About Us

Who we are

Democracy Lab is an established organization with a diverse portfolio of impactful projects in security, media literacy, countering disinformation, civic engagement, and youth empowerment. Democracy strives to build networks and partnerships geared towards a stronger, sustainable democracy. We tackle the most pressing challenges of modern developing democracies with innovative solutions, engaging the brightest local talent.

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What we do

Democracy Lab aims to strengthen democratic values in Macedonia and the Balkans with a special focus on youth and civil society organizations by:

Fighting Corruption

Corruption is the most pressing issue of our society. It is the root cause of many systematic dysfunctionalities, which causes low quality of public services and affects our quality of life. We have identified three main ways to fight corruption:

  • Transparency

    Increasing transparency in local and central levels of government and providing tools and platforms to bolster digital and direct involvement of all actors to achieve this goal.

  • Accountability

    keeping governmental officials and politicians accountable for their promises and actions by monitoring their work, strengthening capacities of Civil Society Organizations, and raising citizen awareness.

  • Civic participation

    Creating opportunities, platforms, and tools for civic participation in decision making.

Security Studies and Preventing and countering violent extremism

Security is the cornerstone of a nation's wellbeing, economic development, and quality of life. The modern hybrid warfare challenges democracies around the world and is a main threat to fragile democracies. Radicalization and violent extremism disturbs our everyday life and our way of living by targeting vulnerable communities in an attempt to influence social and political changes.

  • Building resilient democracy

    To foster peaceful platforms to manage conflicts by providing channels, forums, public debates to demand change through political actions such as advocacy, policy development, political negotiations, and countering foreign malign influence.

  • Building Community Resilience

    Empowering communities and local actors to lead the efforts on countering and preventing violent extremism and radicalization.

  • Civic participation

    To genuinely understand the problems and challenges and provide tailored solutions.

Democracy Building

We are working towards a North Macedonia that is a nation of citizens, not idle spectators.

  • Youth and Civic Engagement

    to support and develop an active citizenship by providing dynamic and innovative community engagement opportunities.

  • Human Capacity Building

    to enhance the understanding of democratic norms and values amongst citizens and accelerate the technical ability of civil society actors to hold government institutions and officials accountable to the same norms and values.

  • Supporting grassroot activism

    providing mentorship and encouragement for grassroots activists and groups to pursue and achieve societal change.

Media

Freedom of the press is paramount in a strong and healthy democracy. A free press serves to monitor government corruption, hold leaders accountable for their behavior, and provide a space for public discourse. As North Macedonia’s government institutions are reformed, it is imperative that these efforts are mirrored within the media landscape. We have identified three ways to promote freedom of the press:

  • Combating disinformation

    to counter organized misinformation campaigns, which undermines the public’s trust in democractic institutions, by promoting critical thinking skills, exposing and undermining disinformation efforts, and exploring current trends and technologies in detecting and combatting disinformation and deceptive news and methods for building society’s resilience to disinformation.

  • Capacity Building for young journalists

    to provide technical trainings and professional development opportunities for young journalists who believe a free press will accelerate democratic development.

  • Media Literacy

    to enhance public perception of media and the role it plays in our lives as 21st century global citizens.

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Contact Us

Ilindenska NN,
Tetovo, R. of North Macedonia

Working Hours

Monday to Friday
09:00 to 17:00

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