NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia

Good Wind in Our Sails
 

The NGO Fair conveyed the message that we can only face the problems together, through constructive cooperation and partnerships between all actors in the society. The NGO contribution should expected in finding creative and efficient solutions. Therefore, the NGOs should realize three-lateral cooperation: cooperation with the state sector; cooperation with the private sector; cooperation with the donors (international sources of financing) and establish good public relations.

Marijana Ivanova 

In the last days of October, about 6000 citizens have visited the NGO Fair at the Alexandar Palace Hotel in Skopje. Many of them have been there to have a closer look to one social segment that is imposed more and more as a factor in our country. The NGO sector is nothing new in the Republic of Macedonia – it has been built and established for ten years now. However, for most things that mean novelty, several years of “empty walk” or accumulating power were to pass before it establishes itself as a factor that is becoming partner to both, the governmental and the business sector. It has been proved recently during the Parliamentary Elections 2002, and confirmed recently, at the NGO Fair that took place from 29 October to 1 November this year.

 

Confirmation of the Interest 

The number of visitors and the number of NGOs (200 national, regional and international) that participated at the Fair show the greatness of the sector and the interest it provokes. Although, most of the public does don understand the fundamental importance of this sector, or it misunderstands it, the large number of visitors showed that there is interest to understand things, to get to know them and realize their essence. And that was one of the NGO Fair goals – to bring this sector closer to the public. This goal was realized successfully which could be clearly seen from the interest it provoked.

The NGO Fair took place for the second time this year. Last year, on the initiative of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, it was held on the same location and at approximately the same period, and was assessed a successful attempt to promote the NGO work. This year, a step forward was done – apart from the exhibition and the education part, a large space was given to the forum events, where issues of great importance were raised, not only to the NGO sector, but also to the country in general. Therefore, the NGO sector was also called Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia.

In the forum part, the NGO activists, representatives from the business sector, academic institutions, local government and authorities discussed several issues, such as: poverty, ethics in investments and the journalism, election process, balanced regional development, civic education, elimination of corruption, return of the displaced, nature protection, disarming, trade unions role, small and medium enterprises development, euro-integration, reforms in the health and pension system…  
 

Problems, challenges, perspectives
 
What is the NGO Fair importance and what can NGOs offer and contribute to the society through it but promoting their activities? The answer to this can provide those who attended the Fair, but there was also an attempt by the organizers themselves to do that. Materials have been prepared which presents the synthesis of this manifestation and offers certain conclusions and recommendations.

This material identifies the following problems, challenges and perspectives that Macedonia faces:
- reduction of poverty by giving support to education, employment and by improving the infrastructure;
- elimination of the exclusion from the main social streams by developing the multicultural society, gender equality, integration of people with special abilities;
- rule of law, fight against corruption and organized crime;
- support to reforms in health, education, culture and pension system that will protect the interests of weak and helpless;
- return of peace and security and support to demilitarization and disarming the citizens;
- reconstruction of settlements and care for the internally displaced until final solution has been found;
-  building efficient state institutions and local democracy through strengthening the civic participation in the decision-making processes;
- support for integration in the European Union.
 

Civic organizations’ contribution 

At the same time, the civic organizations’ participation in the process of overcoming these problems should be based upon the following principles: integrated approach (problems and solutions are interrelated and need to be treated simultaneously); prioritizing according to the needs and interests of target groups and their participation in all phases of the project cycle; encouraging the self-assistance to avoid the dependence; respecting the target groups’ dignity and culture; addressing the problems through the question of possibilities and approach, that is, searching for the cause and not consequences.

“Marginalized groups cannot always see the reasons for the position in which they find themselves- states this material. Therefore we need to strengthen them in order to determine the priorities on the basis of cause and effect analysis. Therefore, an integrated approach can be interpreted in several ways. One interpretation is addressing several different problems simultaneously. The other interpretation can be simultaneously addressing one problem at several points of cause and effect connection. It enables the integration of social-humanitarian development approach and the advocacy approach” – states the material.

This material also presents the principles of cooperation with other actors in the society. As it is said, the expectations that civic organizations should solve problems are unreal. We can only face the problems together, through constructive cooperation and partnerships between all actors in the society. The NGO contribution should be expected in finding creative and efficient solutions.

The NGOs should realize the following types of cooperation: three-lateral cooperation; cooperation with the state sector; cooperation with the private sector; cooperation with the donors (international sources of financing); and establish good public relations. 
 

Civil Society Development 

Several directions are offered for the civil society development. First of all, it is the range of civil society (besides the stereotype understanding of the civil society contents, besides the NGOs, it also covers the professional organizations, trade unions, churches, religious organizations and the media). Then, it is a balanced regional development (development of the civic organizations in small towns and rural areas); orientation on the basis of results (demonstrating results and influencing the conditions), as well as transparency, accountability, reporting – in relation to this, there have to be well-established standards for managing, financial control and reporting in order to provide mechanisms for public trust.

