we organize various activities targeting youngsters from 13 to 17 and young adults from 18 to 35.
So far, the Council for Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency has managed more then 50 projects and grants supported by various foreign and domestic Donors: OSCE, USAID through the Institute for Sustainable Communities, Catholic Relief Services and World Learning, EC Delegation in Macedonia, EC Executive Audiovisual Cultural and Educational Agency, World Bank, UNICEF, British Embassy, Royal Norwegian Embassy, SALTO SEE Resource Center, SEEYN, Foundation Open Society Institute, Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, Local Government of Kavadarci & local businessmen, etc.
In 1998 – 99 SPPMD has prepared the National Action Plan for Juvenile Delinquency for Macedonia, which determined our priorities and strategic directions of work for the next years.
From 2000 till 2006 SPPMD has organized the work of the Babylon children and youth center, where over 1000 youngsters from the town and villages have participated annually in different non-formal activities.
Since 2001 – 02 SPPMD has prepared and proposed to the Ministry of Justice the Law on Juvenile Justice, which was finally adopted by the Parliament in 2007, after five years of lobbying. Currently, we have been working for three years, in conjunction with UNICEF and OSCE to train the government institutions’ employees who are responsible for implementation of this Law. So far, over 400 judges, prosecutors, police officers, lawyers, social workers, prison officers and NGO and media representatives have beed appropriatelly trained.
SPPMD started to work with international volunteers in 2000, hosting US Peace Corps volunteer. The extremely positive experience was further expanded to another US Peace Corps volunteer in 2007-08, but also to other volunteering programs, such as VSO – 2002 – 03, Canadian International Youth Network – 2005-06 etc.
In 2002 SPPMD has organized the first hosting and sending EVS project implemented in Macedonia. Up today, we have hosted 73 and have sent 41 EVS volunteers. Our currently valid hosting, sending and coordinating accreditation is 2013 – SI – 114.
Since 2003, SPPMD is a member organization of the Coalition All 4 Fair Trials.
From 2004 to 2008 SPPMD was implementing partner organization to UNV/UNDP for the RIVER SEE Programme in Macedonia.
Since 2005 SPPMD is a member of the Volunteer Center of Macedonia, coordinating one out of six Volunteer Info Points in the country. We have been directly involved in the preparation of the Law on Volunteerism. After its adoption in 2007, we work on its promotion and proper implementation in our region. We are managing a data-base of local volunteers and recently have started with implementation of Time Bank for volunteers.
From 2005 to 2009 SPPMD was active as a Contact Point for the YOUTH/Youth in Action Programme in Macedonia, nominated by the SALTO SEE Resource Center.
From 2008 to 2013 SPPMD was official Training Provider for EVS trainings in SEE, in conjunction with the SALTO SEE Resource Center.
From 2002 to 2012 SPPMD was Partner Organization to the International Young Nature Friends – IYNF, ( www.iynf.org ) with a seat in Prague. In 2012 we were accepted as full Member Organization. Still we are the only member organization from the Balkans.
From 2012 SPPMD has established a regional network “Hate Fighters” together with few other long-term partner organizations, in order to implement local, national and regional activities within the CoE campaign No Hate Speech!
