Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

With the decentralization process, most of the competences on local development were delegated to the municipal administrations. Many of the municipalities, particularly the rural ones, had insufficient human capacities to get the municipalities closer to the citizens, to realize new developmental initiatives and to deliver high quality services.

The effective exercise of new competences delegated with the decentralization process depends on the institutional and managing capacity, as one of the most important factors in providing long-term and sustainable development of communities.

Overall objective of the project was to improve the services for the citizens in the communities.

Project purpose is to build (strengthen) public support for the municipalities, particularly the rural ones and to increase the dissemination of information and communication among the municipalities and between the municipalities and the other actors from the public, business and civil sector.

Target group is comprised of communities and institutions, local and international. Direct beneficiaries are the local government units. The target area is the Republic of Macedonia.

Expected results of the project were: prepared and published Directory of Local Government Units, survey and updated web portal www.lokalenrazvoj.org.mk

In order to achieve the planned results the following activities were undertaken: defining the contents of the directory; developing the questions for the municipalities; gathering information on the municipalities; preparation of Directory of Local Government Units; preparation of database of municipalities; conducting survey based on the data in the directory and development and updating of web portal of municipalities.

Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) together with the Association of Local Government Units (ZELS) have drafted the contents of the Directory, developed the questions and the questionnaires were submitted to all 84 municipalities. Due to the failure of 20 municipalities to return the questionnaires on time, the deadline was prolonged and the project was extended to September.

The new Directory offers interesting information about all 84 municipalities and the City of Skopje. Along the contact details, the Directory presents demographic data, structural organization of the municipality, data on institutions under the municipality, data on the local economic plan and local environmental action plan. The Directory also provides information on the municipal budgets, existing public utilities, educational, health and cultural institutions, most important cultural events as well as updated information on the implemented, ongoing and planned projects.

The Directory is published electronically in Macedonian, Albanian and English language on 500 CDs.

As part of the project, web portal on local development was also developed and updated www.lokalenrazvoj.org.mk, providing information on the activities of municipalities, gathered from the municipal web sites, daily press, information agencies and other available sources. The portal also includes relevant calls, amendments to laws, information on training and consultation, conferences available for municipalities. It also gives link to the Directory of municipalities and other publications relevant for the local development. The information is gathered on a daily basis, selected and then published on the web site.

The main assumption affecting the realization of project results was the readiness of municipalities to meet MCIC’s expectations and capacity of the local governments for timely filling out of questionnaires.

MCIC was responsible for the decision making and project implementation.

Possible risk for the timely and successful realization of the project was the short deadline and the readiness of municipalities to fill out and return the questionnaires on time.

The implementation period was May 13 – September 30, 2009.

The financial projection was MKD 747,710.50 (direct costs). MCIC has provided MKD 747,710.50 (direct costs), donation from EED Germany (www.eed.de).

Завршен извештај од проектот