Comment 

Hand in hand

Several weeks ago, I was one of the participants from Macedonia at the "NGO Days" in Zagreb. Even before I had seen the manifestation, I was wondering what will it be like, will it be different from our NGO Fair "Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia" that took place at the end of October last year, organized by the MCIC, OSIMF, ISC and CRS. We were together at this manifestation, and, from what we had seen, we could be proud to be better organizers.
From the conversations with our hosts, representatives from the NGO Department at the Croatian Government, I found out that the manifestation had been organized by the government itself. While in our country, the NGOs are self-organized to present themselves in public and they make efforts to find finances for their activities, in Croatia, the government does it itself. This has two positive sides: on one hand, the country makes investments financing the best NGO projects, thus making them partners in finding solutions to various problems and on the other hand, it has an insight into the NGO sector work. The governmental and the NGO sector have different roles and responsibilities in solving the problems and the society development in general. Therefore, the country's attitude and interest for the NGOs can provide a long-term stability of the democratic movement, taking the burden off the country in some areas and reducing its costs. In addition, the NGOs will be transparent in performing their duties and responsibilities towards the community, the financers and the beneficiaries. We know that the NGOs in Macedonia have been labeled as money-launders for years, that they are thought to be making money on the expense of the poor and that the annual reports are insufficient for the public regarding the financial operation. Having into consideration the five-year cooperation between the governmental and the non-governmental sector, these doubts might become reduced to some extent. The NGO sector is a place where civic initiatives gather and develop the social and the human potential and are an integral element of the socio-political living. Therefore, we should all try to contribute to the development of the modern civil society in Macedonia. Gramoz Shabani