On 5 and 6 March 2026, at Hotel Millennium in Ohrid, the Civic Resource Centre organised a networking event for beneficiaries of the Action Grants for Support to the 2025 Local Elections. The event aimed to enable the exchange of experiences, the sharing of key findings and recommendations from the implemented election monitoring activities, and to encourage joint reflection on priorities for improving the electoral process. At the same time, the event was also focused on developing concrete advocacy initiatives that will contribute to improving electoral legislation and electoral practices.
During the first day, participants had the opportunity to learn about practical approaches to transforming monitoring findings into concrete policies and recommendations. At the outset, the online tool for advocacy initiatives developed by the Civic Resource Centre was presented, after which Zlatko Talevski, regional expert for the Pelagonia Planning Region, provided guidance through concrete examples on how election observation results can be translated into public policy proposals, emphasising that this process involves moving from simple observation towards deeper analysis, the formulation of recommendations, and the proposal of applicable reforms.
Anita Gagovska, regional expert for the South-West Planning Region, presented the key tools and approaches for digital advocacy, highlighting the role of digital channels and online communication in raising public awareness and mobilising support for initiatives in the public interest.
During the working sessions, the organisations worked together to identify priority areas for improving the electoral process and to develop advocacy initiatives targeting various institutions and stakeholders. As a result of this work, four advocacy initiatives were defined.
Given that a working group has been established to amend the Electoral Code, the participants agreed to prepare a joint letter to the Government presenting the key findings from the 11 projects through which the electoral process for the 2025 Local Elections was monitored, and to request that representatives of civil society organisations be included in the working group. In addition, the organisations agreed to prepare a letter to the donor community during May, in which they will share the key findings from the election monitoring, while also pointing to the need for continuous support for civil society organisations working on election monitoring and on tracking the fulfilment of electoral promises and institutional commitments.
In addition to the work on advocacy initiatives, the event was also used to open discussion on improving organisational standards among civil society organisations. In this context, the online self-assessment tool, Mirror of Civil Society Organisations, was presented, with the aim of helping organisations assess their practices in relation to good governance, transparency and accountability, and identify areas for further organisational strengthening.
The networking event was organised under the project EU Support to the Civil Society Resource Centre – Phase 2, funded by the European Union and implemented by the National Foundation for Development of Civil Society – Civic Resource Centre, the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation (MCIC), Media Plus, Shtip, and the Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI), Gostivar.
