Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

The utilization of the EU pre-accession funds mostly depends on the capacity of the country as a beneficiary for absorption (withdrawal and utilization) of these funds. The experience points out that the EU pre-accession funds have been successfully utilized only in few countries which have finished or are finishing their road to EU accession, whereas in the remaining states the percent of utilization of the EU funds has been assessed as unsatisfactory.

The exchange of experience and sharing best practices and models for the role of the rural municipalities and associations of rural communities in utilization of the pre-accession funds for rural development and discussion for their possible application in Macedonia will contribute to improvement of the capacity and positioning of the rural municipalities as one of the more important actors for successful utilization of the EU support for rural development.

The overall goal of the project was built (improved) public support to the rural and other small communities.

The objective of the project was contribution to increased inclusion of the rural communities in the planning and utilization of the EU support for rural development.

The target group of the project were inhabitants from the rural communities. The target area was national and encompassed the rural areas in the entire territory of Republic of Macedonia.

The realized results of the project are: The exchanged experience and learnt lessons for the successful practices and models of utilization of the EU support for rural development in Republic of Slovenia, and Shared positive practices and models for utilization of the EU support for the rural development projects, with particular focus on the experience of Republic of Bulgaria.

The activities through which the above mentioned results were implemented are the following:

Study visit to the rural municipalities of Kungota and Benedikt in Republic of Slovenia, realized from November 20th to November 22nd 2008. At the study visit total of 7 participants took part: 4 members from the Commission for Rural Development at ZELS (Stojan Lazarev, Mayor of Municipality of Konce, Vlasta Dimkovic, Mayor of Municipality of Staro Nagoricane, Boris Gavrilov, Mayor of the Municipality of Karbinci, Vasil Radinoski, Mayor of Municipality of Vevcani), Viktor Janev from the Agency for Financial Support to the Agriculture and Rural Development (AFSARD), Vilijam Hristovski from ZELS and Miodrag Kolic from MCIC.

The study visit aimed to inform about the Slovenian experience in the process of utilization of the EU pre-accession funds for rural development. This was achieved by visiting practical examples and experience from two rural municipalities in Slovenia. The initiatives and projects for development of the rural communities Kungota and Benedikt were presented in person by the Mayor of the Municipality of Kungota, Igor Stropnik, the Mayor of the Municipality of Benedikt, Milan Gumzar and the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Benedikt, Janez Zorko.

The conference on the topic Rural Municipalities and EU Support for the Rural Development in Macedonia – National Experience and Regional Practices, with special focus on the experience from the Republic of Bulgaria was held in the hotel “Holiday In” in Skopje, on December 11th 2008. 39 participants took part at the conference, 30 of whom were men and 9 women. The structure of the participants was as follows: units of local self-government 25, non-governmental organizations 8, government agencies/bodies 4, and business entities 2.

The conference aimed to exchange experience and share best practices and models for the role of the rural municipalities and associations of rural communities and association of rural municipalities in the process of utilization of the EU pre-accession funds for rural development.

The main topic of the conference was the experience from Republic of Bulgaria with the EU funds, presented by Dr. Miroslava Georgieva, Director of the Directorate for Rural Development at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Republic of Bulgaria. Stojan Lazarev, the Chairperson of the Commission for Rural Development within ZELS and the Mayor of the Municipality of Konce presented the experience and conditions with the rural development in Republic of Macedonia.The conference was opened and facilitated by Dimce Mitreski, Head of the Development Department within MCIC.

MCIC was responsible for the project management, and together with ZELS were responsible for their implementation.

The time period of project implementation was October 14th – December 30th 2008.

The budget of the project amounted to total of 382.888,00 MKD (direct costs). MCIC provided 100% from funds which are donation from EED from Germany.

Извршно резиме од проектот.