The Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations at the General Secretariat of the Government, in partnership with the EU-funded projects: “EU Support for the Civic Resource Center – Phase 2” and “Technical Assistance for Improving the Enabling Environment for Civic Society Organisations in the Republic of North Macedonia”, conducted a cycle of consultations with civic society organisations (CSOs) during October 2024 for changes to the Decision on Establishing the Council for Cooperation between the Government and Civil Society.
The consultations served to present and discuss the draft amendments to the Decision, prepared on the basis of proposals received from CSOs at the open call published by the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations at the General Secretariat. The aim of the consultations was to enable a transparent and inclusive process of changing the Decision on establishing the Council, with the aim of promoting the structured dialogue between the civil society and the Government.
Over 90 representatives of civil society organisations and state institutions provided their comments and recommendations at the three consultative meetings held in Gostivar (24.10.2024), Bitola (25.10.2024) and online (15.10.2024), as well as at the workshop on finalising the changes to the Decision on Establishing a Council for Cooperation between the Government and Civil Society, held on 01.11.2024 at the Civic Resource Centre, Skopje.
At each of these four consultative events, the process was presented, the reasons for launching this consultative process and the importance of an efficient Council, followed by a detailed presentation of the prepared draft Decision. All participants had opportunity to directly express their views and comments regarding the proposed changes, which mainly consisted of proposals for overcoming the challenges that the Council has faced during its operation so far, related to the method of securing members and ensuring a quorum for work, proposals on how to contribute to more efficient and effective Council operation, how to strengthen the legitimacy of the Council members and to ensure adequate CSOs’ representation in the Council.
The proposed amendments to the Decision regulate the obligation of the Council members from CSOs to inform, consult and involve the stakeholders in the area they represent about the work and conclusions of the Council and to prepare annual reports on the implementation of the plan for coordination and communication with the organisations in the area they represent. The work of the Council so far, as well as the consultations themselves, have shown that there is a need to reduce the number of Council members, thus, the proposed amendments to the Decision state that the number of members should be reduced from 31 to 27 members, i.e. 13 members from the state administration bodies and 14 members from CSOs. A novelty with these amendments to the Decision is the introduction of deputies to the Council members. In addition, the proposed amendments give CSOs the opportunity to vote for multiple candidates from different areas of operation, as long as the CSOs can demonstrate that their organisation operates in those areas. The consultations also discussed modalities for ensuring continuity in the Council work, as well as strengthening the Council’s influence in decision-making and policymaking related to CSOs.
Based on the proposals received from civil society organizations following the public call for proposals, as well as the discussions, comments and recommendations given at these four consultative meetings, a draft text of the amendments to the Decision is prepared, which will then be submitted by the Unit for Cooperation with NGOs at the General Secretariat to the Government for its adoption.
