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The Fifth NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia took place
The center is where you are!
The central event in the civil society sector, the fifth NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia this year took place from 9th to 11th December at the Skopje Fair. This year its motto was “The center is where you are”, expressing the focus subject – decentralization. Focus country of this year’s NGO fair was Albania.
At the opening ceremony of the fifth NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia Erwan Fouere, special representative of the EU and head of the delegation of the European Commission in Macedonia addressed the present: “A developed civil society sector is an indicator for a healthy society, the civil society sector is Government’s partner in implementation of the European regulations and on the Macedonia’s way to Europe and it is also a sector that is successful in the fight for human rights, in the fight for better social conditions in the country, a sector that is successful in the field of improving education in Macedonia,” pointed out Fouere. According to him, the great number of civil society organizations is the best proof for Macedonian society’s democratization. Referring to NGO Fair this year’s promotional poster where green is dominant, Fouere said: “Green is not only the color of my country, Ireland, but also a color of fortune. I wish Macedonia luck and I am optimistic about its future”, he added. Talking about decentralization, Ace Kocevski, the mayor of Veles, addressed the present at the opening of the NGO Fair. “With decentralization the state will give up a part of its power but the citizens will have to accept that they are the power and a decisive factor”, pointed out Kocevski. Nikola Ligor, president of the Albanian-Macedonian Friendship Association from Tirana pointed out the need for implementation of the contracts on mutual cooperation between Macedonia and Albania. Saso Klekovski, executive manager of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation in his speech reminded the present that at the same time started the following: the campaign “Zero tolerance of corruption” and the privatization of the Macedonian national grid. “These events are a great challenge for the civil society sector to become actively involved in these processes and take actions”, pointed out Klekovski and he added that we should not forget that 2005 was a year when the Roma Decade 2005-2015 started and we are also half way to the proposal of the first law on citizen’s initiative.
At the opening of the NGO fair, apart from the representatives of the civil society organizations, business sector, representatives of diplomatic corps and state institutions, the president of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Branko Crvenkovski was also present.
Exhibition part
A total of 228 civil society organizations presented their activities on the stands in the exhibition part. 19 organizations were from Albania, Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro) and Kyrgyzstan. The civil society organizations once again showed their creativity. Organizing their promotional materials, they presented the results of their work. There were not only leaflets and brochures, posters and bulletins on the stands, but they also presented their public relations skills, prepared to answer all the questions and help the visitors about anything of their interest. Activists found their potential partners for future projects, they crystallized the ideas for new activities and possible cooperation. “The fair is a good opportunity to establish contacts with other civil society organizations, to communicate, to promote and share opinions”, said Gjuner Nebiu from the Antico organization. “We have broadened acquaintances, renewed, established some new. It will certainly contribute to new cooperation and new networks, friendships and partnerships”, she added.
The Fifth NGO Fair was visited by 8700 citizens, more than 1000 of them came from other towns in Macedonia by the organized transport subsidized by MCIC. “I saw almost everything. I think it is quite interesting, there are various organizations and various topics”, said Urlike Ekman, a fair visitor. “This is my first NGO Fair in Macedonia and at all. I have no special interest, I came to see the Fair and to get an impression of the civil sector in Macedonia. I saw some quite interesting organizations that I had no idea they existed. I would like to take a look at the program and I might visit some of the forum events”, she said.
The NGO Fair visitors could visit the exhibition part, to visit some of the forum events or socio-cultural events. “Twenty people of our organizations came”, said Enis Demiri from the “Sonce” organization from Tetovo. We had an opportunity to see many civil society organizations in one place and see their activities. We visited a socio-cultural event, it was very good. I am satisfied with the day I spent here. We got many new ideas that I am sure we will develop in our organization”, he said.
Forum part
In the forum part the organizations and visitors were offered about sixty events including panels, round tables, educative sessions, presentations and promotions. In spite of the fact that most of the panels were aimed at the focus topic, decentralization, there were also some other topics. The interested ones could take part in the panels referring to citizens in the process of decision making, then good management with civil society organizations and the role of the civil society in providing health services and social services and prevention. The interested had an opportunity to discuss how Macedonia is building its brand and what could be done for improving it and the students talked about the opportunities for expert practice during their studies. Discussing the political management and the instruments for applied policy in the developing countries and countries in transition, those who were present at the panel discussed about the reforms and whether in Macedonia there is a will for their implementation. There were also topics about raising awareness at women for early discovery of breast cancer.
The forum events at this year’s NGO Fair were visited by 1060 citizens.
The organizations from the region had an opportunity to present themselves in the forum part, too. The interested ones could see a presentation by an organization from Albania and Kyrgyzstan, to take part in the workshop where there were guests from Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey.
What after the NGO Fair
“Debates should not be organized only at the Fair, but we need to find a way for the citizens to become more and more involved in such disputes outside the Fair, thus getting much more information about what is happening in the sector and outside of it”, said Robert Rustem, one of the NGO Fair visitors. Civil society organizations should probably strive for this, to intensify communications not only during the NGO Fair, but after it, too. To develop and present gained experiences, new ideas in front of their activists and other sector associates, and most importantly in front of the public.
