On June 18, 2026, in the Municipality of Kriva Palanka, the Civic Resource Centre (CRC) held an open day with civil society organisations from Kriva Palanka, presenting opportunities for support, capacity building, and civil society development.
Valentina Velichkovska, Executive Director of the Civic Resource Centre, presented the current state of the country's civil society sector and opportunities for its further development to representatives of local associations. The event also introduced Zhaklina Cvetkovska, the CRC’s regional expert for the Northeastern Planning Region, who will provide advisory and mentoring support to organisations in the region in the coming period.
During the open discussion, participants shared their needs, challenges, and expectations, emphasizing the importance of continuous support for organisational capacity building, improved access to information, and greater youth involvement.
Delfina Petkovska from the KUZ "Karposh" association in Kriva Palanka noted that young people in the local community are insufficiently organised, a fact that impacts their participation in the civil society sector. "The appointment of a regional expert for the Northeast region and the support from the CRC will contribute to a more organised and active involvement of young people in civic initiatives. Most importantly, we will be able to utilize CRC resources for training, mentoring, and collaboration, and we will have someone to provide guidance and information. This is an opportunity to build our own capacities, develop our projects, forge partnerships, and gain better access to donor programs, thereby contributing to the development of civil society in our community and the region," she said.
Milica Nikolovska, a member of the "Raspeani Palanchani" Cultural and Artistic Society and the "Osogovski Akcijashi" Association, believes that the partnership with the CRC will help strengthen their organisational capacities and increase the visibility of their activities, thereby creating opportunities to attract new members and volunteers. It is highly significant that, through the regional expert, they will gain access to advisory and mentoring support to develop their ideas and exert a greater impact on the local community. "We will use the support from the CRC to enhance our communication skills and boost our recognition within the municipality and the civil society sector, with the aim of encouraging young volunteers to get involved in our activities. This collaboration also enables us to systematize our activities, build sustainable funding models, and develop projects for submission to donor funds," Nikolovska noted.
The Municipality of Kriva Palanka also expressed its support for the initiative. Antonio Davitkovski, Head of the Department for Local Economic Development and European Integration, emphasized that the municipality already provides financial support to civil society organisations and welcomed the CRC's initiative to systematically strengthen their capacities. "As a municipality, we allocate significant funds to support civil society organisations; many activities—particularly in culture and sports—are decentralized and implemented by the associations themselves using funds provided by the local government. Therefore, I welcome the CRC initiative to actively work on strengthening the capacity of the civil society sector—an effort in which we, as a municipality, will also participate. Since we operate using the LOD methodology for public fund allocation, I believe it is necessary to collaborate with the CRC to jointly conduct training for civil society associations on preparing project applications. This will strengthen the sector's capacity to develop project ideas while also yielding high-quality projects for us to support. We are making both CRC and municipal resources available, and I believe that by working together, we can have a much more effective impact on local development and foster a better enabling environment for civil society," stated Davitkovski.
The event confirmed the strong interest among local organisations in enhancing their capacities, networking with one another, and participating more actively in local development processes. Through the regional support provided by the Civic Resource Centre, local organisations will gain access to information, advisory support, mentoring, and capacity-building programs.
The visit of the Mobile Resource Centre was organised as part of the "EU Support to the Civil Society Resource Centre – Phase 2" project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the foundation Civic Resource Centre, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, the Association for Democratic Initiatives – Gostivar, and Media Plus – Shtip.
