GIVEN THE CIVIC SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

Winners are City of Skopje, OSIMF, Mesecina, Polio Plus and AD Komuna

The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation on 27th June this year, solemnly gave the Civic Society and Democracy Award and the Sustainable Development Award “Hert Jan van Apeldorn”. Winners of the Civic Society and Democracy Award are: City of Skopje (for publicity and cooperation), the Open Society Institute of Macedonia Foundation (for longstanding contribution) and the Humanitarian and Voluntary Roma Association “Mesecina” from Gostivar (for last year’s achievements). The Sustainable Development Award “Hert Jan van Apeldorn” was given to “Polio plus – postpolio support group” and Komuna AD Skopje, both for last year achievements.

As Sasho Klekovski, the MCIC executive director said at the solemn awards giving, it was the second time they were given, after they had been established by MCIC last year. The Civic Society and Democracy Award is given by the fund formed by MCIC after it was given itself the Civic Society and Democracy Award by the European Union and the USA in 1998. The Sustainable Development Award has been established in memory of Hert Jan van Apeldorn, who was engaged in Macedonia by the Dutch inter-churches help in the period 1993/94 and who, emphasized Klekovski, taught a lot of people the meaning of sustainable development. Both awards are given once a year.

The first winners of the MCIC awards last year were the First Children’s Embassy “Megjashi” (Civic Society and Democracy Award for longstanding achievements), Christine Dickinson (Civic Society and Democracy Award for last year achievements) and Josif Tanevski (Hert Jan van Apeldorn for longstanding achievements).

OSIMF, CIVIC SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AWARD

Pluralism Promotion in the Civic Society

The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation has given the Open Society Institute of Macedonia Foundation the Civic Society and Democracy Award, for longstanding contribution.

OSIMF has been awarded for pluralism promotion in the civic society and strengthening the civic society’s organizations, for citizens’ education and strengthening the people’s capacities to determine their own values and priorities and to organize themselves to act towards realizing these values and priorities, as well as for promotion of independent and responsible media and freedom of the press.

OSIMF has contributed a lot to the support of the Macedonian NGOs institutional development. Through the civic society information center it has provided some administrative support to the NGOs taking into consideration that the DONORS basically support the program activities, but it has also provided both consultative and logistic support, especially in improving and direct protection of the human rights and freedoms in Macedonia and the region. A part of the institutional development support has been carried out by the OSIMF resource centers which provide some technical help, training in the spheres in which the NGOs are interested, advice, small grants for small interventions and bigger sums for development projects.

Under the slogan “It is enough”, OSIMF has mobilized 120 NGOs in the national campaign as answer to the crisis in Macedonia. The activities of this sub-program have continued in order to encourage the NGOs in the peace and dialogue development, constructive solving the conflicts, as well as strengthening the cooperation.

Ever since its beginnings, the Foundation has supported the private radio-broadcasting media with covering their basic current expenditures, as well as the long-term co-production and the infra-structural projects.

Generally, the projects supported by OSIMF have a strong integrating potential and provide carrying out duties which result from the Stability and Association Pact and whose objective is to decrease the criminality and partying in the society.

Vladimir Milchin
We are very happy for this award particularly since it was given to us at the tenth anniversary of the OSIMF existence. Otherwise, we have decided not to have any celebrations because we are having some more important things to do, but MCIC and the other NGOs who participated in nominating the candidates for this extremely valuable award remembered the Foundation. I have to say that we are a bit confused because we are not used to being praised and awarded, it is more natural and more usual for us to be criticized. 
 


  “MESECINA”, CIVIC SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AWARD

Fight Against Discrimination and Xenophobia

The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation has given the Humanitarian and Voluntary Roma Association “Mesecina” the Civic Society and Democracy Award, for contribution in the last 2001. “Mesecina” has been awarded for contribution in education, training and building human rights awareness, as well as for the fight against discrimination and xenophobia and minorities’ protection. HVRA “Mesecina” has stimulated children for achieving greater results in studying and has promoted the education through quizzes and tribunes. The main message was that between the Roma pupils there are good pupils, too. The human rights promotion and the way of their application was carried out through organizing tribunes whose participants were of mixed ethnical composition, as well as through workshops for the administrative workers from the social labor centers and the primary schools teachers. “Mesecina” organized 40 human rights tribunes in total and represented five cases for rights’ protection from discrimination.

Generally, in its projects, “Mesecina” puts accent to the emancipation and education of the marginal groups in the society, protection and education in the sphere of democracy and human rights, building the public awareness and participation in cooperation with a large number of NGOs from the Republic of Macedonia, culture and traditions promotion, in the local and national environment, peace promotion on local and national level in cooperation with a great number of non-governmental institutions.

