NGO Fair – 3 Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia 

-Information about the event-

Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) together with the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOCIM) and the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) is organizing its traditional NGO Fair – 3rd Forum of the Civil Society at Skopje Fair from 20th to 22nd of November 2003. We would like to invite interested organizations from the region to present themselves at the Forum in order to inform the Macedonian public about their activities and to promote regional cooperation between civil society organizations.
    

The deadline for regional participants to send their application is 13th November 2003. Application is available below or by request addressed to Krenar Kuka, NGO-Fair contact person or Tanja Hafner, Regional Coordinator by phone: + 389 2 30 65 381, fax: + 389 2 30 65 298 or e-mail: nvosaem@mcms.org.mk or thf@mcms.org.mk. MCIC will provide all participants with free of charge exhibition space and accommodations (3-4 star hotel) for one person. Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses and other incurring costs.

The aim of this event is to create an atmosphere for exchanging experiences and to motivate mutual understanding and respect for the civic organizations; to stimulate better dialogue among civic organizations; to improve communication, coordination, and cooperation; to increase the level of informing of the public and the other actors about the activities of the civic organizations; as well as to enhance cooperation between regional civil society organizations. The event encompasses exhibition, forum and socio-cultural section, each offering its own distinctive way for civil society, corporate, governmental and international actors to come together and strengthen their partnership.

While the Forum has only taken place for two years now, it has gained national and region-wide interest and participation. Last year, 199 organizations from across Macedonian civil society sector presented themselves in the exhibition hall spreading on 1080 m2. 32 sessions took place in the forum section, of which 7 plenary, 4 panels, 17 sector panels, 2 cross-sector panels, 3 round tables and 5 educational sessions covering topics such as role of civic organizations in society, local NGO and regional development, ethic standards in civil society, networking, NGO platform and corporate responsibility. In four days, 6.008 people visited and actively participated in the event. This year, similar participation and scope of interested is being announced.  Special emphasis this year will be on corporate responsibility and government cooperation with the civil society.

The Forum gives an opportunity to regional participants to introduce themselves at the exhibition part (stands and audio-visual mechanisms). Stands consist of:
- basic exhibition space of 9 m2.  This id comprised of stands made of octane-ram system, panel boards duplex; carpet covering, info-stand 100/100 or 2 from 50/50; written names of the participants with block-letters; tables with 4 chairs;  reflector lighting; electricity wires. If organizations have their own ideas of filling the stand, they are allowed to arrange it according to their needs. In this case, they should make further arrangements with Skopje Fair directly. 
- additional exhibition space. Each organization is given an opportunity to rent more space than the planned basic space upon request.
- poster presentation and AV (audio-visual0 presentation  is available upon available space. Interested organizations should contact MCIC immediately in order to secure available space. 

Please, note that you should fill-in only appropriate information for your type of participation in the application form. Letter of invitation for those participants that need a visa to travel to Macedonia will be issued upon arrival of application. For other information and details contact Krenar Kuka, NGO-Fair contact person or Tanja Hafner, Regional Coordinator by phone: + 389 2 30 65 381, fax: + 389 2 30 65 298, e-mail: nvosaem@mcms.org.mk or thf@mcms.org.mk or address: Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation, Nikola Parapunov bb, P. O. Box. 55, Skopje, 1000, Republic of Macedonia.

[Application form in MS Word format]