Civic Impulse #9: Monthly Review of Grantee Activities
September 2025
If we are to describe the month in one word, then September was definitely green. Most present and most visible were the projects working in the area of environment, followed by those that deal with fight against corruption, gender equality and education reforms.
In Europe, there were 225 million tons of solid communal waste collected in 2020, and almost half of it can be recycled or reused. The Association Center for Environmental Resources (REC) in their new article presents the problems and possible solutions for biowaste in our cities, focusing on sustainable practices and better future for the environment. REC and their partner organizations shared their messaged on how we can improve the biowaste management in order to contribute to circular economy at TV Alfa morning programme and in this way brought this possibility closer to more households.
“Krik” analysis reveals that many young people are rarely informed about the state of affairs of the environment, and very few know how and where to report pollution.
The environmental awareness with the young people in the Republic of North Macedonia is at low level, and the sources of information are often limited or unreliable. “Krik”’s infograph provides a clear picture of where the young people most often obtain their information from, what the main obstacles for their active involvement are and how the educational system influences their environmental awareness. These data stress the need to create mechanisms via which every young person would know where to report a problem and how to get involved in nature protection.
On 25th September, at “Youth Hub” venue in Skopje, there was a networking meeting of mentors and implementors of green initiatives and for green social activities. These participants had previously completed the training “Green Advocacy via Green Social Work and Green Youth Work” in Strumica and Skopje and now, with the next tasks they would contribute to sustainable development and joint care for the nature.
The circular economy is one of the pillars of the Green Agenda, and in the same line the Center for Climate Changes and the Youth Organization Kreaktiv organized a workshop for 300 primary school children in Kavadarci, where there were discussions on textile waste as one of the fastest growing types of waste. Apart from the workshop, the next step was a big collection action for waste textile at Kavadarci city square where there was a container for textile donations of the citizens placed.
The association “Ecotourism 2016” Ohrid, with the support of the Municipality Debrca organized an educational event on getting acquainted with the biological diversity of Belchishta Marshes for the first to ninth grade students of “Debrca” primary school.
Within the same project, CKP and its partners held the thematic forum “Sustainable and Functional Skopje – Perspectives and Possibilities“ in Skopje, where the citizens, experts, institutions and CSOs agreed on two of the biggest challenges that the city faces – waste management and increased urbanization. At the Forum, there was a debate on the future of Skopje in the context of the Western Balkans Green Agenda (WBGA), whose goal is climate neutrality by 2050. Part of conclusions that the Center for Climate Changes could draw from the forum were that Skopje should be a city for the people, and for cars and concrete; Green areas and parks are a public resource that has to be protected; Urban planning has to be transparent and directed to pedestrian and biking trails and public transport.
The role of the young people in the European integration process, the challenges that they face and the ways in which regional cooperation can be strengthened were the topics that Vladimir Gjorgjevski, Director of the local branch of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) in Skopje raised in an interview for the Balkan Institute for Reginal Cooperation (BIRC).
CSOs and “Pela Link” public enterprise have adopted two specific measures for better public transport of the young people from Pelagonija: Pilot Weekend for the Young (Novaci – Mogila – Bitola) and Campaign on Good Behavior in the Public Transport. The measures will be reviewed at a session of the Plenary Platform for Young. Via this project, Pro Local and their partners give a chance to the young people not only to speak about their needs, but also to actively create solutuons.
Have you ever wondered if and to what extent the municipality in which you live is open towards you? The answer can be found in the finds of the 2025 Openness Index, which was presented at the thematic forum “Open Municipality – Active Community”, by “Metamorphosis” Foundation, Rural Coalition and the Centre for Social Innovations “Blink 42-21”. The Index reveals which municipalities are on the top of the list, and which are most closed, and you might be surprised, but the size of the municipality does not matter when it comes to openness and transparency to its citizens.
September was rounded by marking the 13th edition of the “Beans Day” in Tearce, an even that promotes agricultural culture, economic growth and the development of cultural life in rural areas.
All of these activities, events, initiatives that are implemented by the organizations, which are part of the projects supported by the Swiss Government via Civica Mobilitas, contribute to changing the current situation, which, according to “Krik” analysis indicated that deeper and more practical environmental education is needed. On the other hand, part of them are dedicated to transparency that should be improved in order to prevent corruption in every area of the society.
