Civil organizing in the municipality Cucer - Sandevo

The democratic processes enter the Skopje villages

The beginning of this autumn in the Cucer -Sandevo municipality seems to be going on as usual. People are working in the fields, children are walking to school with their bags on their bags. The 250 km2, according to the data published in the Cucer-Sandevo municipality newsletter for 2003/04 by the Union of Macedonian Women Organizations and supported by the Norwegian aid, are characterized by Mediterranean climate - known for its long autumns. The villages of Mirkovci, Brazda, Gluvo, Kuceviste, Pobozje, Cucer-Sandevo, Gornjani, Banjani, Malino, Brest, Tanusevci, Blace and Brodec are inhabited by a multiethnic population, of which 10,100 (35%) are Macedonians, 35% Serbians and 30% Albanians. 

"Women can do that" 

This year, however, will be marked by the foundation of the Cucer-Sandevo Women Active, whose members announced their existence by publishing a three-lingual (Macedonian, Serbian and Albanian) newsletter called "Women can do that". Its appearance means a lot, it means shifting the emphasis from the so far presentation of the self-centred reality to attracting attention on the actual problems that are of interest to the population, such as the problem of women participation in the local government as one of the priority ones. For the first time in the history of the villages and the Municipality, which was established in 1996, there would be women-candidates at the local elections next year. The initiative for activating the women and establishing another civil society organization in the municipality is a result of the project "Women can do that", implemented this year by UMWO, offering knowledge on the way a democratic society organizations functions and on the position of women in the public and private sector in Macedonia.

Cucer-Sandevo municipality, which is less that 30 minute ride away from the capital, needs to undergo a considerable number of changes in terms of way of organizing the citizens in the actual process of decentralization, but also in terms of more transparent presentation of the values that this location possesses. In the social-political structure of the municipality, which at the moment consists of the Mayor and the 13-member Council, there is not a single woman present. Some of the Active members are also long-term members of the Skopje Women Union and they refer to the need to promote the existing problems that both younger and older population of the municipality face.

"There are still traditional, patriarch relations in the families and the women cannot decide on many things, among which is their civic activating and their involvement in the social life." - emphasizes Gorica Nedevska, who has Moved from Skopje to Sandevo several years ago. In her opinion the women have the potential to get involved in the social life more actively and take part in the local government bodies, especially if we take into consideration the level of their education and the professional duties they have at their job in the city and the villages.

For Zorka Postruzin, former activist at the Union of Skopje Women Organizations, who had also lived in Skopje for ten years before she moved Brazda, the village where she was born, the process of women civil organizing in the Municipality is logical and perspective, but, as she says, a lot needs to be done in terms of educating the population, braking the stereotypes of the women position and power in the family and outside it. "We have been working on organizing the women in the municipality for 6-7 years now, but things do not progress easily. Women spend a lot of time working in the filed, young people spend much of their time at schools or various courses in the city. In our organization we include women from several villages, but so far, we are faced with the problem of small response by the Albanian women population from Tanusevci and Blace, who despite our invitation, have not joined us yet. We will continue to try to include more women from the municipality in order to have better influence in the public and the local government. It is high time that things changed. Although we announced that on the next local elections we will propose 1-2 women candidates on the lists, generally, men think that what we are doing is "not" serious" - says she. A certain amount of optimism is present within the young members involved in the Managing Board, too.

Adrijana Kojcinovik reminds that despite the fact that there are a lot of young people in the municipality with a high school diploma and university degree who are unemployed, the idea to join for a change is not easily realized. "Young people face a real problem with their cultural and social life. Not much is going on in the municipality, they have to go to the city but the communications with Skopje are bad. What we are noticing in this phase of organizing is the negation of the idea that something can be changed through associating and the resistance can go so far that some women refuse to come because their husbands do not want them to. We need to have more different associations, youth organizations, sports clubs where young people can meet, educate themselves, have the chance to gain new experiences" - says Kojcinovik and informs that the village Sandevo becomes alive only during the so-called "Stankovi denovi", dedicated to the national hero Stanko Urdarevski whose name was given to the now neglected cultural centre, a time when different manifestations and sports games take place.

All three representatives emphasize the need to promote the cultural and natural values of the locality as an opportunity for development of the village tourism, a field in which they plan to work in future. On the municipality territory there are 24 monasteries and churches, some of which are real cultural monuments. On of them is the St. Spas Church in Kuceviste, dating from the 14th century with a fresco and valuable architecture. In the village one can see the wee-known monastery from the 14th century "St Nikita", and in the village of Brazda there is the famous tomb covered in grass from the ancient settlement Gradiste which dates from the 7-4 century BC.

In this phase of organizing, the women active is supported by the mayor Voislav Kirandzik, who thinks that the increase in the number of civil society organizations can have a positive impact on the municipality development in general. "I support the organizations, no matter how few they are. At the moment only three are active - there are four in the whole municipality. It gives me great pleasure that women organize themselves in order to change the present conditions. They should be more persistent if they get higher on the election lists" - says Kirandzik who gives the municipality offices when the women active has a meeting, and announces permanent offices for them in future.

Association for development of underdeveloped regions "Vizija"

The experience of the Association for Development of Underdeveloped Regions "Vizija", from Cucer Sandevo, which is trying to breathe some fresh air in the space filed with natural beauties, but unfortunately economically underdeveloped, is very important for the inhabitants of the villages in Skopska Crna Gora. Its members work for development and promotion of the rights and interest in terms of improving the living condition of the citizens, for meeting the needs of expert, service and other assistance in order to realize mutual, social and cultural interests. So far they have realized activities of social character, such as visits to old people who live alone, they have worked on illuminating three playgrounds at COU "St Kiril and Metodij", Kuceviste and OU "Aleksandar Urdarevski", Mirkovci, they participated in the distribution of aid at the refuge camp "Stenkovec 2", participated at the Information - educational club Open Circle aimed for the young people as part of the programme "Development of the local community in the underdeveloped municipalities in Macedonia". Their existence and work are also marked by the project "Summer in the City", where 130 children from all nationalities who live in the Cucer Sandevo municipality and whose families are social aid beneficiaries took part. They have also realized the project "Summer Sport Games 2002" supported by Cucer Sandevo municipality, as well as Summer Street Scene in cooperation with the organization Green Centre from Ohrid. The president of the organization Daniel Segmanovik emphasizes that at this level of the village development it is necessary to educate the population outside the regular educational system in all spheres of social living as prevention from the potential migration village-town. He also emphasizes that the cooperation with the municipality is satisfactory but it is still does not meet the expected level of partnership; it is still more verbal than financial. What surprises, says he, is the increasing number of girl -members in "Vizija", who unfortunately leave the organization after they have established a family. For him, as well as for the members of the women active, the need to present and promote the natural and cultural values of the municipality is necessary and urgent. "There is no flow of information in the municipality, no daily newspapers, in the village children have no chance to work on computers, young people are demotivated to a great extent and it is very difficult to activate them. We are planning to organize free training for computer work and print a local newspaper that should raise both the level of informing and the public awareness" - announces Segmanovik.   

Katerina Bogoeva