Comment Can the civil sector in Macedonia die out?   If we look back for several years, there was a question raised among the civil society organizations – What is going to happen when the foreign donations “dry out”, what is the main source of income going to be? Are we going to find alternative solutions to replace them? Will that mean that a number of civil society organizations are going to stop working? What is going to happen to the civil sector in Macedonia? These are only some of the many important questions that have been often asked. One confirmation of the falling trend of income with the civil society organizations are the data announced in the annual reports of the leading organizations in Macedonia. The general fall of trend reaches 23% in comparison to the period 2003-2005. Just to illustrate, in 2005, ADI from Gostivar reached 18 million denars income, while only 16 million in 2004; DEM-2 million in 2005 and 1.5 million in 2004; oho – 6 million in 2005, 11 million in 2004; Polio Plus – 13 million in 2005, 11 million in 2004; The First Children Embassy in the World – “Medjash” – 7.5 million in 2005 and 11 million in the previous year; SOZM – 12 million in 2005, while 14 in 2004; FIOOM – 301 million in 2005, 220 million in 2004; and MCIC 134 million in 2005, while 150 million in 2004. What about the organizations that might have much lower income? Especially the ones that are not from the capital. How can they survive? Hard, indeed. We will have to focus more on the national resources. Will that be the state or the private sector? How can we establish cooperation with the municipalities? Another thing has to be mentioned in this respect, and that is the EU funds accessible for Macedonia. The Macedonian government appears as a partner more and more often, which means that later, it will be up to it to decide whether it will implement programs and projects alone or in cooperation with the civil society organization. And, what kind of cooperation is there with the private sector? We cannot brag much in that department since there is a lot more to be done in that respect. We can only hope that solutions will be found. We need action – in the whole sector. We need to find various sources so that we can overcome this general crisis that does not have an impact on the third sector, but the society in general. Therefore I am asking the following question and I expect an answer from everyone: Can the civil sector in Macedonia die out???   Gramoz Shabani