The City of Skopje

Strategy for cooperation with civil society organizations is being prepared

The City of Skopje, in cooperation with the Centre for Institutional Development (CIRa) and OSCE is to adopt the Strategy for cooperation with the civil sector in September. The goal of that strategy will be to raise the level of cooperation in the areas of mutual interest such as education, social care and protection, culture, environment and sport. By the time the document is prepared, the City will have organized 6 workshops with the NGOs operating in the capital to detect the ways of improving the cooperation. The city had carried out a poll among 90 civil society organizations and inside the departments of the city administration on the level of cooperation with the NGO sector, and the results of the poll were presented at the first workshops which took place on 18 June at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Skopje.

It was emphasized at the workshop that one of the benefits expected from this improved cooperation is the joint presentation of the local government and the NGO before the foreign donors and project funds of mutual interest. “There are nearly 2000 NGOs registered in the area of Skopje, which is one third of the total number of NGOs registered in the country. Most of them are very active in the areas they operate and therefore, the cooperation with them is of great importance to us. It should be based on the principles of mutual trust, partnership, transparency, independence and accountability”, said Suzana Nikodijevikj, sector-manager at the General Secretariat of the Macedonian Government, explaining the government strategy for cooperation at the first workshop. She emphasized the main goals of the cooperation to be the involvement of the civil sector in the process of European integration, the continuous development and the financial sustainability of the sector.

Apart from the Strategy for cooperation, the City of Skopje strategic plans include establishing a Forum of NGOs that would function as an advisory body of the City of Skopje on subjects of interest to the city, and which are part of the regular activities of the NGOs.

 

S. N.