Guidelines for Grant Applicants

Background
The Building Bridges Fund, established in 2014, presents a simple and easy way to access funds for multilingual or
paired monolingual schools and kindergartens, as well as municipalities, which want to implement activities aimed at
furthering integration of children and students with different languages of instruction. It was established as a joint
effort initiated by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Government of Switzerland and the OSCE Mission to
Skopje, and later received support from the Government of Ireland. Presently, active contributors to the Fund are
the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Governments of Austria and the United States, and the OSCE
Mission to Skopje.
The purpose of the Fund is to ensure multi-ethnic experiences for all children and students from the earliest ages,
thus contributing to building a society that cherishes and takes pride in its diversity, as well as in knowing the
richness of shared values.
New generations need bridges to each other and open access to the riches and joys of diversity, especially at schools
that should prepare them for an integrated future in a diverse Europe.
The Building Bridges Fund aims to contribute to that.

Objectives of the Fund and Priority Issues

The overall objective of the Building Bridges Fund is to increase inter-ethnic interaction, understanding and
integration in the school environment by motivating and financially enabling municipalities, multilingual schools and
kindergartens, or paired monolingual schools and kindergartens with different languages of instruction, to
implement joint activities involving all their communities.
The specific objectives of the Building Bridges Fund are:
1. To contribute to strengthening inter-ethnic integration of children and students in schools and kindergartens
by supporting integrative activities;
2. To provide easily accessible funds to schools, kindergartens and municipalities for implementation of
structured sets of activities aimed at improving inter-ethnic integration;
3. To support pro-activeness and engagement of children and students, as well as to raise awareness between
children and youth of the importance of civic engagement and richness of diversity.
Sustainability is a key priority issue under the Building Bridges Fund. This means that project proposals to the Fund
must provide information on plans for:
- Financial sustainability: How will future integrative activities be financed and/or built on the results of this
project once the Building Bridges funding ends?
- Institutional sustainability: What kind of structures/mechanisms for communication and co-operation built
as part of this project will be at your disposal to further the results achieved after the end of the grant? How
will these mechanisms be used to plan and implement future integrative activities?
- Social sustainability: How will the established connections between students be nurtured and furthered in
the future? What will be the role of the schools in that nurturing? What kind of activities do you foresee
implementing in the future to further these connections? Will social media platforms be utilized for future
communication?

Building Bridges Fund Advisory Board

The Advisory Board of the Building Bridges Fund is the key body that evaluates applications, provides
recommendations to the applicants on how to enhance their applications, and most importantly, for awards grants.
The members of the Advisory Board serve in a voluntary capacity; they are not remunerated for their involvement in
the work of the Board. Some or all of the Board members will at times gladly join the launch of the organized
activities supported by the Fund.
Currently, the Advisory Board has the following Honorary Members:

 Biljana Micevska – Josifovska, Cabinet of the Minister of Education and Science;

 Irena Orovchanec, Advisor, Agency for Community Rights Realization;
 Jeff Goldstein, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje;
 Lela Jakovlevska, Senior Education Project Specialist, USAID, on behalf of the US Embassy;
 Milutin Stanchikj, Director, Directorate for Development and Promotion of Education in Languages of the
Communities, Ministry of Education and Science;
 Ognen Janeski, TV Host and civic activist, TV 24;
 Rebeka Jankovska Risteski, music artist and civic activist;
 H.E. Renate Kobler, Ambassador, Austrian Embassy;
 Safet Neziri, State Advisor, Ministry of Education and Science;
 Sara Barbieri, Building Bridges Project Manager, OSCE Mission to Skopje;
 Sasho Dodevski, Advisor, Ministry of Education and Science;
 Toni Zen, music artist;
 Valmira Istrefi, Advisor at the cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister, Secretariat for Implementation of the
Ohrid Agreement;
 Venera Lumani, music artist;
 H.E. Wouter Plomp, Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands;

Types of Grants
The Building Bridges Fund provides two types of grants for the applicants, ‘Regular’ and ‘Rapid’ Grants. The
application package can be downloaded through the site of the Ministry of Education and Science1 in any of the 7
languages that are in official use somewhere at municipal level in the country. They can also be filled in any of these
languages, but must be translated into English as well.

