Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

The overall goal of the project was to strengthen the civic activism and the citizens’ awareness about the need for building sustainable and dynamic civil society sector capable of responding to the challenges and priorities of the domestic public.

The project purpose was to stimulate and organize wide public action in order to support the integration of the Republic of Macedonia in the European Union (specifically, gaining the status of candidate country for EU membership). This is why a media campaign was launched under the slogan “Say OK for MK”, focused on the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia (stimulating positive thinking of Europe and its institutions about Macedonia, in terms of Macedonia is OK (Say OK for Macedonia).

The added value of the project was the possibility some of the activities to be used for raising domestic funds (from citizens, business, public sector).

The target group of the project was the general public in Macedonia (mainly the citizens from 15 to 60 years). The secondary target group was comprised of the European institutions, media and citizens.

The campaign Say OK for MK, attracted the attention of the wider public.The campaign included the following activities:

• pilot survey (to identify the target groups);
• press conference for announcing and promoting the campaign;   
• publishing advertisements and leaflets inserted in the daily newspaper; 
•   preparation and distribution of promotional material (postcards and T-shirts).

The pilot survey was conducted from October 17 to 23, 2005. The citizens had to answer four questions:

• Do you want Macedonia to become an EU member?
• Do you think that the Republic of Macedonia meets the requirements for EU accession? 
• Do you think that the Government of the Republic of Macedonia makes sufficient efforts for the Euro-integration process?
• Do you, as a citizen, would take part in an initiative for supporting Macedonia’s accession in EU?

The survey results showed that 91.2% of the respondents want Macedonia to become an EU member, 56% believe that Macedonia meets the requirements for EU integration, 50,5% believe that the Government is putting much or sufficient efforts in the European integration, while 40.2% believe that not enough is being done. 57.2% of the citizens would take part in a civic initiative to support Macedonia’s accession to EU.

The results as well as the launch of the campaign were promoted on a press conference held on October 28, 2005.

Three types of postcards were prepared. The first distribution was through the daily newspapers: Vest, Vreme, Utrinski vesnik, Fakti and weekly Forum at the beginning of November. The postcards conveying the message “Hello Government How Far Did We Get” were intended for the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.

The first positive signal, the recommendation from the European Commission for Macedonia to get a candidate status for EU integration, arrived on November 9, 2005. MCIC decided to continue the campaign until the final answer is received from the EU Ministerial Council, announced for December 15.

The second distribution included two types of postcards with a message “Say OK for MK” and “Let the sunshine in” distributed through the daily newspapers: Utrinski vesnik, Dnevnik, Fakti, Koha Ditore and weekly Forum. The postcards had an explanation of the campaign, the logos of the organizers and the addresses of the members of the Ministerial Council i.e. the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU member states and the addresses of the ambassadors of EU member states to Macedonia.

At the briefing, the journalists were informed on the campaign and the follow-up activities. The journalists also received postcards. Another event that was used for public distribution and sending the postcards was the Fifth NGO Fair – Forum of Civil Society in Macedonia. All interested citizens could fill in and send the card. Even the prominent public officials took the opportunity to send a postcard Say OK for MK, including the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Branko Crvenkovski, EU special envoy to Macedonia and head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Macedonia, Mr. Erwan Fouere, Vice Prime Minister Ms. Radmila Sekerinska, etc. According to the number of postcards sent directly to MCIC, total of 1.467 postcards were sent, out of which 1.047 abroad i.e. to the EU Ministerial Council and 453 in Macedonia to the Ambassadors of the EU member states in Macedonia.

The campaign was initiated in cooperation with Forum and Search for Common Ground and was fully implemented and managed by MCIC. This was a cross-sector project with participation of project officers from different departments.

The implementation period was October 20 – December 31, 2005.