The representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) and the Municipality of Kriva Palanka want to prepare a local Strategy for the development of civil society, and the Civic Resource Center (CRC) can support that process. This was one of the conclusions of the Mobile Resource Center that was held in Kriva Palanka on 12 April 2023, where 33 representatives of CSOs, local self-government and young people from the municipality participated.
CRC can respond to one of the urgent needs of the organisations, which refers to strengthening their organisational capacities, especially for writing projects. The participants agreed that they will coordinate with CRC and Europe House in the next period. The EU opportunities and support for CSOs was also presented to the participants, with a special focus on the DG NEAR Guidelines for EU support to civil society development in the enlargement region 2021-2027.
The organisations became familiar with the Unit for Cooperation with NGOs, the Council for Cooperation with CSOs, as well as the Government Strategy for Cooperation with and Development of Civil Society. Neither organisation knew about the existence and the role of the Council.
In the second part of the visit, the participants received information about the principles of volunteering and through group work discussed the situation with volunteering in their city, the expectations and limitations of the organizers of volunteer work, the motivation of volunteers, as well as the ways in which young volunteers can contribute. It is important that the citizens have interest and willingness to engage in volunteering. They help but often do not recognize doing good deeds and helping as “volunteering”, while on the other hand the organizers of volunteer work do not administer volunteering properly, which indicates the need for greater promotion of volunteering and support for CSOs in developing volunteer programs and systems for monitoring and supporting volunteers.
Young people are interested in volunteering. According to them, it gives them the opportunity to contribute to their community and help others. In addition, they see volunteering as an opportunity to usefully fulfill their free time, to learn and upgrade themselves, to make friends and have fun. However, they note that there is a lack of information about where and how they can volunteer. On the other hand, they noticed that there is a lack of education and incentive for volunteering in the educational system and the civil society sector.
The participants gave ideas for volunteering activities that young people can and want to be involved in, as well as numerous skills and abilities that they want to make available to the community.
The Civic Resource Centre organised the Mobile Resource Center in cooperation with the Regional Cooperation Center SPEKTAR and Europe House, Kriva Palanka.
This event was organised under the project “EU support to the Civil Society Resource Centre – Phase 2” financed by the European Union and implemented by the National Civil Society Development Foundation Civic Resource Centre, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIS), Media Plus, Shtip and Association for Democratic Initiatives – ADI, Gostivar.
