Organization for Social Innovation “ARNO“
ARNO is an organization for social innovation established in North Macedonia in 2013 with the special mission of development and implementation of social innovation and promotion of new options and contemporary approaches for society change.
During the years, ARNO became recognized as a ground-breaking leader in the field of green and social entrepreneurship and acknowledged as a national resource for awareness and inspiration in the field of green and social economy. For the past nine years, ARNO has run the “Balkan Green Ideas Competition'', while in the last three years, ARNO became a local incubator for young social entrepreneurs in the WB6 under the regional project RISE. Thus far, ARNO has trained and educated more than 300 green and social entrepreneurs in these programs, and technically and financially supported the establishment and development of more than 15 green social businesses in N. Macedonia.
Alongside, ARNO works with young people through high schools, universities, and VET providers from Europe, and co-designs educational curriculums, and non-formal education materials for green social entrepreneurship and philanthropy for teachers, professors, and educators. Together with the VET Gastronomy School “Lazar Tanev” from Skopje, since 2015 ARNO manages “Coolinari” a social enterprise dedicated to training, support and career guidance for young chef students. ARNO is a member of the National Youth Council of Macedonia), Y-PEER N. Macedonia, the Platform for Networking between Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities, and The Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) MenEngage Platform, and the Diesis Network. In 2017 ARNO was the National Implementing Partner for the youth component of the UNFPA annual work plan.