Fourth Networking Meeting of Organizations Recognizes Outstanding Achievements

“In the past two to three years, civil society initiatives have delivered tangible changes in the country, confirming their potential to increase impact. Of course, we are aware that these reforms are still far from the expectations of the citizens, but at least there is now a solid basis for dialogue and openness to cooperation.” With these words, the Ambassador of Switzerland, H.E. Sybille Suter Tejada, opened the Fourth Networking Meeting of Civica Mobilitas — the last in this phase of the program.

Yesterday (30 November 2018), 132 representatives of civil society organizations supported by the program over the past four years gathered to exchange experiences and present the changes they have achieved so far.

“This is the largest program for supporting civil society organizations, in other words, a program that has achieved the broadest outreach in history — which makes me very happy,” said Aleksandar Krzalovski, National Team Leader of Civica Mobilitas. He summarized the program’s results, which include more than 2,000 training sessions for civil society organizations, over 1,800 research studies on various topics, more than 500 debates and discussions, and over 600 investigative stories, among others.

Emina Nuredinoska, Deputy National Team Leader, presented the challenges and lessons learned from this phase of the program, both in terms of society and the program itself. Support from Civica Mobilitas enabled 34 institutional grantees to increase their budgets, in one case by as much as seven times.

Petrus Toinesse, International Team Leader of the program, spoke about the shared values within the Civica Mobilitas community and the spirit of solidarity. Remarkably, 90% of participants stated that they wished to remain part of the community, even if they did not receive a grant.

Simon Forrester, International Expert for the program, introduced participants to the concept of Beneficiary Assessment — measuring achievements by gathering feedback from beneficiaries.

The day concluded with ten presentations in which organizations showcased their achievements before the audience, who evaluated them on the spot. These organizations were awarded between 3,000 and 5,000 Swiss francs by Civica Mobilitas as recognition for their outstanding achievements.

The awarded organizations are: Center for Civil Communications, Geosfera, Polio Plus, Red Cross of the City of Skopje, Association of Journalists of Macedonia, Blue Bird, Coalition Margins, Rural Coalition, Center for Climate Change, Forum – Center for Strategic Research and Documentation, and the Center for Education and Development.