Erasmus+ hub · Kocani, North Macedonia
Erasmus+ in North Macedonia with EVEC Kocani — find your programme.
We're a citizens' association in Kocani with an ESC Quality Label, a delivered Erasmus+ project of our own, and branch offices in Stip, Strumica, Delcevo and Lozovo. Our work under Erasmus+ in North Macedonia runs across youth, vocational training, schools, adult education, sport and solidarity volunteering. Whoever you are — a young person, a school, an organisation, or an institution — there's a way in. Start by choosing your field.
The programme & our role
Erasmus+ in North Macedonia: what the programme is — and where we fit.
Erasmus+ is the European Union's programme for education, training, youth and sport — funding mobility and cooperation across Europe, with North Macedonia as a full programme country. EVEC has worked inside it, and inside the European Solidarity Corps, since 2015: we coordinated our own Erasmus+ VET mobility project, we partner in youth projects with organisations across Europe, we hold an ESC Quality Label to host and support volunteers and are ready for the first placement here, and through our branch offices we do the everyday work — with schools, with day-care centres for people with disabilities, with Roma youth — that those projects stand on. See what we have delivered on our projects page.
Find your programme
Choose your field.
Six fields, one organisation. Pick the one that fits you and go straight to its page.
Youth exchanges and youth-worker training, delivered with partners across Europe since 2015.
For young people, youth workers & partners Explore Youth →Host your VET mobility in Kocani, Stip or Delcevo — with the coordinator of a delivered VET project.
For VET schools and providers Explore VET →Bring us into your KA2 school partnership, or get help writing one.
For schools Explore School Education →Partner on non-vocational adult learning, or bring your educators to eastern Macedonia.
For adult-education providers Explore Adult Education →Build a grassroots-sport partnership with the organisation that introduced Boccia to North Macedonia.
For sport clubs and NGOs Explore Sport →Volunteer with us in eastern Macedonia — our association-level Quality Label covers all five towns, and Stip is recruiting most actively right now — or send and host volunteers with a labelled organisation.
For young people and organisations Set to become part of Erasmus+ under the proposed 2028–2034 programme. Explore ESC →If you sit between two cards
Erasmus+ field by field: which card is yours?
Five of the six cards above are fields of Erasmus+ in North Macedonia; the sixth, ESC, is still its own programme. Real organisations do not always sit neatly inside one of them, so here is how the borderline cases untangle — and none of it is a test you can fail.
Youth or School Education?
If you are applying as a school, on the school's own project, start on the School Education page — that is where the KA2 school partnership and the help with writing one sit. If the activity is for young people outside formal schooling, or for the youth workers around them, start on Youth. Guess wrong and nothing breaks: tell us what you are planning and we point you to the right field ourselves.
VET or Adult Education?
VET is for vocational providers: host your mobility in Kocani, Stip or Delcevo, or partner with an organisation that has coordinated a VET project of its own. Adult Education is for non-vocational adult learning — that wording is deliberate rather than decorative — and covers partnering as well as bringing your educators here. If your organisation honestly does both, tell us which grant you hold and we work from that one.
Youth or ESC?
Both put a young person in North Macedonia, but our role differs between them, and we would rather you knew that up front. On the Youth side we work as a partner in other organisations' Erasmus+ projects — exchanges, activities, youth-worker training — rather than under an accreditation of our own. ESC is where our accreditation sits: an ESC Quality Label for hosting and supporting volunteers, valid to the end of 2027. They are two cards because today they are two programmes; ESC is only set to join Erasmus+ under the proposed 2028–2034 programme.
Sport or Youth?
A grassroots club with a youth section can honestly go either way. If the subject of the project is sport itself — as it was when we introduced the Paralympic sport Boccia to North Macedonia — use Sport. If sport is the vehicle and the real subject is what happens to the young people, Youth is usually the better home for it. We can partner in either, so the choice is about where your funding sits, not about us.
None of the six?
The opening line of this page says "a young person, a school, an organisation, or an institution" on purpose. The six cards are entry doors, not a filter at the gate. If you cannot see yourself in any of them, write to contact@evec.org.mk and describe in plain words what you are trying to do.
What we offer
Five ways to work with us — in any field.
Take part
Young people join the activities our network runs and hosts.
We are honest about what this means here: EVEC Kocani does not hold an Erasmus+ youth accreditation of its own, so the opportunities we announce are ESC volunteering placements — the Quality Label is held by the association, so a placement can be based in any of our five towns — and places in the Erasmus+ projects we partner in. You apply as a person, not as an organisation — watch the news page for open calls. All five towns — Kocani, Stip, Strumica, Delcevo and Lozovo — can host, and Stip is recruiting most actively right now.
Host with us in Kocani, Stip or Delcevo
Turnkey mobilities for learners and educators.
