Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

In 2006, MCIC in cooperation with the Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI) and the Center for Peace and Democracy Ian Collins implemented the program “Power Sharing in Municipalities”. Part of this program included monitoring of the decision making and use of right to veto in 4 multiethnic municipalities. One of the final conclusions in the monitoring report was that the non-majority communities were underrepresented in the municipal councils and have no influence on the decision making that is of great importance for all citizens in the municipality.  

The negotiating power of non-majority communities both on local and national level is also low, so it can be said that the integration of non-majority communities was lagging behind the integration of the largest non-majority community. This is way, as part of the program “Macedonia – Model for Dialogue of the Cultures”, attempts were made to assess the situation of non-majority communities both on local and national level and recommendations were given for improving their situation.

The overall goal of the program Macedonia – Model for Dialogue of the Cultures is to strengthen the dialogue between different ethnic and religious groups. The specific objective is to increase the participation of non-majority communities in the decision making processes in the multiethnic municipalities. The target group is the general population and the leadership in the multiethnic municipalities (non-majority communities in general, which represent 10% of the Macedonia’s population). Direct beneficiaries are the members of the municipal councils and committees on relations with the communities (around 300 people). The target area is the Republic of Macedonia.

The project included several components: monitoring of the municipal sessions and the decision making process (particularly regarding decisions of interest of small minorities); analysis of the situation of non-majority communities and development of a report; organization of two training sessions on minority rights for local authorities and establishment of a parliamentary lobby group, which would be committed for implementation of recommendations and improving the situation with non-majority communities in Macedonia.

All planned activities were realized, except for the establishment of a parliamentary lobby group, an activity that was postponed because the monitoring process was delayed and caused further delays in the final report, which should have served as a lobbying document.

The first activity was the monitoring of the municipal sessions. At the beginning, the matrices for monitoring the sessions and questionnaires for interviewing the municipal authorities were prepared and the municipalities of Gostivar, Kičevo, Struga and Debar were selected for monitoring. In the middle of the project, training was delivered on monitoring the use of Badenter’s principle for 4 persons. The monitoring took part from May to September and included observation of 16 sessions of the municipal councils and 30 interviews with municipal representatives. A report was prepared at the end of the project period.

The second activity was the analysis of situation of non-majority communities on central and local level. A comparative study was prepared on the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and integration on non-majority communities on national level. This activity was aimed at analyzing the legislation, interviewing governmental representatives, political parties, civil society organizations and citizens. The analysis included recommendations that were presented to the stakeholders.

During the project, two training sessions on human rights, with special focus on minority rights, were delivered for the councilors of selected municipalities and members of the Commission on Relations with Communities as well as local civil society organizations dealing with minority rights. The purpose of the training was to raise the awareness on minority rights and the necessity for respecting them as one of the conditions for building good relations among the different ethnic groups. The first training took place on December 18 and 19, 2009 for 20 participants, while the second on December 21 and 22 also for 20 participants from Gostivar, Kičevo, Struga and Debar.

One of the bottlenecks of the project was the delayed start of the monitoring because of the local elections held from January to April, when the municipal sessions were suspended.

The project was implemented from March 1 to December 31, 2009. MCIC has coordinated and monitored the project implementation. The total costs are MKD 1,228,315.

Извршно резиме од проектот.