1. 1. Basic outlook and justification
CPM Programme addresses the role of the civil society sector in Macedonia in the changed and challenging context, facing serious problems like severe socio-economic situation (high poverty and unemployment rate), high level of corruption, unstable inter-ethnic relations as well as challenges of EU integration. This programme aims to promote the civil sector as equal partner in the society contributing to overcoming the problems and positive social changes, to development of democracy and to establishment of good governance practices in the society. This could be possible if CSOs create joined advocacy agenda on priority issues, enhance their internal capacities and self-regulation standards, gain public trust and improve the dialog with the other actors in the society.
MCIC on behalf of the CPM, national civil society platform established to link CSOs at a local, national and international level, with joined aim to develop civic society, together with eight partner organisations and other CPM members, with this programme will take the lead towards the main challenges for the civil society in Macedonia. Striving towards these, the Programme intends to develop mechanisms for democratic debate, formulation of proposals, exchange of ideas and experiences, networking and partnerships and increased influence of the civil society sector in Macedonia.
Programme will seek to reinforce relations and networks on different levels to generate and use human, material and financial resources to provide supportive ambient for the civil society sector, to raise awareness and promote civil society, to create public understanding, to improve the legal and fiscal framework providing domestic support for CSOs.
Programme CPM is initiative for networking and building capacities for advocacy and lobbying of local CSOs on national level on issues of common interest. CSOs may be taken more seriously as important players in the society, if they cooperate among themselves and have common approach, attitudes and agenda for certain issues, especially concerning advocacy and lobbying issues. A number of domestic initiatives for networking have been registered, but mainly on ad-hoc base or on particular sector level. This is reason why mutual communication, coordination and cooperation of CSOs are one of the priorities of the programme. Division of the society, especially on ethnic base, has been reflected in the cooperation of CSOs and this programme further addresses these divisions bringing 36 CSOs from Macedonia, from different sectors and ethnic background in a joined action for common benefit. Programme also seeks to further develop the conceptual knowledge of CSOs and to motivate policy discussions which should increase the expertise and competency of the CSOs for advocacy and lobbying.
CSOs are expected to be main promoters of social values and stakeholders which should seek responsibility from other actors in the society. They could gain credibility to do that only if they are responsible too. This would mean that they should also apply the highest standards of governance, transparency, and accountability. Although extensive training for CSOs has been provided in the last few years there is still lack of knowledge and skills in the areas like: democratic and responsible governance, financial management, quality standards, and etc. Programme will build the internal capacities of CPM members and other CSOs for good and responsible governance. It will also develop self-regulation mechanism that will be accepted by all CPM members aiming to be broadly promoted and accepted also by other CSOs.
Favourable legal and fiscal framework is precondition for the development of civil society which will be supported at home. This should lead to the sustainable development of the civil society in Macedonia; increase of the funds mobilised at home and should decrease the dependence from the foreign donors. Financial sustainability of CSOs in the future will depend on the effective fiscal framework providing tax benefits for CSOs, on the individual and corporate giving, on the voluntarism and regulation of the economic activities of the CSOs, issues that are addressed with the Programme.
CSOs may expect to improve the dialogue with the government, businesses, media and general public only if there are conditions to overcome the mistrust, suspicion and scepticism towards the role of CSOs and to increase their legitimacy and credibility. Building the social capital of the CSOs becomes essential for their sustainability. Confidence building and developing cross-sector relations are prerequisite in the process of looking for indigenous support. Provision of reliable information about CSOs, promotion of their activities, research based advocacy and lobby, improved transparency and accountability practices of CSOs which will result by the Programme including the accepted higher standards of conduct should contribute to the improved public image and identity of the CSOs.
Although going through intense development in the last few years, civil society in Macedonia still faces significant problems. It has developed itself mainly based on western models and international donor support. Now, Macedonian Civil Society is facing the challenge to find its roots at home.