Turnkey means the learning is designed, not merely booked: hands-on sessions built around the places our people already work — day-care centres for people with disabilities in Stip and Delcevo, a Green Flag eco-school in Kocani where our members teach, Roma youth programmes. We do not decide how long a mobility runs — the Erasmus+ rules for your Key Action and your own grant agreement do. Tell us your dates and we build the programme around them.
Partner in your project
A reliable partner that delivers its work packages.
Partner means work packages with our name on them, delivered. When a coordinator asks what we are worth inside a consortium, we point at two things: the Erasmus+ VET project we coordinated ourselves — Entrepreneurial Development Through Internet and Social Media (2020-1-MK01-KA102-077700), which sent Macedonian VET students abroad — and Green Pathways (2025-1-RO01-KA153-YOU-000298169), running now with EVEC Stip as a partner in a six-country consortium. A letter of intent is available on request.
Get help writing a strong project
We coach and co-shape; you stay the author and owner.
Coaching, not ghost-writing. We work on the idea with you and can take a partner role in the result, but your organisation stays the applicant, the author and the owner of the project it submits.
Get guidance towards your own accreditation
We'll point your organisation at the right door and walk with you.
An accreditation or Quality Label is what lets an organisation run its own activities instead of joining somebody else's. We have been through the ESC Quality Label process ourselves and hold the label, so what we tell you comes from inside the application rather than from a guide about it.
Two routes run through every sector of Erasmus+ in North Macedonia: KA1 (mobility & accreditation — people travel and learn) and KA2 (cooperation partnerships — organisations build something together). We work across both.
How it actually goes
Step by step: from first e-mail to delivered project.
Every project we take on runs through the same sequence, whether you are a young person applying for a volunteering placement or a coordinator adding a Macedonian partner to a KA220 close to the deadline.
You arrive with a field, or without one
Every route starts on one of the six cards above: pick yours and go straight to that field's page, where the offer is written for that audience. If you cannot tell which card is yours, skip the sorting and write to contact@evec.org.mk.
You tell us the project and the deadline
Two things do most of the work in a first message: what you are trying to build, and when the application is due. Add the Key Action if you know it — KA1 or KA2, KA210 or KA220 — and say which of the five roles above you want from us: taking part, hosting, partnering, coaching, or guidance towards your own accreditation.
We reply within three working days
Three working days is the ceiling, not a target we aim at. We are an association run by practitioners rather than a call centre, and we keep no fixed office hours — e-mail is the door that is always open. If your own deadline is tighter than that, put the date in the first line.
We say yes or no to the actual work
This is what being a genuine partner rather than a paper partner means in practice. Before anything is signed we look at the work packages you would hand us and decide whether we can deliver them. If we cannot, we say so rather than sign, while there is still time for you to find someone who can.
The paperwork, on request
A letter of intent comes on request, and the identifiers your form will ask for — OID E10119353, PIC 943554018 and our ESC Quality Label — are printed at the top of this page. Copy them straight across.
We shape the content together
Then the method does the work: complex science turned into something a group can do with its hands, in whichever of our fields fits your topic — with the honest note that our four flagship methodologies were piloted in Athens by our network and are arriving in Kocani now. We build around the dates your grant agreement gives you, because that calendar is not ours to set.
Delivery, and the evidence of it
For hosting, delivery means a learning programme that was designed rather than assembled. For partnerships, it means the work packages come back done. The evidence is checkable rather than take-our-word-for-it: the VET project we coordinated and the partner projects across our network — 17 EU projects since 2015 — are on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.
Fit, honestly
Who Erasmus+ with EVEC Kocani is for — and who it is not for.
Saying no early is cheaper for everyone than saying yes badly. Not every enquiry should end in a project, so here is the split, put as plainly as we can put it.
You are in the right place if
- You are a young person looking for an ESC volunteering placement in eastern North Macedonia, and you would rather the organisation behind it held a Quality Label.
- You are a school, a VET provider, an adult-education provider, a sport club or an NGO that needs a partner from North Macedonia for a KA210 or KA220 cooperation partnership.
- You are a sending organisation that needs a host in Kocani, Stip or Delcevo for a VET or adult-education mobility, and you want the learning content designed, not only the logistics arranged.
- You have an idea and no application yet, and you want coaching from an organisation that has coordinated and delivered its own Erasmus+ project, while you stay the author and the owner.
- You intend to run your own activities one day and want guidance towards an accreditation or Quality Label of your own, from people who have been through the process themselves.
Look elsewhere if
- You need a name and a PIC number to complete a consortium and nothing beyond that. We co-apply as a genuine partner and take real work packages; a signature-only role is not one we accept.
- You want the application written for you with your logo on the cover. We coach and co-shape, and we are direct about which sentences remain yours to write.
- You want somebody to invent a duration — or a budget — for your activity. The Erasmus+ rules for your Key Action and your grant agreement decide those, and we will not make up a number the programme has already fixed.
- You are looking for a sightseeing trip with a project name attached to it. Hosting here is a learning programme with hands-on sessions at the centre of the day.