Regular Grants
Regular grants are grants of up to 7.000 Euros. There are three application deadlines for submission of applications
each year: the 1st of March, the 1st of May and the 1st of October. The completed Application Form should be sent
to:
Building Bridges Fund
P.O. Box 558, 1000 Skopje
Applications are opened and reviewed firstly by the Executive Office of the Building Bridges Fund to determine
whether they fulfil the stated criteria. At the following Board meeting, all board members provide their comments to
the applications, decide whether the application will be supported, and what recommendations will be conveyed to
an applicant for modifying their proposal to better achieve the Fund’s objectives. Recommendations are conveyed to
the applicants by the Executive Office and once they have been implemented, the implementation of project
activities may begin.
This process usually lasts around two months.

Rapid Grants
Rapid Grants are limited to a maximum of 1.500 Euros and can be applied for at any time, i.e. there are no
deadlines. These are quickly distributed grants and can accommodate any activity taking place at least one month
from receipt of the application. As with Regular Grants, the proposed activities must build a bridge and provide
strengthened integration of children and students with different languages of instruction. The completed Application
Form should be sent by e-mail to:

1
http://www.mon.gov.mk/index.php/2014-07-23-14-03-24/vesti-i-nastani/2250-grantovi-za-zaednichki-aktivnosti-gradime-
mostovi
 fund.buildingbridges@gmail.com
Upon receiving of an application, the Executive Office reviews it for compliance with the main criteria and decides
whether to award the requested funds. Furthermore, the Executive Office can get in touch with the applicant prior
to making the decision on grant award and provide recommendations on how to revise the application in order to
better achieve the specific objectives of the Building Bridges Fund.
This process does not take more than few weeks.

Eligibility Criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

 The applicant and partners;
 The activities; and
 The costs.
Eligibility of Applicant and Partners
In order to be eligible for a grant, the applicant must be a kindergarten, school or a municipality. If the applicant is
a kindergarten or a school with more than one language of instruction, then the applicant can apply as a single
applicant, but must involve students from at least two languages of instruction among those in use in the school. If
the applicant school is mono-lingual at least one partner school with different language/s of instruction should be
included in the application. If the applicant is a municipality, the same rule applies – the application has to include
schools and/or kindergartens with at least two different languages of instruction.
Apart from a kindergarten, school or a municipality, a partner in the application can also be another type of a legal
person, such as a civil society organization and/or educational organization other than a school or kindergarten.
However, keep in mind that when including a civil society organization and/or educational organization other than a
school or kindergarten as a partner, they need to have a clear connection with implementation of activities, to
provide unique expertise/knowledge regarding the activities, as well as to provide an added value to the project in
general. These organizations cannot be recipients of any funds awarded for a Building Bridges project.

Eligibility of Activities
Eligible activities can take many forms, from municipalities organizing a series of events with all their schools, to
students setting up joint rehearsal rooms, IT workshops, fashion shows or DJ sets; teachers running a series of mixed
events, parents getting involved in after-school activities or schools co-operating with each other.
Possibilities are endless and no strict limits are set as long as students with different languages of instruction are
positively involved and bridges are being built. This seems most likely when activities:
 Are part of a series of events, not just one-offs, unless they are likely to spark a future series (this is
particularly true for Regular Grants;
 Are truly “mixed” with equal representation of children from different languages of instruction; and
encouraging co-operation between each other in events;
 Focus on activities that emphasize actual interests that all students share, not backgrounds that
differentiate them (like community traditions, folklore, food, dress etc.);
 Take place in public spaces;
 Equally involve boys and girls, as well as those with special needs and active parents;
 Exclude political activities but never any community;
 Are driven by interests expressed by students themselves and not designed solely by teachers or school
staff; and
 Lead towards a mutually desired joint product reached through a co-operative process involving students
from different communities.
The Building Bridges Fund favors modern concepts of integration that focus on what all communities share.
Student Representative and Consultations with Students
All project proposals involving students from the 8th grade or above must include input from one or more Student
Representative(s). Student Representatives must be directly involved not only in the process of identifying and
designing activities and in the drafting of the application, but must also play an active role in implementing activities,
and provide input for the Narrative Report upon project completion. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure
that proposals include activities fostering integration that students themselves see as most feasible and interesting,
as well as to support the development of a culture of open flow of ideas between teachers and students. If a project
proposal involves more than one school, there must be at least one Student Representative from each one.
Inclusion of a Student Representative is not a requirement for proposals from kindergartens or primary schools
when the project will involve students from the 7th grade or below. Where possible, however, such applicants
should consult with students while designing the project. The decision on what type of consultation activities will
work best in a particular case is left to the applicant and partner schools, keeping in mind the specific circumstances
(such as the age of children/students who will participate in the project).

