Six CSOs, along with high school students from six regions in the country, will initiate local solutions to environmental issues. The Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) and the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) will train eco-activists and students from Pelagonija, Ohrid, Strumica, Tikves, Demir Kapija and Prespa for the next two years on how to initiate and present a problem in their region and develop solutions in which the citizens and the institutions will be involved.

ICS and MES, through a competition to be announced this year, will call on CSOs to join a high school in protected areas and propose how to solve a local environmental problem. Selected organizations and schools will learn how to develop communication skills, research based on data, advocate and lobby. To carry out these activities, CSOs will receive a grant of 5,000 euros and mentoring support from the professional teams of ICS and MES.

The project also envisages the development of online educational resources, training, eco-camp, field research, which should contribute to the creation of a model of non-formal education that can be used in the future in case the right to a healthy environment is violated.

The Shaping Environmental Policy through Local Action = SHAPE is led by ICS with the financial support of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).