- You need an answer inside the hour. Three working days is our maximum, and we would rather promise that honestly than promise an hour and miss it.
The EVEC method
One method, every field — now arriving in Kocani.
Across the EVEC network we do the same thing: take complex science and turn it into hands-on learning young people engage with. The four methodologies — microgreens, mycelium, drones and solar — were written by our president, Blagoj Ristov, and piloted by our sister organisation in Athens. We are bringing them to North Macedonia now, and we say "bringing" deliberately: here they are a plan we are starting, not a result we claim.
What is already here is the practice they grew out of — a year-round eco calendar with a Green Flag eco-school, the first Boccia programme in the country, and hands-on work in the day-care centres for people with disabilities that have been open in Delcevo since 2004 and in Stip since 2006.
Credibility
Why partner with EVEC Kocani.
A citizens' association in Kocani, founded in 2014, with a European track record since 2015.
Before you write to us
Erasmus+ with EVEC Kocani: frequently asked questions.
The ones worth answering before you write.
Are your references real, and can I check them?
Every identifier on this page is public and quotable: OID E10119353, PIC 943554018, and an ESC Quality Label for hosting and supporting volunteers, valid to 31 December 2027 — you can see the label for yourself on the European Youth Portal. Our projects, from the VET mobility we coordinated (2020-1-MK01-KA102-077700) to the partner projects of our branches, are on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. Put them in front of your national agency — they are the same references we use ourselves.
How long does a mobility or a project last?
This is the one question we answer without a number, and that is the honest answer: EVEC does not set durations. The Erasmus+ rules for your Key Action set them, and your own grant agreement fixes them for your project. The same goes for money — grant levels are set by the current rules for Erasmus+ in North Macedonia, not by us. Tell us your dates and we build around what you are allowed and intending to do.
Can I visit you in person?
Our seat is at Boris Trajkovski 42 in Kocani, and our branch offices are in Stip, Strumica, Delcevo and Lozovo. We are practitioners rather than a front desk, so we keep no fixed public office hours — write to contact@evec.org.mk first and we will arrange a time that suits both sides. The door is open; e-mail is how it opens.
Are you looking for volunteers right now?
Yes. Our ESC Quality Label is held by the association, so a placement can be based in any of our five towns — Kocani, Stip, Strumica, Delcevo or Lozovo — and Stip is recruiting most actively as you read this. (Kocani, Stip and Strumica also have their own entries on the European Youth Portal; Delcevo and Lozovo are covered by the association's label rather than a separate listing.) Placements come with what our accreditation paperwork promises: a 30-hour volunteering week with two days off, a personal mentor, a Macedonian language course and accommodation within walking distance of the work. Start on the ESC page, or watch the news page for open calls.
Do we have to be in one of the countries you have worked with?
No. Turkey, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria are where our partners have been since 2015 — that is a track record, not a guest list. Each of them was a first project once.
What is the difference between KA1 and KA2?
KA1 is about people moving: mobility and accreditation, learners and educators travelling somewhere else to learn. KA2 is about organisations building something together — cooperation partnerships such as KA210 and KA220, where the result outlives the trip. Both routes run through every sector on this page, and we work across both: hosting and taking part on the KA1 side, co-applying and delivering work packages on the KA2 side.
Do you already run the microgreens method in North Macedonia?
Not yet, and we would rather say so than let you assume otherwise. The four methodologies — microgreens, mycelium, drones and solar — were piloted in Athens by our sister organisation, and bringing them to Kocani is exactly what we are doing now. If your project wants them, you would be building the first Macedonian delivery with us — and we will say that in the application too, because honesty reads better to an evaluator than a claim that unravels.
We already have a full consortium. What would EVEC Kocani add?
A partner in North Macedonia that does its work packages — and, less commonly for a partner, one that has sat on the coordinator's side of a delivered Erasmus+ project, so we know what a coordinator needs before being asked. If your consortium is complete and functioning, the honest answer might be nothing at all — describe the gap and we will tell you whether we fill it.
Partner with EVEC Kocani
Add a partner from North Macedonia to your Erasmus+ project.
Building a KA210 or KA220 cooperation partnership, or looking for a host for a VET or adult-education mobility? EVEC Kocani is an ESC Quality Label organisation that has coordinated and delivered its own Erasmus+ project, co-applies as a genuine partner — not a paper partner — and delivers its work packages. Tell us the project and the deadline; we reply within three working days, with a letter of intent on request.
Write to contact@evec.org.mk →
A plain e-mail works best: the project, the deadline, and the role you want from us.
Not sure which programme fits? Let's point you in the right direction.
Choose a field from the guide above, or write to us and we'll connect you with the right person.
EVEC Kocani · European Voluntary and Educational Center Kocani · OID E10119353 · PIC 943554018 · ESC Quality Label valid to 31/12/2027 · Kocani, North Macedonia · contact@evec.org.mk