Jovan is from North Macedonia, and graduated as a valedictorian in business administration from the American college of Thessaloniki. He currently works as a Head of Cabinet for the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy in North Macedonia, which is currently ranked #1 in active transparency in North Macedonia. His specific tasks include coordinating all the activities and flow of work within the cabinet of the Minister. Before his current position, Jovan served as a head of cabinet to the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of anticorruption, sustainable development and human resources where he created and implemented the first national plan for anticorruption in North Macedonia. Additionally, his team improved North Macedonia's position on the transparency international report for corruption from 111 position to 87 in only one year. Jovan's ambition is to continue fighting corruption and improve his country's rating in all the international reports on corruption.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Dealing with Corruption, Prevention and Reporting

The purpose of Jovan's project is to prepare future civil servants who will report corruption to a competent body and follow it up. The goal is to introduce and educate measures and ways for dealing with corruption to students enrolled in the first, second and third cycle of studies as well as to develop awareness of that target group to become potential young whistleblowers. Corruption in North Macedonia is still present both at the micro and macro level, which is why this project is important. It will enable young people to have their voice heard. Through a series of trainings that will be conducted by proven experts in the field of corruption, they will also be familiar with what corruption is, how to recognize it, and the mechanisms for fighting it.

[I want to] "help faculty and students understand the concept of corruption [and how] digitalization is an effective tool for its prevention and reporting as a critical method for dealing with corruption." - Jovan Stojanovski

IVLP Exchange Experience

Jovan was a participant in the IVLP Project Combating Government Corruption, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Mississippi Consortium for International Development.

Jovan's exchange experience led him to develop his IVLP Impact Award Project: "Corruption violates and devalues the rule of law, legal and social security and moral and social values. Corrupt practice engenders inequality, hinders the fight for social justice and the respect for basic human rights and freedoms. Corruption must be dealt with - for all our futures. Implementing the anticorruption practices from the United States could help tackle the corruption in North Macedonia and help towards a real and positive change in society through the implementation of effective anti-corruption measures."

U.S. Communities Visited

Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Dallas, TX

Country: North Macedonia

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