Name of the organization: SFERA INTERNATIONAL – Bitola
Website: sferainternational.org
Brief description of the organization
SFERA INTERNATIONAL – Bitola is an NGO from Bitola, North Macedonia which was first formed in 2007 as an informal group and in July 2009 it was registered as an NGO. The general goal of SFERA INTERNATIONAL – Bitola is through non-formal methods to educate the population in North Macedonia about the protection of the environment, cultural and natural heritage, with the purpose to raise the awareness of all age groups about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and the benefits that come with it.
Problem addressed by the good practice
The good practice addresses the integration of local minorities and different ethnic groups with the local population.
Target groups
The target group is representatives of different ethnic groups and locals.
Summary of the good practice
The poetry reading event aimed to promote the diverse amount of languages spoken in Bitola, North Macedonia, respect those languages, and the beauty of communication. The Poetry night event was organized by SFERA together with the group from the language coffee as the idea was to be stimulated exchanges of cultures and stories. The poetry night gathered youth from all the minorities in Bitola where they read poetry in 6 different languages in front of the audience. The event was organized by volunteers and carried out by the poets where the people were amazed by the diversity in the language spoken in Bitola. Representatives from other NGOs also attended the event.
The event was organized as a type of a cocktail as well, so regarding resources, the organizers used different soft drinks as refreshments and finger food/snacks. For those necessary, SFERA printed out the poems for them.
Evaluation
The SFERA team evaluated the activity on the spot, the people who were present gave great feedback for the event, as it was the first of its kind organized in the town, and the guests said that they were impacted by it. The feedback extended to the poets as well.
SFERA considers this event to be a good practice because it gathers people from different cultural backgrounds and allows them to present their culture through reading poetry in their language which is a very nice and strong medium for cultural representation. Organized in this way, the poetry night will help mix people coming from different ethnic groups or even people from different countries and it allows them to meet the locals and helps with their integration.
Recommendations
The improvement would be to extend the age. SFERA made this event for young people because they are the main target group of the organization, but as an activity, it would be good to be done with any age group.
Resources
More information is available on SFERA’s website.