DAVID F. MAYO, COORDINATOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL NGOS COUNCIL

I am Impatient to Start a Continuous Cooperation with the Local NGOs 

Establishing the NGOs Council happened during the crisis in order to increase the efficiency of the NGO operations. Later, the members decided that the Council could be more efficient, if managed by professional personnel.
Aleksandar Krzalovski

There are about 30 international non-governmental organizations involved in the humanitarian activities for overcoming the crisis in Macedonia. They are mutually coordinated by a body called NGO Council. We have talked to its coordinator, Mr. David F. Mayo about the NGO Council’s function and role.

Mr. David F. Mayo is a man with a lot of experience in the work of the international humanitarian organizations. He is American, educated at three well-known American academic institutions: Harvard, George Washington and Cincinnati Universities. He has been an active volunteer in the non-governmental organizations in the USA and other countries for more than ten years. Outside USA he had worked for Peace Corps in Moldavia and IRC (International Rescue Committee) in Georgia and the Russian Federation, before he came to Macedonia, in 2001, where he works for the Catholic Relief Services as a manager of the International Non-governmental Organizations Council.

We talked to Mr. Mayo before his recent final leaving Macedonia and we have discussed the past work in the NGO Council, especially in the past crisis conditions, its organization of work, cooperation with the other factors from the Macedonian society...


CW – What is the NGO Council and what is your role in it?

D.M. – First I would like to thank you for inviting me at the interview. I appreciate the possibility to discuss about the NGO International Council and I am impatient to start a continuous cooperation with MCIC and the other local NGOs.
I am going to answer the first question regarding the mission and the Council activities review. The Council is an informal association of the international NGOs which provide humanitarian and development help in Macedonia. It was established during the crisis (last year) in order to increase the efficiency of the NGOs operations.

Later the members decided that the Council could be more efficient if managed by professional personnel. In September DFID approved short-term financing by the Secretariat, through the Catholic Relief Services. The Secretariat has employed two people: my assistant Dimitar Spasenovski and I. The NGOs Council has 22 organizations-members at the moment.


CW – Which are the Council’s objectives?

D.M. – According to the financing conditions, the Council has to carry out two basic results. It has to improve the coordination of the international NGOs. It also has to improve the coordination between them and the other national and international actors in Macedonia.
Within this, the Council has carried out certain steps in order to coordinate the activities between its members: it holds meetings twice a month to inform the members on their actual advancement in the activities and to share information; it prepares and sends daily security reports based on data collected during the whole day; it distributes the changes in the Orientation guide for the members, whose regulations and administrative procedures are followed by the international NGOs; it prepares and develops the principles for membership in the NGOs Council.


CW – What is the Council’s cooperation with the other actors like, especially with the local NGOs?

D.M. – The Council takes part in a certain number of existing coordination mechanisms: it contributes to the OCHA (UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Activities) efforts to link some existing databases and matrixes for information on activities; it is present on regular bases at the coordination meetings for humanitarian help and security, organized by the Macedonian Government, local NGOs and the UN agencies.

The Council also helps to initiate some new coordination mechanisms: it cooperates with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in development of a support/help frame for linking the existing humanitarian programs for help with long-term efforts for development, in order to achieve maximum efficiency, effectiveness and equality. These efforts have resulted in the Transitional framework, presented on 12 March at the Donors’ conference. It is considered to be a structure for the transition process, with committees/groups where so far participate the local NGOs, MCIC and El Hilal; it looks for a possibility for cooperation with the Open Society Institute Macedonia Foundation (OSIMF) and the members of the local NGOs humanitarian coordination, which will comprise the other local NGOs in the process of collecting information for the regional needs from NGOs aspect, in order to support the previously mentioned process of transition. Finally, the Council appoints meetings between its members and the DONORS on regular basis, so that they could inform themselves on the actual issues, needs and possibilities for acting.

 

The Transitional framework, presented on 12 March at the Donor’s conference is considered to be a structure for the transition process, with committees/groups where so far participate the local NGOs, MCIC and El Hilal; it looks for a possibility for cooperation with the Open Society Institute Macedonia Foundation (OSIMF) and the members of the local NGOs humanitarian coordination, which will comprise the other local NGOs in the process of collecting information for the regional needs from NGOs aspect, in order to support the previously mentioned process of transition.