Teodora Mileska: “Peace is not just the absence of war; it is the presence of justice”
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In Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, a 25-year-old activist is reshaping how her generation understands peace, justice, and equality. Born in 2000 — the same year the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) was adopted — Teodora Mileska belongs to a generation that grew up amid uncertainty, yet refuses to treat instability as inevitable.
Today, she works as a project coordinator at Stella Network and is the co-founder of PERIOD Skopje, an initiative dedicated to ending menstrual poverty and stigma through education and advocacy. Her work sits at the intersection of youth participation, gender equality, and health, spaces she navigates with curiosity and a firm belief that activism begins with listening.
“I have seen peace disappear in many forms,” she says. “Not only through war, but through injustice, inequality, and exclusion. Peace is built when those experiences are no longer ignored.”
Growing up in instability
Like many born around 2000, Mileska’s formative years were marked by uncertainty. The pandemic struck while she was studying political science, abruptly transforming her dynamic, social, activist life into months of isolation.
Confined to four walls, she continued her studies online and stayed engaged through digital activism. That year and a half of stillness forced a deep reflection. “It made me ask myself what kind of conversations we avoid, and which ones are essential for building the world we want,” she recalls.
Out of that reflection, PERIOD Skopje was born.
A spark that turned into a movement
Together with other young women, Teodora Mileska began addressing menstrual poverty, an issue often dismissed or hidden. Through education, community workshops, and advocacy, PERIOD Skopje works to ensure that no girl misses school because she cannot afford menstrual products, and no young woman feels shame for a natural biological process. To date, more than 1,000 young women and boys, including high school and primary school students, have participated in events on menstrual health, and 250 menstrual packs have been distributed to the most vulnerable young women.
Her activism is rooted in the belief that equality begins with dignity.
“When girls lose 36 school days in four years because of menstruation, that is not peace. When women do not have the right to maternity leave, that is not peace. When young people are excluded from policymaking, that is not peace. Peace is not just the absence of war,” she says. “It is the presence of justice.”
Her words reflect a generation redefining security as inseparable from rights, inclusion, and participation.
The weight of fear, and the courage to face it
When asked what frightens her, she pauses. Only two things surface: heights and war.
Heights are a tangible fear. War is something else, both distant and close, abstract yet deeply personal. Stories from her parents and grandparents shaped her understanding of fragility, while current conflicts around the world amplify her urgency.
“War terrifies me not just as a word, but as something that continues to shape families, nations, and histories,” she says.
Her activism is, in many ways, a response to that fear — a determination to build conditions where conflict is less likely.
Reimagining peace through youth leadership
Teodora Mileska’s work is grounded in the conviction that peace and security are built collectively, not declared from above. Guided by the principles of the Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas, she advocates for the inclusion of young people, especially young women, in shaping policies.
“Young people are often spoken about, rarely spoken with,” she says. “We are ready to lead, but we need to be invited into the room.”
Through Stella Network and her broader activism, she has supported over 2,000 high school girls through mentoring sessions that encourage participation in decision-making spaces, engagement in community initiatives, and advocacy for gender-transformative policies.
Building dignity, one workshop at a time
In her workshops, Mileska meets girls and young women who often feel unheard. Many lack access to reproductive education or menstrual products; others feel excluded from youth structures and institutions.
She remembers one high school student who admitted skipping school every month because she could not afford pads. Stories like this are not rare, and each strengthens Mileska’s resolve.
“What keeps me going is knowing that change is possible when we talk openly,” she says. “Once someone understands they deserve more, they begin demanding it.”
PERIOD Skopje has partnered with schools, universities, and municipalities to expand menstrual education and raise awareness of menstrual health as a human rights issue. The initiative has also sparked national conversations about integrating menstrual products into public institutions.
Peace as a shared project
Teodora Mileska’s philosophy of peace is both intimate and collective. She believes peace is built through everyday acts of care, allyship, and solidarity, through listening, supporting, and resisting injustice together.
“I don’t see peace as something we inherit,” she says. “It is something we build step by step, with each other.”
A voice for the future
Today, Teodora Mileska stands among the young women whose stories bridge the Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security agendas. She represents a generation that demands inclusion, prioritizes justice, and insists that equality is central to peace.
Her message is clear: peace is not passive. It is participatory, rooted in dignity, choice, health, and education.
And with every workshop she leads, every young woman she informs, and every conversation she opens, she is helping bring that future closer.
This story is part of the Born in 2000 storytelling project under the “Women Lead, Peace Follows” campaign, marking 25 years since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.