A public debate PROPOSAL STARTEGY FOR COOPERATION WITH THE CIVIL SECTOR The civil society organizations and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia have been discussing the Strategy for cooperation with the civil sector. “Being aware of the importance of the democratic expression and the efficiency and skillfulness of the civil society organizations, the Government incorporates the basis of cooperation with the civil society organizations in the Strategy and stands for systematic strengthening of the basic conditions for quicker and more efficient development of this sector”, said in her speech Mrs. Daniela Trajanovska, the Secretary General at the Macedonian Government.   A public debate on the Proposal Strategy for cooperation with the civil sector took place on 30 November this year at the Holiday Inn Hotel. The large number of attendees were greeted by Mrs. Daniela Trajanovska, Secretary General at the Government of RM and Mr. Luigi Sandrin, Head of the European Agency for Reconstruction. “Being aware of the importance of the democratic expression and the efficiency and skillfulness of the civil society organizations, the Government incorporates the basis of cooperation with the civil society organizations in the Strategy and stands for systematic strengthening of the basic conditions for quicker and more efficient development of this sector”, said in her speech Mrs. Daniela Trajanovska. “We are going to establish regular institutional cooperation, much more favorable conditions for civil action, better partner relations and chance to practice the knowledge and the attitudes, as well as building development policies for our country, Macedonia”, she added.. Suzana Nikodijevikj – Filipovska, head of the sector for policy analysis and coordination at the Government of RM and Elizabeta Nedanovska, head of the Department for cooperation with the NGO at the Government of RM both spoke at the public debate. Mrs. Nikodijevikj – Filipovska emphasized that “there is neither democracy nor national solidarity without having a social dialogue, a functional system of presentation of the interests and a solid civil society”. “The preparation of the Proposal – Strategy was to a great extent participatory and it is a result of the CARDS project-team activities, the project “Technical support of the Department for cooperation with the civil society at the Government of RM”, realized through the European Agency for Reconstruction, in cooperation with COWI from Denmark, INTRAC from England and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, representatives from the relevant state institutions, as well as civil sector representatives, selected by the Macedonian Civil Platform”, she added. The most important role of the Department for cooperation with the NGO is the one of coordinating the realization of the Strategy for cooperation with the civil sector. “The Department is going to take active part in the processes of implementation, monitoring and auditing the Strategy for cooperation with the civil sector”, said Elizabeta Nedanovska. “This means regular revision of the measures and activities, reporting on realizing the activities’ measures and regular updating of the Government and the civil sector on the current conditions, as well as proposing more efficient activities for the realization of the measures”, added Nedanovska.   The Proposal-Strategy text was presented by Mrs. Natasha Gaber – Damjanovska.  After the presentation, the civil sector representatives were given the opportunity to express their comments and recommendations to the team that worked on preparing the Strategy text. Those were mostly suggestions to be careful when it comes to selecting the criteria for transparent Government financing, which is one of the components of the Government technical support project, but also for greater civic involvement when passing the laws that have an impact on its functioning. The Government is expected to pass the Strategy by the end of this year.