Citizens for Change #10
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2021
The African proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” for me is a real illustration of “cooperation”. This is probably because I prefer the second part of the proverb, “go together”. The basis of our work, of what the CSOs do, is cooperation. The logic is that the people decide to join because they believe that together they can do more, or, as the prover says, go further.
Somebody would say, “everything is based on benefit nowadays”! The word “benefit” is here generally given a pejorative meaning. I don’t know why, as if it is a sin to have a benefit. Even the citizens join to fulfil some benefit: to have a street fixed, protect the forest, protect the park, have cleaner air, have their rights protected, have an improved access to services…
Recently I was reminded about this proverb by Zvonko Shavreski, the President of Polio Plus, when he signed the Memorandum of Cooperation with the Commission for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination during Civica Mobilitas Festival. The colleagues from Polio Plus also prefer the second part of the proverb. In their 20-year long work, they were the first ones that have established the links between those because of whom they joined, the people with special needs, then with the organizations with which they recognized that they could cooperate and then with the institutions. When it comes to the latter, although the cooperation looked more like arm wrestling, there were still significant steps forward made, such as the Interparty Parliamentary Lobby Group for the Rights of the People with Disabilities whose seventh composition has a record number of MPs (50) from all political parties. “Since the very beginning we realized that the sea of problems was too big to swim to the other shore. And that we are two few if we want to do something”, says Shavreski.
The main topic of this issues of Citizens for Change is cooperation. Through the texts, we present you examples of cooperation of the Macedonian Institute for Media (MIM) and the National Council of Disability Organizations (NSIOM), Legis and the Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers to develop a mentorship programme to improve the possibilities for employment of asylum seeker, Metamorphosis Foundation and eight organizations with which the prepared the openness index. Apart from this, we speak about the main contributions of the civic society in the previous 30 years of independence of the country, and in this spirit is also the analysis of Finance Think when it comes to unemployment, salaries and gross domestic product. “Megjashi” presented the results of the new report of the SOS telephone for children and youth, and “Borka – for Each New Day” organized the traditional pink walk whose main message was “Cancer patients must not be forgotten because of the pandemic”. The activists of the Regional Green Centre from Ohrid mobilized 170 young people in actions to protect the environment, and the Organization of Women from Lozovo trained the textile workers. This is only part of what you can find on the pages after this one. I hope that what we have prepared will inspire you to future cooperation, so that we can resolve the sea of problems together and successfully reach to the other side.
Have a pleasant reading!
