On 19 March 2024, in the Municipality of Čaška, local organisations and activists were informed about the state of play in the civil society development at the local and national level, the opportunities for financing and strengthening civil society organisations, the opportunities offered by the Civic Resource Centre, the EU agenda and other topics and issues that are of interest for the functioning of organisations at the local level. The purpose of this visits of the Mobile Resource Centre is to ensure that the Civic Resource Centre is brought closer to local, grass-root organisations in the municipalities and regions and to discuss the needs and challenges that the organisations face in their operation.
The organisations shared the challenges they face in their daily work. At the national level, the challenges they highlighted mainly refers to the selection of grantees under the call published by Ministry of Political System and Inter-Community Relations, but also to the fact that the cooperation with the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations under the General Secretariat was reduced. The challenges that the local organisations face at the local level are mainly related to the fact that in this municipality there are some, as they pointed out: “pro-forma established organisations that do not have much of a desire for mutual cooperation”. Furthermore, some organisations have poor transparency and visibility, reflected in the fact that some of them do not have a website or any other social media profile, where they can find a contact person, phone number, e-mail or other contact details.
During the discussion, the representatives from the Scouts’ association “Dimitar Vlahov” from Veles pointed out their good cooperation with the municipality of Čaška, highlighting that despite the fact that this organisation is from Veles, part of their premises and many of their activities are in the municipality of Čaška, because of the better working conditions provided for them by the municipality of Čaška. The other attendees also emphasized their satisfaction with their cooperation with the municipality, especially the financial support for CSOs from Chaska and Veles for implementing activities on the territory of the municipality of Čaška.
On the same day, a meeting with representatives of the Municipality of Čaška was also held. According to them, the local organisations have good cooperation with the municipality, which is open to cooperation. The municipality informed that they publish open call for financial support to sports clubs, sports associations and associations of citizens that implement activities of public interest on the territory of the municipality of Čaška. Apart from Čaška, organisations from Veles can also apply for financial support, for implementing activities in Čaška. In the municipality, they do not have allocated contact person for CSOs, but the Unit for Local Economic Development also covers this issue. In addition, the Municipality is in the process of establishing a Local Youth Council, for which informative meetings with relevant stakeholders have already been initiated.
The visit of the Mobile Resource Centre was organised under the project “EU Support of the Civil Society Resource Centre – phase 2”, financed by the European Union, and implemented by the National Civil Society Development Foundation – Civic Resource Centre, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, Media Plus, Shtip and Association for Democratic Initiatives – ADI, Gostivar.