Eligibility of Costs
The Building Bridges Fund does not disburse money, but purchases the needed materials and/or services for the
implementation of activities. The applicant has only to provide an estimate of the foreseen costs after which the
Executive Office takes care of the rest.
Grant requests may involve teacher/staff fees for any work on the project after regular school hours, as well as
material investments that are necessary for implementation of the planned activities. However, these types of
expenses are not the primary focus of the Building Bridges Fund and the Board will request the revision of
applications that are built around either of them or will not selected them for award. The Board appreciates
applications in which teachers and staff are willing to work at least some additional hours on a pro bono basis.

Notification of Decision
Applicants will be informed via e-mail of the decision of the Building Bridges Fund Advisory Board regarding their
applications. If the application is conditionally approved, the applicants will receive the comments and
recommendations of the Board on how to revise the application. If the application is rejected, the applicants will
receive the justification for the negative decision.
Applications that are most consistent with the objectives laid out in these Guidelines, have the highest quality,
expected impact, sustainability and cost-effectiveness will have the highest chance for award of a grant.

***
The Building Bridges Fund opens up great opportunities to give new generations open access to the riches of
diversity. Apply and build new bridges for your community, your municipality, your schools, your kindergartens and
your students.

Project title
Applicant
I Profile of the Applicant2
Address of school
Director of school, phone
number and e-mail
Kindergarten, Primary or
secondary?
Number of shifts?
Existing and/or previous
joint activities with
partner/s, if any
II Profile of the Partner/s
Name, address and
municipality - partner 1
Primary or secondary?
Number of shifts?
Contact person partner 1
2 If the applicant is a municipality, instead of providing the name of the Director please provide the name and contact of the
responsible official. In this case, you do not need to answer questions in this section that are only relevant to schools/kindergartens.
3 The project manager is the responsible person for successful implementation of proposed activities and for drafting and
submission of the Final Narrative Report upon project completion.
BUILDING BRIDGES FUND APPLICATION
BUILDING BRIDGES
MSTS N ACE B UDJONI K UMANOVO
“Bajram Shabani” bb Language/s of instruction Macedonian and albanian
Dragan Janevski Lidija Ilievska, sociologist
Project manager3, mobile 075 205 420
075 205 610
draganjanevski@yahoo.com phone no. and e-mail lidija63@hotmail.com
- NO
- III1 Nikolovski Srbo,Radevski
Are the shifts mixed?
- high school Aleksandar, III1A Chlirim Misini,
-2 Valbona Aliji, III2 Kraljevska
Student Representative(s)
Viktorija,Vladimirovski David,
III2A Erden Saiti, Bujar Ibishi
[note any existing and/or previous joint activity/ies, especially if it has been supported by
the Building Bridges Fund – do not go into detail here; for details please use III.5 below]
/ Language/s of instruction /
- [are students from different
-/
Are the shifts mixed? languages of instruction in
-/
same shifts?]
Student Representative(s)
[state the name and position] [state the name(s) and grade(s)]
from partner 1
Total amount of
requested funds
430 511,00 MKD
III What’s the Plan?
III.1 Short Summary
- Maintenance of joined education on both languages at both objects

-Visits at industrial objects at the very town

-Sport activities at the school surroundings

III.2 Who are Involved?

Two of each vocation skills students of TKM and MET of both education languages, are involved in activities as
helpers organizers, and providers of the whole project.

Data under these four columns is for directly involved students only
Name of applicant and Total number of Number of School grade Gender Representation of
partner/s students students of students representation languages of instruction
III1 and III1A
1. MSTS Nace Budjoni grade – 51; 85 males, 47 macedonian
1914 99
Kumanovo III2 and III2A 14 females 52 albanian
grade - 48
Name of teachers and
Position and name of Mobile phone
other staff directly E-mail
school/kindergarten number
involved in activities
a teacher from Mechanical
1. Predrag Dodikj 078 683 890 pdodik@gmail.com
engineering skills.
a teacher from Mechanical
2. Halimi Misini 072 595 378 hmisini@yahoo.com
engineering skills.

III.3 Inclusion of Students in Designing the Project Activities

The pupils are completely involved with their own ideas and suggestions during preparations and designing of the
whole mentioned activities of the project. In that purpose they were given two weeks’ time to make surveys,
investigations and generating of their own ideas and suggestions. As soon as the ideas were finalized they were
adopted by the whole team upon acceptance and probability of their providers as the pupils themselves are going
to be the providers of the project as It is.

