“The TACSO project, which enabled eight years of technical EU support for CSOs, now continues in each country in the region individually. The Commission decided to decentralize the work in order to ensure wider coverage of organisations in the country. I hope this will be a place for citizens and civil society organisations (CSOs) from this region to continue with the social changes, which I believe will further contribute to Macedonia” said Aleksandar Krzalovski, the first executive director of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) at today’s opening of the Civil Society Resource Centre in Gostivar, which will be managed by Association for Democratic Initiative (ADI).
The Mayor of Gostivar, Arben Taravari addressed the audience. “It is a great pleasure for me to have such initiatives, especially when it comes to the civil society. It is normal that it always helps the society and the more activities it implements, the less activities remain to be implemented by us. I am glad that one of the resource centres is opened exactly in Gostivar” he said.
Lulzim Haziri, the president of ADI, spoke about what this resource centre means for the organisations and for the city of Gostivar. “It is a commonly known fact that the civil society is stronger in the capital. By opening such centres outside of Skopje, they will help other communities to participate equally in social development. These premises will be open for CSOs, where workshops, seminars, trainings, focus groups and other events can be held” he said.
Valentina Atanasovska, coordinator of the resource centres from MCIC spoke about the project and the activities to be implemented. She mentioned that the Centre will provide space for CSOs from the region that are interested in raising initiatives. In addition to the opened resource centres in Skopje and Gostivar, a resource centre will be opened in Shtip, and with the mobile resource centres full geographical coverage of the country will be ensured. Besides that, the centre will offer support and easy access to resources needed for smooth operation of CSOs. Trainings, conferences will be organised, regular logistical support will be provided, small partnership grants will be awarded, annual reports on enabling environment for CSOs will be prepared, help-desk and a resource website will be established for them.
The Civil Society Resource Centre is part of the programme National Resource Centre for Civil Society Organisations, funded by the European Union and implemented by MCIC in partnership with Media Plus from Shtip and Association for Democratic Initiatives, ADI from Gostivar.
