Although Ohrid is one of the larger municipalities in the country, it faces a poorly developed civil sector. This was one of the main findings during the Mobile Resource Centre held on October 25, 2019, in cooperation with the Multicultural Integration Association “Inclusion” from Ohrid.
The main problems faced by CSOs in this municipality are the lack of spatial and technical conditions, the reduced interest in volunteering among young people and the youth brain-drain. To address youth problems, attendees highlighted initiatives that do not yet have specific endorsements such as: youth club, local youth strategy and youth council.
At the same time, another challenge of the organisations are the underused opportunities for cross-border cooperation with Albania in projects intended to support and promote tourism, cultural heritage and mutual cooperation.
One successful Ohrid initiative that was highlighted by the attendees was the educational campaign “Know the Rare Diseases” which was subsequently nationalized by the Association for People with Rare Diseases “Life without challenges”. Through video, audio and text messages, the public has become acquainted with rare diseases, the challenges that people with rare diseases face, as well as the ways of diagnosis and treatment.
On the territory of Ohrid there are a large number of registered CSOs, but many of them are insufficiently recognized and supported by the municipality, and further on there is lack of proactivity and self-initiative among them. At the meeting it was emphasized that the local self-government allocates budget funds intended to support the activities of the associations and individual activists from the municipality, but these funds are still insufficient.
As part of the event, the Civic Society Resource Center team introduced participants to key project activities and shared information relevant to the development of CSOs related to strategic planning and resource mobilization.