Ramadan Pini
This award is the crown of Mesecina’s nine-years’ working. All these years Mesecina has been working on the Roma’s social integration in the society. We have been doing it through the activities in the education sectors, human rights protection etc. The award is a stimulus to our future work. I would like to thank all the foundations which have so far supported Mesecina’s work. 
 


 “POLIO PLUS”, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AWARD “HERT JAN VAN APELDORN”

Supporting the Right to Equal Opportunities

The Macedonian center for International Cooperation has given the citizens’ association Polio plus – postpolio support group the Sustainable Development Award “Hert Jan van Apeldorn” for last year’s contribution in sustainable development. Polio plus has been awarded for promoting and supporting the right to equal opportunities. The activities which Polio plus implements are directed towards people with special needs (handicapped people according to the older terminology). The activities for bringing down the architectonic barriers have attracted special attention. Polio plus introduces new models in the fight for equal approach of handicapped people which have so far given good results, that is a lot of inaccessible buildings under the influence of the organization’s activities have become accessible.

Zvonko Shavreski
I would like to thank for the award which MCIC gave us this year and with this it showed that it puts accent to the handicapped people’s problems.
Before we had started the activities for bringing down the architectonic barriers which we are awarded for, we had contacts with the people and we noticed that they had nothing against the handicapped people, probably because they did not even notice them. We thought about how to make them see them, that is how to see us. That is why we decided to mark the buildings accessible/inaccessible. We came across some great success. The first target group were the companies which have several buildings. We signed a “gentleman” agreement with part of them, that they would do everything they could to make their buildings accessible. Behind this action stands a coalition of some thirty organizations. Although the lifting barriers were the main activity, the added value was to be developing people’s moral. I have to say that in implementing the activities we had some very good cooperation with the local self-government.

We are going to unite the MCIC award with the last year award of our member Christine Dickinson and we are going to establish a special award which is going to be given for the activities directed towards integrating handicapped people. 
 


KOMUNA AD, SKOPJE, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AWARD “HERT JAN VAN APELDORN”

Behavior Culture Change

The Macedonian center for International Cooperation has given Komuna AD the Sustainable Development Award “Hert Jan van Apeldorn” for last year’s contribution in sustainable development. The award especially refers to the sustainable development’s promotion and support as a process of change which provides the present and the future potentials to satisfy human’s needs and aspirations.

Komuna AD has particularly emphasized the sustainable development’s promotion and support in implementing the project “Organized collecting of old waste papers”. The project activities have resulted in placing 50 civic and 30 industrial containers of 5 and 30 cubic meters and free distribution of 2000 business carton containers and 700 tons of waste paper have been collected. This is how the amount of recycling paper has increased and it has been contributed in building the ecological awareness that the rubble is not a waste but a secondary raw material. Thus, Komuna contributes to cleaner environment and creating conditions for new employment.

Dragica Kirandziska
First I would like to say thank you in the name of the management of Komuna AD for this high recognition. It is a great pleasure when you know that someone has been following your work and that you have been noticed. The idea for this project has been existing for a long time. Last year for the first time we started with the campaign whose basic motto was “Paper does not get older”. Besides the fact that we want to collect old paper which is a basic resource in Komuna’s working, we would also like to raise the awareness and the cult towards paper because it is not a waste, but a secondary raw material. This acknowledgement is especially dear to us in the year when we are celebrating 55 years of our existence and working. 
 


CITY OF SKOPJE - CIVIC SOCIETY AND DEMOCRACY AWARD, FOR PUBLICITY AND COOPERATION

Relations Building With the Civic Sector

The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation has given City of Skopje the Civic Society and Democracy Award, for publicity and cooperation. City of Skopje has been given the award for the activities in the promotion of building relations, networks, exchanges, communication between the organizations in the civic sector and the state and private sector. City of Skopje has made efforts to meet the citizen’s needs, thus cooperating and being a partner with the NGOs, governmental institutions, international institutions and foundations, as well as with representatives from the private sector. City of Skopje was between the pioneers in promoting the civic sector in our country, with already 5-years logistic support of some ten NGOs through two offices for cooperation with the NGOs, but also directly through some partnership projects with them. A meaningful place in this project also have the so-called marginal groups.

Risto Penov
I would like to express my pleasure for receiving this award as satisfaction for all the efforts City has made in supporting the non-governmental sector. I feel embarrassed, but in this occasion we should show off with what we have done. Since 1997 we have opened our premises for the non-governmental sector because we were aware that it did not have opportunities to provide some logistic support for its activities. In the future we are happy to invest much more in supporting the NGOs.