III.4 Process of Selection of the Student Representative(s)

All the students of III1 and III1a -51- Mechanic skill- vocation-Technician for mechanic management and all the
students of III2 and II21a -48- Mechanic skill- vocation -Mechanic energetic engineering. Having overviewed the
whole activities and the content of the project the students we altogether choose the representatives that are going
to lead the activities. Voluntarily are chosen the following students: Technician for mechanic management- Nikolovski
Srbo, Radevski Aleksandar, Valbona Aliji and Chlirim Misini.
Mechanic energetic engineering: Kraljevska Viktorija, Vladimirovski David, Erdem Saiti and Bujar Ibishi; all from MSTS
Nace Budjoni Kumanovo.
[name of school applicant]

[Names of teachers and/or other staff directly involved in

[Date/period of implementation
of activity/ies]
Septembar 2018 till may
2019
activity/ies implementation]
[Total number of students
directly included in activity/ies] Predrag Dodikj, Halimi Misini, Lidija Ilievska, Afrodita
99 Dogazanska, Darko Angelovski, Anita Cvetkovikj, Andrej
Bozinovski, Ljatif Daipi, Beqir Saqipi andNurtene Qerimi

[MSTS Nace Budjoni Kumanovo]

Teacher that provides the following subjects and the mentioned school were chosen at the meeting of the mechanic
vocation members as a provider of this project; Halimi Misini- hydro pneumatic technique-a teacher from Technician
for mechanic management skills and Predrag Dodikj-a teacher from Mechanic energetic engineering skills.

III.5 Continuation of Previous Activity/ies

Our school has been entertaining the mix ethnic integration in education successfully and has achieved 2 grants as
a joined partnership with the SS “Kole Nedelkovski” from Veles the last and the current school year.
So far out school had achieved three projects of the Found- We build bridges and those are:
2014/2015 school year of the health day 7th of April had been obtained by the students of health education
profession in both educational languages at our school. An information material had been provided, activity of
blood sugar and pressure checkups of random people met at the city square as a humanity guest was also made
by them as well as organizing a music youth activity at city quay where a different music groups, secondary school
choir, famous singer Adelina Tahiri also presented their talents in front of their peers and the representatives of
OSCE and MES.
2015/2016 school year- practical lesson classes for students of Macedonian and Albanian language education of
school subject Computer numeric management machines. Students had held 2 classes per month, of practical
activities together. Two CNC machines were provided and been used to manufacture objects that had been
exhibited at a Cultural Centre” Trajko Prokopiev” in our town. Our students took place at the joined meeting at
the central park in Skopje where they met with other students from different towns and joined their activities
together. Another Techno science presentation in front of the ninth-grade students of many ethnics;
participations at regional and state competitions.
2015/2016 school year- in joined partnership with the SS “Kole Nedelkovski” from Veles a project called
“Kumanovo’s and Veles’ cultural sites” has been held where a tourist guides of both towns; and each other
school visits were made together with the joined workshops.
III.6 Plan of Activities
Detailed description of Activity 1
Maintaining of the following school subjects by: Halimi Misini- hydro pneumatic technique- Technician for
mechanic management skills -teacher and Predrag Dodic- Mechanic energetic engineering skills teacher. Both
teachers are providing, out of regular class time, classes of hydro pneumatic technique in a period of September
2018 until May 2019 school year on both Albanian and Macedonian language and in both school buildings that the
education of this school is held. The first half of the school year is reserved for Technician for mechanic
management and the second half is for the Mechanic energetic engineering vocation in 4 (four) classes per month.
Topics are chosen from the available elements of the project. During the teaching period the students will be have
an opportunity to study and have a good time together.

[Please provide a description on how the Student Representative(s) will be included in implementation of activities, as
well as in their follow-up.]
[Names of teachers and/or
[Total number of students to be directly included in activity; other staff directly involved in
provide data by gender and languages of instruction] [Name and title of person activity implementation]
Total of 99 students- 85 males,14 females. 47 students responsible for activity Halimi Misini and Predrag
implementation] Dodikj teachers of
on Macedonian language of education and 52 Albanian Lidija Ilijevska, sociologist
language of education. mechanics group of
education.