According to the visitors, both citizens and civil society activists, the NGO Fair created a space for exchange of experiences and information between the civil society organizations in Macedonia and the organizations from the region. Now it is up to the civil society organizations to use the new experiences and contacts.
Local Democracy and Development – International Prospects
Cross-border cooperation – source of stability
The round table: “Local democracy and development – international prospects”, organized by the Balkans network for civil society development (BCSDN) and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation on the first day of the NGO Fair, through expositions by Irena Ivanova – European Agency for Reconstruction and Chrissie Hrist from the East-West Institute, offered an opportunity for the present ones to get familiar with the current issues in providing assets from the EU funds and practical implementation of the project in field.
The program for development of the neighboring countries is being implemented in the period between 2004-2006 through the existing programs CARDS in Macedonia and FARE in Bulgaria and local authorities, civil society associations, chambers of commerce, universities, foundations, training centers and all cultural institutions are involved in its realization. Within the program, realization of 3 main neighboring projects is announced in 2006, 2 of them will be projects for cross-border program.
While presenting the program, an open opportunity for the civil society organizations is pointed out to cooperate with representatives of their colleagues cross borders and to develop various opportunities for cooperation. The assets from the program will be available until 31st December 2009.
“Reaching security in cross-border regions is a condition for opening an opportunity for economic development, mutual businesses, flow of capital”, pointed out Chrissie Hrist from the East-West Institute, presenting her experiences from the project where the municipalities of Gnilane, Presevo, Kumanovo and Trgovishte are involved.
Tasks need to be carried out to the end, regardless of the answer
“What after 15th December” – was the central issue of the panel “Expecting the EU reply – 5 days before” organized by the European Commission delegation and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation. The panelists agreed about one thing: they are optimists in terms of the reply by the EU Council, and no matter what it is, the road to the Euro-integrations must be followed.
“A year ago we had a doubt if our administration could answer the Euro-questionnaire and if it was enough qualified, now we can say that some doubts were justified and some not”, said Radmila Shekerinska, vice prime minister responsible for Euro-integrations. “Euro-integration is not an exclusive right of this government only, but of all future governments”, she added.
“Aspiration for the EU membership is quite noble”, said Erwan Fouere, special representative of the EU and head of delegation of the European Commission in Macedonia. It requires a lot of courage and Macedonia showed that it has it. But do not forget that being a EU member also has a human dimension. People live together in the EU, it is not only for business or politics. Cultural dimension must not be neglected, nor the role of the civil sector in the Euro-integrations process should be neglected. The civil society and its initiatives are quite relevant for the EU and that is why the cooperation between the governmental and civil sector is one of the crucial things”, pointed out Fouere.
For Saso Klekovski, executive manager of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, the key question is whether we, as a society, have the capacity. “We often say we have a bad legal system, bad police etc. Well, they are not separate entities, they are we all together. The importance of civil initiative has to be realized, I do not refer only to big civil society organizations, but a group of people who have sat, agreed and found a common solution. We have to learn to talk. How to make a constructive dialogue out of a non-constructive one, how to find a common solution. We still want my solution to become a common solution, we have to overcome it”, explained Klekovski.
Mayors are mainly satisfied with the decentralization beginning
The panel “Decentralization in Macedonia: How far are we?”, was organized by the Forum – center for strategic researches and documentation. The mayors of Struga, Kicevo, Gostivar, Cair and Kumanovo exposed their experiences from the process of decentralization.
“The success of decentralization will depend on how much we will enable municipalities to develop”, said Andrej Petrov, mayor of Karposh. He underlined the good cooperation with the civil society organizations and representatives of the international organizations and foundations in the country, in the realization of certain activities in the process of decentralization.
“The citizens become aware that the local government is the one that is closer to them”, said Izet Medziti, the mayor of Cair. Among other things he stated that the local self-government wastes a lot of time on things that are not in its authority, for example unemployment, and he believes that with the process of Euro-integration there will be new prospects open and the problems will be solved. The municipality of Kicevo faces the usual problems, too. According to Vlado Tolevski, the mayor of Kicevo, for the past few months some problems have been overcome, such as transferring the employed from ministries, transferring the necessary documentation and archive.
“Decentralization offered an opportunity for the citizens to have an insight in their problems and to solve them”, said Zoran Damjanovski, mayor of Kumanovo. He considers the problems with the educational system to be the biggest and next year he expects them to be solved with the budget rebalance.
The mayor of Struga, Remzi Merko underlined the fact of assuming authorities as a process that lasts, as a result of Struga specifics by assuming four more municipalities.
Nevzat Bejta, the mayor of the municipality of Gostivar, talked about the so far accorded work of the Council where there is no opposition and where decisions are made unanimously and the fact that the councilors Turks have asked for and received an approval to use their language at the meetings and to get their working materials in Turkish, too.
The Minister of local self-government Rizvan Sulejmani considers this model of decentralization to be successful. “We manage to establish good relations between the central and local power on a partner level. In the second phase we expect the local self-government to show efficiency in operating and the third phase, underlined Minister Sulejmani, will show if the local self-government will be power or administrator.
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