NAFI SARACINI

The Civic Associations -Factor or Decoration in the Macedonian Civic Society?

Viewed through the prism of quantity, the so far realized in the development of the non-governmental sector in Macedonia deserves some respect. The continuous growth of the number of civic associations and foundations is a positive indicator for the democratic changes, especially if we take into consideration the size of the country and its economic and political reality.

But it seems that the great number of these organizations has not been followed by the realistically expected positive changes in increasing the quality in the civic life and its active and effective participation in building the democratic processes in the country. It would be normal to expect that if there are more than 4,000 registered civic associations and foundations, this sector to have its place and to present a meaningful factor in the society which gives its contribution in the following: building-up the democratic relations, promoting the pluralism, implementing and improving the legislation, overcoming the poverty and misery, correcting and complementing the state activities etc. Unfortunately, from what it has shown so far, the non-governmental sector in Macedonia still cannot be proud of such a position or role. As for comfort, by the way, we can say that the political and economic factor in this country, as far as some of the above mentioned issues are concerned, are not to be praised, neither.

From the so far development of this sector it can be noticed that, apart from the quantitative changes, very little has been achieved in overcoming the sterile role which this sector has in the Republic of Macedonia. Chronologically followed, the international factor has contributed a lot in the institutional strengthening and training of the new civic associations, but it is also out of question that in direction of understanding and building the awareness for the role of the non-governmental organizations in building-up the civic society, almost nothing has been done.

The civic associations themselves contribute to a great extent to this situation. The sphere and the kind of activities our civic associations deal with are more than indicative.
Viewed in global frames, in the biggest number of cases the operative objectives and tasks set by these organizations are within the defining of problems or in the best case removing or mitigating the consequences from certain negative or unwanted phenomena in different spheres of the social life. The most represented activities for reaching the set tasks have been proposing and realizing seminars, tribunes, workshops, "socializations" and similar activities that are closed in the sphere of education, and it is most often an objective for its own. These activities are not negative by themselves, but when they occur as the only creative fantasy of the citizens' associating and are at the same time replicating by their content, they, unfortunately, get negative connotation.

The way of defining the problems and needs for certain projects and activities is also indicative. If the donator has not defined them, then they are most often based on individual opinion and understanding of the conditions by the proposer.

As examples which in the most illustrative way express these conclusions we can mention the projects whose objective is to impel and support the sex equality, and as an activity they suggest sewing courses, cutting or similar professions, or seminars and workshops where exclusively participate only representatives of one sex. Similar example are the projects whose objective is to educate children in the primary schools for their rights according to the international standards without participation by their parents, tutors, that is those factors which should enable the realization of these rights. Endless number of examples can be stated in the area of inter-ethnical tolerance, too, in solving the conflicts, in the sphere of ecology, health sector etc...Unfortunately, these negative examples are dominant in comparison with those projects and activities, which have an analytical and studious approach towards the problems in the society.

The number of civic associations, which have their own appropriate capacity and deal with strategic planning and analyzing the roots of the problems, with their reason-consequence relation, is quite small and insufficient. There is a lack of projects, which realize activities dealing with removing and overcoming the reasons for the problems, projects that propose solutions or options for solving certain problems of wider social importance. Also, there is a lack of projects, which offer alternative strategic programs and plans for solving certain issues of critical importance for the future of the country, as well as proposal-programs for solving certain economic-political problems that the country is facing.
Organizing the civic pressure on the decision-makers and those who create the policy of this country for issues of civic interest and similar activities can rarely be found in our associations and foundations' agendas.

This, so to speak "superficial" approach to the problems, contributes to a great extent to creating a wrong picture and understanding of this sector as a whole. More precisely, it does not contribute to the change of the still dominant stereotype understanding and identification of the non-governmental sector only as a humanitarian-volunteering activity, which is often related to both illegal and immoral activities.