Panel: The influence of the civic sector on Economic Development in Macedonia

Organizer: European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI)-NGO Network for Inter-Ethnical Relations’ improvement in Macedonia-Initiatives for Society Development

The focus of interest transfers from the multi-ethnical groups to the economic development

On 113th December an alliance of civic unions will be formed in Skopje- Initiative for society development (ISD)

Under the title” The influence of the civic sector on the Economic Development in Macedonia, on the first day of the fair of NGO, a panel was held in organization of ECMI)-NGO Network for Inter-Ethnical Relations’ improvement in Macedonia-Initiatives for Society Development. Aleksandra Bojadzieva, Pajtim Saiti, and the chair speaker Senat Bekiri as key-note speakers, representatives of the net, presented their initiatives for society development in front of the audience: The strategic plan for 2005-2007, at the same time informing on the establishing of the alliance of civic unions in Skopje-Initiative for society development (ISD) on the 13 December in Skopje. According to the organizers, in the future the Alliance will function as a formal net, whose focus of interest will be the economic development, to which any of the interested unions of the civic organizations from the country can join in.

  The presented strategic plan, according to Aleksandra Bojadzieva, brings news in Macedonia, in terms of opening possibilities for the creation of new service oriented programs, building of proper resource services, developing a mutual program with other nets in the region or with nets of international importance. Likewise, the plan foresees formation of new media whose target group is exactly the civic organizations.

“Our net runs the decentralization of the civic sector in the country, and one of the most important characteristics is that there is an excellent cooperation between the civic unions. Generally, we plan to operate on the economic development, which will also include the realization of local initiatives. During 2005 we will work on the identification of needs, and the practical work with the realizations of projects is to start in the second half of 2005. The members of the net are expected to continue the training on local and national level”-state Bojadzieva.

The net comprises around 70 civic unions, and as Pajtim Saiti stated, the well functioning primary is due to the member’s commitment, to their everyday restless field-work between the citizens across our country, regardless of their ethnical and religious origin.

  ECMI-NGO net is established in 2001 under the initiative and cooperation with the German organization Flensbourgh and to the end of the year the planned project is focused on the improvement of the intra-ethnical relations in Republic of Macedonia. The realization of the net is possible with the financial support of the Swedish development agency-SIDA, the British embassy in Skopje, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and some of them will  keep supporting the announced formal net-ISD.