CSOs’ operation in rural areas and their cooperation with the local administration was the main topic of the meeting of the Mobile Resource Centre with the CSOs, which was held in cooperation with the local administration of the municipality of Brvenica on November 12, 2018.
The participants agreed that in the rural areas there is a greater challenge to initiate and to implement civic initiatives. They emphasized their priorities such as: raising civic initiatives, needed knowledge and skills in preparing project applications, using IT tools, and timely information on current developments, activities and funding opportunities for organisations.
So far the municipality has cooperated with CSOs in the region, and it has also supported youth local initiatives for improving general security. However, although the municipality is open to cooperation, there is a lack of organised approach and education of the population for its greater pro-activeness in the planning processes and preparation of local plans, strategies and policies.
Part of the participants pointed out that there are initiatives but without financial support for their implementation, while others emphasized that the local communities, as a form of association and promoting local initiatives, are not active as in the past, and that gap is felt in the communication of the citizens with the municipality. Local government officials explained that due to the absence of cultural institutions and sports facilities, the municipality has a problem to meet the demands of citizens for organizing cultural and sports events.
The Civil Society Resource Centre team also met with Enver Pajaziti, the mayor of the Municipality of Brvenica, and informed him about the operation of the resource centre in Gostivar as well as the support that they provided for local organisations in the region.
The Civil Society Resource Centre is an EU-funded project, implemented by Macedonian Center for International Cooperation in partnership with Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI), Gostivar and Media Plus, Shtip.
