Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

On May 20, 2009, MCIC has organized a presentation of the Progress Report on the Implementation of the Strategy for Cooperation of the Government with the Civil Sector. The key-note speakers at the presentation were Ivica Bocevski, Deputy Prime Minister, Stojan Todorov, Secretary General of the Government and Erwan Fouéré, Head of the EU Delegation to Skopje.

The Strategy for Cooperation of the Government with the Civil Sector is the main document regulating the cooperation between the Government and the civil society organizations, foreseeing a range of measures referring to the sustainability of the civil sector. MCIC analyzed the implementation of the Strategy since its adoption in January 2007 until the end of 2008 in order to highlight the progress and provide recommendations to the officials for implementation and coordination of the Strategy.

The report describes and studies several main issues: assessment of the implementation of activities (quantity and quality) for the 24-month period, realization of planned activities within the timeframe, emphasis on the positive accomplishments, bottlenecks and key drawbacks.

“The Government is aware that the participation of civic organizations arouses the sense of civic efficacy, generating responsibility for collective problems, mobilizing civic action and encouraging the building of conscientious civil society capable of acting for the benefit of the general public,” Bocevski said. “We would continue to promote these principles. The goal we are striving to achieve is to promote the process in which the citizens will affect the decision and policy makers, but also to improve the ways in which the politicians get information on the attitudes and priorities of the citizens.”

The Secretary General of the Government spoke of the work of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations, which is a step towards greater institutionalization of the relations between the Government and the civil sector.

The head of the EU Delegation to Skopje, Erwan Fouéré, emphasized the need of more intensive implementation of the Strategy. According to him, although some of the achievements are encouraging the general image is not good. He emphasized four areas where improvement is needed: 1) adoption of the new Law on Associations of Citizens and Foundations; 2) improving the involvement of the civil society in the process of policy making and decision making; 3) improving the implementation of the Law on Sponsorships and Donations and 4) enhancing the cooperation with the governmental bodies.

The Report was presented by Emina Nuredinoska from MCIC. Some of the main conclusions are the following:

1. Key achievements in this period are: adoption of the Law on Volunteerism through an exceptionally participatory process; participation of the civil society organizations in the working groups for drafting laws and strategies relevant for their work; the amendments to the Rules of Procedures of the Government, according to which all draft-laws should be posted on the web sites of the ministries; the functioning of the Citizens Charter as a tool for easier access of the citizens to the services provided by the state administration.
2. Objectives in which no progress was made are the following: no centrally established system of involvement of the civil society organizations in the policy making processes; no improvement in providing state funding to the civil society organizations; no measures were taken for development of the civil sector in the rural areas.
3. Organizational setup of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations within the General Secretariat of the Government does not always have the required flexibility and authority in the hierarchy of the General Secretariat of the Government for reaction and proactive action.
4. Most of the implemented activities are realized with the foreign financial assistance either when it is necessary to harmonize them with the European and the other international standards or directly with the EU legislation.

Despite the commitment of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations and the General Secretariat of the Government, with the lack of budget for realization of the activities the nonperformance in the realization of the plan was expected.