It is also necessary to create a good environment for civil society development (improving the broad national public support and an encouraging legal and fiscal framework), as well as strengthening the influence through creating nets (in all forms: “ad hock” or long-term, thematic, sectoral and cross-sectoral). The NGO fair showed that the non-governmental sector is able to offer solutions and contribute as a partner in the process of creating better future for all of us. As one of the sectoral workshops’ facilitators, Pece Taleski from OHO said, let us make use of the good wind in our sails.
 

From the Board of Organizers’ Speech
We should share the knowledge and learn from each other

The second NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia is building up on the First NGO Fair foundations, which took place in 2001. This year, besides the exhibition and educational part, there is an important forum part, as well as social and cultural events.

This is an opportunity to share the knowledge and learn from each other, and also establish new relations for cooperation. We can also strengthen the relations between organizations from different parts of the country, as well as relations between local and national organizations.

This event, as well as the civil society is open to other actors, for exploring the possibilities for greater influence partnerships. However, this event is primarily open to the public and it is an attempt to present the civic organizations to the public more effectively.

 

Organization
Four organizers and a number of volunteers 

This year, the organizers of the NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia are: Macedonia Center for International Cooperation – MCIC; Open Society Institute Macedonia Foundation – OSIMF, Institute for Sustainable Communities – ISC and Catholic Relief Services – CRS. However, the realization of this huge and not very simple manifestation was supported by a number of volunteers who participated both in the preparations and in the manifestation itself. The logistics was provided by the MCIC. 

 
Transparency Macedonia
 
On 30 October, from 9 am to 11 am, Transparency Macedonia organized the sectoral panel “Civil society role in elimination of corruption”. The chairman of the panel was Zoran Jacev, Transparency Macedonia President, and facilitators were Dzevdet Hajredini, Slagjana Taseva, Branislav Sarkanjac, Gjorgji Ivanov and Vladimir Milcin. The future minister of internal affairs, Mr. Hari Kostov, spoke to the present through a video statement and announced an uncompromising fight against corruption. 

Dzevdet Hajredini, president of the coalition “Macedonia without corruption” discussed the economic effects from the corruption, which according to him are quite different from those that occur as a result of corruption within the authorities. The example we should follow from the western countries is to promote the civil sector as an assistant, and not an obstacle of the country in the process of eliminating the corruption, taking into consideration the role of the media in the fight against this phenomenon. 

In her introduction, Slagjana Taseva said that citizens regard this problem to be someone else’s concern. As a problem for occurrence of corruption, Taseva pointed to the complete control of the executive over the legislative, which in her opinion is absurd. She expressed the need to establish future anti-corruption strategy. The civic sector should constantly remind the authorities on the occurrence of corruption and take active part in its elimination. 

The facilitator Branislav Sarkanjac set the relation civil society – state – market, defining the civil society as a pillar that comes together with the state and the market. According to him, the roots of corruption will be rooted out if the country’s influence is reduced.

Gjorgji Ivanov emphasized that corruption is as old as the human. The corruption lies in the government, it has the power, but the civic sector should apply a strategy of persistence and open the issues. Therefore, we should all contribute in order to eliminate the corruption and refuse gifts of any kind, even the smallest ones.  

Vladimir Milcin reminded that by the end of this month the European Union will be organizing a conference on “Organized crime and corruption in the region” on ministerial level. That conference, according to Milcin is a result of the EU notion of the increased impact of corruption on the society, which civic associations constantly remind of. The problem, said Milcin is becoming a political and security problem, which threatens the future, peace and stability of the region. 

At the end of the panel it was concluded that corruption does exist in Macedonia regardless of who has the power, and lately, the effects of it have reached such a level that they threat the foundations of the country. The fight against corruption is an extremely difficult process, which the government cannot handle alone. Therefore, it is necessary to involve a new element that will be neutral and constant and that should provide: constancy, professionalism and monitoring. The civic sector role is to identify and put pressure, provide assistance, follow and report, advocate and lobby and promote non-partism, and transparency

 
Realization
National and International Participation 

Half of the finances for the realization of this manifestation were provided by the European Union, through EAR – European Agency for Reconstruction. The other half were finances of the NGOs that participated at the Fair (17%) and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation – MCIC, Open Society Institute Macedonia Foundation – OSIMF, Catholic Relief Services –CRS and Institute for Sustainable Communities –ISC.
 

Plenary Session
New trends and challenges in the civil society 

“The NGO sector development does not correspond to the development of democracy”, said Nafi Saracini, civil society counselor at the European Commission Delegation in Skopje and one of the facilitators at the plenary session. “New occurrences and trends – challenges that the civil society faces” that took place on 29 October 2002 at the NGO Fair (the chairman was Mirko Spiroski). To the stand that there is no NGO sector (due to its dependence from external donations and lack of support from the governmental sector), Saracini opposed the stand of non-existence of an adequate state sector. He emphasized the dependence of the state administration on the power concentrated in the hands of individuals or groups. On the other hand, Saracini sees the negative aspects of the NGO sector, the lack of strategic planning and implementing the activities that do not touch the root, but the effects of the problem. Therefore, the focus should be placed on building the civic consciousness, mutual cooperation, identifying local donors, and development of managerial skills within NGO. The present phase of the NGO, according to Saso Klekoski, MCIC executive director and facilitator at the session is a phase of development which is far more difficult than the phase of establishment. He said that the human resources in the NGO sector in Macedonia are not used enough and that the understanding of what NGO sector covers is insufficient. Trade unions, for example, are almost always left out.

