Publishing in civil society organizations

The civil sector is a publisher worthy of respect
 

In times when the condition of publishing activities in our country is often discussed, along with the need for enriching our everyday life with printed materials of different kinds and contents in context of following civilization flows, publications by the civil society organizations are a significant material that attracts public attention.

Although it is about a wide range, with a number of various interests and activities, when looking at the publishing program of a few organizations at the beginning of the year, we came across a multitude of common moments in terms of the issues related to publishing condition.

Firstly, the question was imposed how much the publishing is part of the civil society organizations’ programs and activities, how much and what is published and how much the publishing undertakings are based on annual publishing plans.

“Seen as a whole, I think that the civil sector is a serious publisher, worthy of respect” – says Klime Babunski from ZG Pro media.

“It is not only about the number of publications, but the aspect of contents, too. Many of the new ideas and contents are undoubtedly necessary and important for the civil sector in such a transitional period. Publishing, especially printed, is an activity that represents a solid financial basis, which certainly minimizes the numbers of publications that the civil society organizations finance from their own funds. The publications, regardless of the kind, are by rule “packed” within a project, financially being part of it. To the target group, to the readers, they are delivered free of charge. The aim is to deliver ideas, knowledge, skills, necessary for more successful development of certain social processes, to generate facts that help the creation of the picture about us” – says Babunski.

 

Function of printed editions

Publishing is an important part of the annual activities and it is part of every project in the civil society organization Civil. According to Dzabir Devala, internet-publishing is part in which, appropriately to financial opportunities, they manage, something at least, to place contents about the public. He says that printed publishing, something which remains as a visible document, especially in a country with a low level of use of information technology, is a bigger and more efficient challenge.

“Civil publishes publications that refer to the projects as much as there are finances for that, but, in any case, plans them as part of the project activities. If a publishing project or sub-project is not adopted by the donors, we prepare it in a form of a document available to the public in our resource center. Unlike others, our goal is not publishing “at any price”. In any case, Civil publishes at least two publications a year and it produces much more. We have developed a solid distribution system of our publications in the course of our seven years of existence. They are almost exclusively free of charge available to the public and users. Our next publication refers to the weapons control, safety and security of the citizens of Macedonia and at the moment we are expecting financial support” – says Derala.

The issue that identifies the existence of publishing in the civil sector is the function of the printed editions. Robert Alagozovski, project manager in the civil society organization Kontrapunkt, through the prism of the so far publishing experience, finds a few functions.

“The first one is certainly the informative function that different brochures, leaflets, portfolios, catalogues, books on the activity of the civil society organization or certain projects have. They also serve for introducing the organization’s work to the public and for archiving and providing long-term effect from their activity. The second function is educational. The civil society organizations that run educational projects most often publish manuals, textbooks, newsletters in terms of certain issues and topics they deal with. The books, manuals, magazines and collections that are published within the civil sector are delivered free of charge, distributed either to the wider public or to individuals and institutions of special interest. But sometimes they have a certain price. They are to be paid and most often the income goes to the so-called self-sustainable development of the organization. In the developed market democracies where payment for cultural products is a normal thing, such orientation has some effect, but at us, where there is still logic of getting cultural goods free of charge, the sale is more difficult and the effect of self-sustainability remains within good wishes. Other negative characteristic results from the fact that the books in the civil sector are free of charge; the sale is eliminated or does not play any role in the financial construction. The organizations dedicate a little time to their distribution, so books are piled in warehouses, gather dust on office shelves and when the room is to be emptied for new printed materials, these valuable works end in containers” – says Robert Alagozovski.

 

Publications need sustainability, too
 

In the organizations that treat specific fields, publishing is moved in function of realization of appropriate activities.

“In HOPS – options for healthy life, a few manuals and more than 10 kinds of brochures have been published, containing different information related to harmfulness of using different kinds of drugs, information about HIV/AIDS, human rights, sexual and reproductive health. All publications are part of appropriate projects, financed by foreign foundations and embassies and are distributed free of charge to relevant institutions and organizations. They are also handed out in all training courses held by the organization. The organization is more focused on services to the target groups” – explains Vlatko Dekov, executive director in HOPS – options for healthy life.

The situation in the Health Education Research Association H.E.R.A. is similar. From the information by Drasko Kostovski, we find out that the Association in its program most often publishes manuals, educative brochures and fliers for promoting its services. The distribution is free of charge, mainly through the services (youth centers for “I want to know”), through schools etc. The aim of printing the publications is education, informing, representation for health and reproductive health and rights.

The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation publishes three periodical publications. Apart from the Civic World, it publishes the MCIC Bulletin, which contains information about the activities of the program Inter-religion Cooperation in Macedonia. In a form of publications, as part of the MCIC publishing production, directories are also published. “The MCIC production varies every year. In the course of 2006 seven publications were published with a total circulation of 5.150 copies. Except in Macedonia, part of the circulation was published in Albanian, English and Serbian language. This figure does not include the circulation published in electronic format, which is on CD-Rom” – explains the executive director Saso Klekovski, and adds that MCIC publishes its publications as part of the programs, that is, projects. “Most of them are supported by donors that are foreign organizations and part of the MCIC funds. Publications are distributed free of charge, although lately there have been attempts to reach sustainability at least partly, so part of the circulation is offered on sale. Publications are sold by subsidized prices. The goal and the purpose of the MCIC publications depend on the type of the publication. Each publication is published with reason” – says Klekovski.

In the reasons for printing publications we find the answer about the need for existence of publishing activities in the civil sector. Regardless of the periodicity of the publications, their number or circulation, the need for them is obvious; they affect the development of the civil society in the country.