The Civic Resource Centre continues to strengthen civic organizations. This time, the focus was on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the work of civic society organisations (CSOs). The info-session, which was held online on 16th April 2026, was attended by about 60 participants.
At the event, participants were informed about what chat models and reasoning models are, their differences and when they are used, whereas the use of ChatGPT and Claude tools was practically demonstrated.
In the second session, participants were introduced to how research tools work: Perplexity and NotebookLM, the difference between classic search and research using digital tools, and then the method of using Perplexity and NotebookLM was practically demonstrated. It was presented, through a practical example, for creating training, training material, researching relevant data for training, and creating presentations, videos, infographics and other visual material. Additionally, in this section, the Diffit tool was presented, with the aim of creating teaching materials for more successful and interactive training.
In the third session, participants were informed about how artificial intelligence helps in communication and visibility, campaign creation, generating texts and ideas, designing posters/social posts and quickly visualizing ideas with practical application of the creative tools Gemini/Nano Banana and Canva AI.
The event ended with a presentation of the use of AI in digital social innovations, i.e. bringing closer the term "AI for Good", and with the aim of introducing AI into programmatic and system solutions in line with the mission of organisations, and not just the basic use of tools for everyday use.
“Thank you for this informative event, it is wonderful and very useful. It would also be good to receive training with written materials on how to use these tools step by step, as well as instructions on how to get free access to all the tools that we can access as civil society organisations,” said Tanja Cvetkovic Daneva from EPY HUB Skopje.
Elena Tasheva Tripcheva from the Association of People with Cerebral Palsy and Other Disabilities – Veles also expressed her satisfaction with the method and topics covered at the info-session, describing the event as “very meaningful”, as did Jasminka Kapac from MACEF, Skopje, with the same need to expand knowledge in this area.
"The main question after the entire event is not whether you will use AI in your organisations, but how you will use it. Most organisations stop only at the operational and research level of using AI, but the future lies in introducing AI into programs and services that organisations offer, and especially at the strategic and systemic level. Those organisations that do not cross the line from operational to innovative use will unfortunately lag behind and will not be competitive, nor will they contribute qualitatively to the mission they represent. AI will not replace organisations, but organisations that use AI will replace those that do not use it" - said Anita Gagovska, regional expert on civil society for the South-West Planning Region, who conducted this event.
The event was organised within the project "EU Support to the Civil Society Resource Centre - Phase 2", funded by the European Union, and implemented by the National Civil Society Development Foundation Civic Resource Centre, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC), Media Plus, Shtip and the Association for Democratic Initiatives - ADI, Gostivar.