According to Gjorgji Ivanov, professor at the Faculty of Law in Skopje and president of the Institute for Democracy, solidarity and civil society, there is an ambiguity in the understanding of civil society. The positive and negative aspects are based on the same principles: providing resources, transnational development and development of a pluralist civil society. Teodori Pandeli, professor and executive director of the Civil Society Foundation in Albania presented the experiences from the civil society development in Albania. He emphasized the main problems: lack of cooperation between the organizations themselves, relations with the media, financial support parallelism. The exit can be seen in creating networks, umbrella organizations and multi-disciplinary centers, cooperation with foreign organizations, activating the intellectuals, appropriate geographical distribution of activities, building the public awareness, etc. “The subject for discussion was one of the most popular and most priority challenges of the NGO sector”, said Vladimir Milcin, OSIMF executive director. “It was good that we had different approaches to it. Thus, some of the facilitators and participants, as well as myself, provoked a serious discussion on the context of the subject. The discussion was a good opportunity to initiate a number of new questions and build the foundations for the next talks”, concluded Milcin.

It was concluded that there is a need of great strategic cooperation between the NGO and the governmental sector. It is necessary to have transparency I the work and the results of it and the NGO should give their contribution to the politics without partization.

 

Goals
NGO Fair – Forum of the Civil Society in Macedonia aims to contribute to the strengthening of institutional capacity and development of NGO in Macedonia.

NGO Fair goals are:
Improving the informing, communication and coordination between NGOs
Promotion of NGO sector in public and among other actors
Initiating and improving the NGO cooperation
 

NGO and the poverty
Mobilizing knowledge and experience 

“NGO role in solving the poverty problems” is the title of the sectoral panel that took place within the NGO Fair on 29 October 2002. Chairman of the panel was Bedzihudin Shehapi and facilitators were Vase Davaliev, CRS, Denis Boshkovski, World Bank Office in Skopje, Muhamed Toci, “Mesecina” and Dimce Mitreski, MCIC.

In his introduction, Dimce Mirceski said that NGO should mobilize the local knowledge and resources, lobby for more active participation of all actors involved and encourage people to help themselves. The country should take more active part, but not always through the prism of social help. Vase Dacaliev informed about the goals, results and credit terms of “Horizonti”, which tends to become a self-sustainable institution for providing credit support to poorer groups, especially women, applying the principle of solidarity guarantee. Denis Boshkovski emphasized that the World Bank in Macedonia has supported the preparation of a Poverty Reduction Strategy, the goal of which is to make a consensus on the priorities. One of the key elements in that process is cooperation with the NGO. Muhamed Toci spoke about the poverty problems in education, employment and infrastructure, especially in relation to the Roma communities.

“There are problems in encouraging the Roma population to take part in the education and stay there, which brings further social problems”, he said.

In the discussion that followed, Saso Klekovski said that we should not approach poverty from the aspect of how to met the needs, but how to provide approach to wealth distribution, that is, how to make decisions on priorities. Vesna Ristovska agreed that we should not only focus on humanitarian help, but on knowledge and asked how does the World Bank contribute to the economic development of the communities.


Plenary session
Development of local NGO

A plenary session on “Development of local NGO and challenges of a balanced regional development” took place on 30 October 2002 at the NGO Fair. The Chairperson was Slavica Indzevska and the session provoked a big discussion after the introduction of the facilitators Vesna Stojanovska from the Economic Institute, Ace Kocevski, mayor of Veles, Herbert Schmidt from the Swiss Office for Cooperation and Development, Bajram Sulejmani, president of EA “Natira”, Lipkovo and Juta Bulling, program manager at EAR. Vesna Stojanova said that the lack of a regional balanced strategy on national level leads to a debalance on three levels: between Skopje and other regions, between urban and rural regions and multi-ethnical and uniethnical areas. Among the measures for overcoming these problems, is the approach to information for all NGO and LGU for mutual coordination; organizing a resource center for NGO and so on.

Ace Kocevski thinks that the municipality should not finance salaries, but NGO development projects, and the NGO should develop democracy, civic rights, society’s departization and provide local financing by business-groups.

According to Herbert Schmidt, the donors should support the NGOs, but not too much. NGOs should be coordinated with the political authorities and in the process of decentralization, they can provide communication with the population and consultations with the local authorities through mutual projects.

Bajram Sulejmani emphasized the NGO role in organizing the rational use of resources and in providing alternative for conflict solution, and Juta Bulling said that EU has tuned its attention to the NGO sector in the country through the EAR’s CARDS program. This program provides support to democracy and the rule of law in the country through the civil society development and improvement of inter-ethnic relations. She informed that EAR will continue OSIMF’s positive experience with the resource centers for NGO support in eight regions in the country.

It was concluded that NGO should have an important role in balancing the regional development of the country, through active cooperation with the local government, coordination of activities among NGOs themselves, authorities and donors, internal strategic planning, providing information and respecting the cultural differences without closing in national frames.