Detailed description of Activity 2

Students will visit four industrial buildings together with teachers, in order to make friends outside the school and to get
acquainted with similar elements and application of hydropneumatics elements in production and maintenance. The
industrial facilities that will be visited are "Kvatro" company for production of soft drinks, Factory for processing of water
"Filter Stanica", SRC "Gradski Bazen-Kumanovo" and Water Treatment Plant -J.P. Vodovod. The visits will be performed at
the end of the classes for the two profiles, ie, the visit of "Kvartro" and "Filter Stanica" with the students from the TKU profile
in December 2018 and a visit to the SRC "City Pool-Kumanovo" and "Water Treatment Station".J. P.Vodovod, with the
students from the MET profile at the end of May 2019. With these visits students will be able to see and learn the application
of hydropneumatics elements in the industry in the objects themselves.
[Please provide a description on how the Student Representative(s) will be included in implementation of activities, as
well as in their follow-up.]
[Total number of students to be directly included in activity; [Names of teachers and/or
provide data by gender and languages of instruction] other staff directly involved in
At December’s visit there will be 51 students, 43 males, [Name and title of person activity implementation]
8 females. 23 students on Macedonian language of responsible for activity Halimi Misini and Predrag
implementation] Dodikj teachers of
education and 28 Albanian language of education.
Lidija Ilijevska, sociologist
At May’s visit there will be 48 students, 42 males, mechanics group of
6 females. 24 students on Macedonian language of education.
education and 24 Albanian language of education
Detailed description of Activity 3
At the very end of the project in May 2019 year a sport competition in soccer, basketball and athletics are
planned to be held under name of “Together we build bridges”. All of them are going to be maintained in the
school yard terrains. Four male and two female teams are competing in soccer; four separate vocational male
teams in basketball, Technician for mechanic management Mechanic energetic engineering teams. Rest of the
competitors are doing athletics, and team supporters. During all this activities refreshment is going to be donated
by “Kvatro” company. To all the participants are also going to be donated t-shirts with a logo “We build bridges”
on Macedonian and Albanian language, as a school donation in amount of 27 500 denars (twenty-seven thousand
five hundred denars)

[Please provide a description on how the Student Representative(s) will be included in implementation of activities, as
well as in their follow-up.]
[Names of teachers and/or
other staff directly involved in
activity implementation]
Predrag Dodikj, Halimi
Misini teachers of
[Total number of students to be directly included in activity;
[Name and title of person
mechanics group of
provide data by gender and languages of instruction]
99 students 85 males,14 females. 47 studentс on responsible for activity education, Darko
implementation] Angelovski, Anita
Macedonian language of education and 52 Albanian Lidija Ilijevska, sociologist
language of education. Cvetkovikj, Andrej
Bozinovski, Ljatif Daipi,
Beqir Saqipi and Nurtene
Qerimi teachers of sport
and sports activities

IV Timeframe
Month Location of
Activity implementation
1(Sep) 2(Oct) 3(Nov) 4(Dec) 5(Jan) 6(Feb) 7(Mar) 8(Apr) 9(May) 10 11 12
of activity
1. Maintenance of the
Primary school
course in the subject
X X X X X X and object of
Hydro-pneumatic
"ZIK"
technique for year III
2. Visiting "Kvatro" and
"Filter Station" with "Kvatro", "Filter
X
students from the TKU Stanica"
profile
3. A visit to the "Waste
"City Pool-
Water Treatment Plant"
Kumanovo" and
_JP Vodovod, with the X
"Purification
students from the MET
Station"
profile
4. sports activities in Fields in the
X
soccer, basketball and school's circle
athletics.

V What do you need?

Item Unit No, of units Cost per item Total cost

1. Human Resources
8months x
1.1. Teachers involved in activities pers 2 2000,00MKD= 32 000,00
16 000,00
1.2. Costs for teachers (Sport activities and English
pers 7 2 000,00 14 000,00
teachers)
8months x
1.3. Project manager pers 1 2000,00MKD= 16 000,00
16 000,00
Subtotal Human Resources 62 000,00
2. Transportation
2.1. Transport of students to companies - December students 51 50 2 550,00
2.2. Transport of students to companies - May students 48 50 2 400,00
Subtotal Transportation 4 950,00
3. Equipment from the company Electron s.r.l.
WS
3.1. B38P Pneumatic trainer 2 67 452,00 134 904,00
(workstation)
WS
3.2. B38E Electropneumatics trainer 2 87 842,00 175 561,00
(workstation)
3.3. B38C Silent compressor station 2 23 548,00 47 096,00
Subtotal Activities 357 561.00

4. Other
4.1. Soccer balls # 2 1 500,00 3 000,00
4.2. Basketballs # 2 1 500,00 3 000,00
No.Subtotal Other 6 000,00

Total 430 511,00 MKD

VI Sustainability

As a benefit of this project we expect the equipment to be used in common educations at least two time a year. The
same equipment will be used at the open school days “Techno science” where our mixed students are going to
present the equipment to the primary school students in order to awaken the science and vocation interests to
them. Another plan of ours is to continue the cooperation and visits with the local industries and to provide an
opportunity to our mixed type students to improve their work craft activities there. As well all the above mentioned
sport activities to become a tradition of our school activities.