OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities visits NDC Skopje, winner of 2011 Max van der Stoel Award

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek visited the Rajko Zinzifov primary school in the Čair municipality of Skopje on 20 October 2011. The school is an initiative of the Nansen Dialogue Centre Skopje (NDC Skopje), the winner of the 2011 Max van der Stoel Award.

NDC Skopje, which is part of the Nansen Dialogue Network (NDN), will receive the award at a ceremony in The Hague on 24 October.

The High Commissioner was at the school to support the Nansen model of integrated and bilingual education, which can help to support long-term conflict prevention in multi-ethnic communities at risk of interethnic tension.

During his visit, Vollebaek met Sasho Stojkovski, the Director of NDC Skopje; Kadri Agushi, the school Principal, Steinar Bryn, the founder of NDN; Deputy Prime Minister Musa Djaferi; and Panche Kralev, the Minister of Education and Science, among others.