Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

Authors: Sašo Klekovski, Aleksandar Kržalovski, Gonce Jakovleska
Date: 2007
PDF:  social-responsibility-of-the-citizens.pdf 

The report gives an insight in the citizens’ attitudes about their responsibility for the crucial social issues, the legal, moral or ideological responsibility of citizens towards the community and, in wider context, towards the society. In a addition, several indicators illustrate the habits and actions of citizens regarding certain issues. At the end, an overview is provided of the attitudes, motivation, situation and mechanisms of charity giving.

Majority of citizens (52.9%) believe that the state is most responsible for resolving the social problems. The confidence in solidarity of citizens in comparison with last year has increased from 26.4% to 39.3%. There is a high consensus (92.1%) that the new development, employment and empowerment of citizens can be a resolution for the problems.

There is a wide gap between the statements on civic responsibility and the concrete responsibilities. While 88.7% of citizens believe they are responsible to respect the laws, the percentage decreases to 74.2% regarding the public spirit and ranges between 57.8% and 80.8% regarding the responsibility for specific legal obligations (taxes, bills, etc.) This gap is probably even deeper in reality.

The non-partisan political activities of citizens are small with a downward trend.

The voluntary activities in the community are halved as well as the readiness to do something more for the other people. This is the only case with gender differences, indicating higher involvement of men. The activity in community – as “male job”, is a possible gender stereotype.

There is a moderate decline of involvement in civil society organizations, but there is high unused potential of civil society organizations. In addition, there is a wide gap between the passive and active capacity of civil society organizations. Namely, only in cases of known membership (including the payment of compulsory membership fee) there is ten times difference between the registered members and those saying they are involved in their activities. The most significant is the change in the motivation for participation, from the basic (new contacts, personal development) to the higher benefits (to support the community, the mission of the organization).

The number of people that give charity has declined from 75.5% last year to 64.6% this year. The solidarity and sympathy are the main motives behind charity giving. The main reason for not giving is that citizens do not have enough (10%). The first priority for charity giving this year is faith communities.

Money is the most frequent donation. The usual amount is between 50 and 500 MKD. The citizens prefer to give directly on hand or though SMS. The information on charity events are most efficiently disseminated through the electronic media. There is divided perception for the purposeful use of donated means. Total of 53.2% of the respondents believe that the collected contributions are used for the purpose. The need for feedback on the used assistance is the second priority for citizens (27.7%).