On 28th November 2024, at the Council Hall of the Municipality of Novaci, local organisations and activists from the area were informed about the latest civil society developments at the local and national levels, funding opportunities, capacity building for organisations, the services offered by the Civic Resource Centre, and other topics of interest for the functioning of local organisations.
The visit was conducted as part of the Mobile Resource Centre, aimed at bringing the Civic Resource Center closer to local organisations in various municipalities and regions to discuss the needs and challenges faced by organisations in their operations.
After the presentation, attendees expressed their satisfaction with the visit of the Mobile Resource Centre to their municipality. “We are a newly established organisation, and the information we heard is very useful and educational for us,” said Robert Nikolovski from the organisation “Extend a Hand” in Novaci.
In the further discussion, he also shared the challenges they face in their work, primarily related to the lack of calls for humanitarian actions, which, according to them, are currently the most needed for their target groups. “We are an association whose target groups mainly include single parents, homeless people, children with rare diseases, and other vulnerable categories, and it is very difficult to find calls that address their real needs,” added Robert. He added that they have the greatest support from the Mayor and the municipal administration. “With the support of the municipality, we have secured two containers for the homeless, which we plan to place in the villages of Živojno and Rapeš, and we are in negotiations with the business sector in our municipality to cover the electricity bills and donate solar collectors for these two containers” – he said.
During the discussion, the representative from the Novaci Football Club also expressed satisfaction with the cooperation with the Municipality of Novaci, emphasizing that the support they receive is crucial for the club’s survival.
Financial support for civil society organisations is provided based on a public call for awarding financial assistance to associations, foundations, such as: sports clubs, local communities, church boards, cultural-arts associations, and religious communities from the Budget of the Municipality of Novaci, stated the representatives of the municipal administration present at the meeting. In addition to financial support, whenever there is a need, the municipal administration also provides space and other logistics for organising meetings and activities of civil society organisations, they added.
The municipality has an active Gender Equality Program, as well as a Youth Strategy for the Municipality of Novaci 2024-2029. Currently, the formation of a Local Youth Council and a Youth Center in the Municipality of Novaci is underway, said Andrej Naumovski from the NGO Youth Civil Action, Novaci.
There is no specific person assigned to work with civil society organisations in the municipality, but the Unit for local economic development fully covers this issue.
At the end of the meeting, the participants emphasised that organisations in the Municipality of Novaci need to strengthen their capacities for preparing quality applications and applying for projects. In this regard, they requested support from the Civic Resource Center to implement training on developing project ideas and writing project applications, as well as other trainings and consultations for better and higher-quality work in the areas they operate.
The visit of the Mobile Resource Centre 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, Media Plus, Štip, and the Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI), Gostivar.
