On August 26, a visit to the Mobile Resource Centre was held at the premises of the Municipality of Demir Kapija. At the meeting, local organisations and activists were informed about current events related to the civil society development, opportunities for financing and strengthening organisations, as well as the services offered by the Civic Resource Centre. The visits to the Mobile Resource Centre aim to bring the Civic Resource Centre closer to local organisations in different municipalities and regions and to discuss the needs and challenges that organisations face in their work.
The attendees shared the challenges they face in the course of their activities, which, in addition to the limited funding from the municipality, mainly due to the limited financial opportunities available to the municipality, also related to administrative procedures. “In our municipality, we do not have a regional unit of the Central Registry, which makes it very difficult for us to carry out the regular administrative obligations that we have to carry out as an association, especially when we need additional consultations on how to carry out certain procedures, such as registering a new management in the event that most of the current management has moved out of the country. For each individual consultation, we need to go to the offices of the Central Registry in Gevgelija, Veles or Skopje,” said Pecko Dimitriev from the Sports Club “Klisura” from Demir Kapija and added that this visit to the Mobile Resource Centre helped him hear new ideas to support the work of his association: “As a young man and a representative of a sports club from Demir Kapija, it meant a lot to me to be part of this meeting. It is good that there are such initiatives that give us the opportunity to hear new ideas and support, especially for sports and for activities related to environmental protection that our club advocates for. I believe that through such meetings we can do more for the youth and for the development of our community,” he said.
The discussion also focused on the challenge of involving young people, as well as the need for their motivation and greater information.
Some of those present expressed their satisfaction with the support they have received from the municipality so far, noting that they expect that this cooperation will continue to expand and deepen. “The municipality has allocated resources to open a pensioner’s club and the procedure for its finalization is underway, but it needs to be renovated,” said Zoran Saklamaev, a representative of the Demir Kapija Pensioners’ Association. “For this and other activities, not only ours, but also all civil society organisations in general, we believe that the municipality should play a significant role,” he expressed.
Stefanija Sokolović, Advisor for LED and Project Development in the Municipality of Demir Kapija, emphasized that funding for civil society organisations is open to all equally and that there are special forms for organisations to submit a request for funding within the available municipal budget. “Last year, there was a special public call for funding for civil society organisations, published on the municipal website, but this year the website is being restructured and a request for funding to the municipal administration can be submitted at any time of the year,” she said. In her discussion, Stefanija Sokolović also expressed her satisfaction with the visit to the Mobile Resource Centre in this municipality: “With my many years of experience in the municipality, I believe that this meeting showed how important the cooperation between the municipality, the non-governmental sector and the Civic Resource Centrs is. Joint efforts, exchange of experiences and access to information and support are of crucial importance for creating successful projects and initiatives that will contribute to the development of our community. I believe that through such partnerships we can provide greater opportunities for young people, for organisations and for citizens in general,” she said.
The satisfaction with the support offered by the Civic Resource Centre was also shared by Menche Nikolova, Program Manager at the Women's Lobby - Demir Kapija: "The support that the Civic Resource Centre offers to civil society organisations is of exceptional importance for local organisations because it provides information, upgrading the knowledge and skills of the organisational team, and practical support for the entire administrative work, which contributes to organisational development and saving administrative time," she said and added that for their organisation, the greatest benefit at the moment would be mentoring support on topics in the field of digital transformation.The visit to the Mobile Resource Centre was organised under 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 (MCIC), Media Plus, Shtip and the Association for Democratic Initiatives - ADI, Gostivar.
