There is a need for a strategic instead of an ad hoc approach

“In Macedonia, same as in other countries, the space for the civil society is shrinking, that is why, in Civica Mobilitas, besides the financial support, we want to provide a space for discussions”, Simon Forester, an international expert of the program, said in his address to the participants of the forum in the Skopje region, held on 23 June 2015 in the premises of the primary school “Braka Ramis and Hamid” in Suto Orizari.

The social changes and cooperation were the two issues of focus at the forum. Forester also talked about the most frequent mistakes made by the organizations in their work. “They start the activities without previous thinking. They offer a solution immediately, without elaboration of the problem or they treat the problem, and not its causes”, he said.

One of the topics discussed by the participants was the need for depolitization of the society. “The weak civil sector in Macedonia has allowed the politics to penetrate all pores of society. The work of the civil sector does not reach the target group. There is a need for cooperation, association, and coordination among the organizations”, Vane Cvetanov from Green Magnifying Glass, said.

According to Goko Hadzivaskov, from “Survival”, the idea that the citizens make changes is ideal, “but”, he said, “I doubt that such ideal exits anywhere. The Constitution has a technical error, it does not talk about the citizens, but the political parties, and when that error is corrected, we can talk about civil society”, he added. According to Guner Nebiu from the Women’s Civic Initiative Antico, the association is very important. “We should associate in relation to the topics we work on, we have expertise there, and, act locally, thus we will be more powerful”, she said.

The participants talked about their experiences of cooperation with other organizations or institutions. “As civil society organizations, it is necessary to look at the whole picture, and to adjust our steps toward achievement of that picture”, Forester said. He thinks that the people from the civil sector want the changes to happen immediately, thus it is difficult for them to think strategically. He shared several good practices of cooperation and its effects. The participants then worked in working groups and developed some of their ideas about future cooperation and activities.

Civica Mobilitas is a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which is implemented by NIRAS from Denmark, Мacedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) and the Swedish Institute for Public Administration (SIPU). Civica Mobilitas provides support to civil society organizations and other civil society actors. The implementation started in October last year and it will last for four years.