CSOs have not enjoyed broad public understanding. One of the main reasons is how effective they have been in addressing the community needs and main challenges of the society. Lack of visible impact and poor presentation of the results contributed to it. Civil society has proved to be effective in certain areas with significant success/impact in the area of empowerment of women, building capacity for collective action and environmental issues. However, although active in the fields of public policy, holding the state and private corporations accountable, in these areas they have limited impact. Also, there are crucial social concerns, like unemployment, poverty, corruption, that do not find enough response from the civil society actors.
Dialog and cooperation of CSOs with the state may be considered as fragile and not institutionalized, although there are some improvements in the last few years. Cooperation of CSOs on the local level with the local-self government seems to be better.
Cooperation of the CSOs with the business sector, except of several examples, is insufficient and burdened with mistrust.
Media have been increasingly interested to inform on CSOs and their activities. Published daily newspapers, as well some of the electronic media provide more space and have more profiled journalists who cover civil society. There are also number of positive examples of joined projects of the CSOs and media. However, editorial policy within some media seems to be an important issue that requests further confidence-building.
So far, CSOs have not benefited significantly form the domestic support. Only a very limited range of CSOs receives state resources, although the actual state funds aimed for CSOs have been claimed to be much higher than what is known to the public. Only few organisations received support from the businesses, and most of the companies do not have social responsibility strategies. Corporative and individual philanthropy is not developed and not supported by favourable institutional frame. CSOs face unfavourable fiscal framework without tax deductions.
Internally Civil Society Sector faces also number of problems.
There is not balanced development of the CSOs concerning the regional distribution; most of the CSOs are mainly concentrated in the capital and other urban canters.
Most of CSOs are based on voluntary work (76.6% of the organisations do not have employees). Number of employees in the sector has been estimated on around 1000. Financial resources are mainly provided from international donors on a project base, and less from membership fees, individual and corporate donations, state budget and economic activities.
Despite of some speculations, there is no evidence of corruption within the civil society and the level of corruption in the CSOs is perceived much lower compared to the other sectors. This relates with the fact that public trust in the civil society sector and religious communities is higher compared to the other actors in the society, especially much higher compared to the public trust in the authorities and political parties. But still not enough transparent practices established within the CSOs and lack of awareness about that, which leaves room for suspicion. Accountability has been focused mainly towards the donors and less towards the members, target groups and the public. One of the reasons is low level of mobilisation of local resources. Also there is not enough knowledge and skills for financial management and reporting.
Internal (within the sector) communication, coordination and cooperation are issue/sector based. Ad hock coalitions and networks focused on urgent needs and achieving short-term goals are very characteristic. There are only few examples of networks considering broader sector issues and interests.
There were some efforts in the past to create self-regulation, but they have not resulted in accepted regulatory mechanisms and code of conduct do not exists yet.
The analysis of the needs of the civil society in Macedonia presented above is based on the findings of the Civil Society Index in Macedonia (MCIC, 2005).
Target group are the actors of the civil society in Macedonia i.e. all formal and informal citizen associations, organisations and networks that fill in the social space outside of the family, business sector, political parties and government sector, which associate to advance common goals and interests.
Direct beneficiaries are the civil society organisations (CSOs), primarily members of the CPM and other CSOs in Macedonia. 36 CSOs members of the CPM will directly benefit from the Programme activities through provision of training, exchange of information, distribution of all published materials (manuals, research studies), promotion and forum space. As CPM is open structure, also other CSOs will have access to the products and outputs of the Programme and will benefit from all activities that are aimed to develop the civil society as a whole, especially from the advocacy and lobbying activities.
Development of the civil society relies on citizen participation in organised forms that should influence the public policy, raise awareness on certain issues and deliver services to its target groups. Strengthening the internal capacities of CSOs and their interrelations will lead to effective civil society and will increase its influence. CPM as a national network consisting of leading CSOs from different sectors (democracy and rule of law, women, youth and children, cultural differences and dialog etc.) could be a leader in the development of civil society.
Selection of the activities has been done to lead to the sustainable achievement of the Programme objectives and to set mechanisms and structures that will continue their efforts in the same direction after the grant ends. Capacity building activities are proposed to strengthen the influence and role of CPM. Information, promotion and transparency activities are proposed to influence the socio-cultural norms related to the civil society concept and its role. Direct advocacy and lobbying activities are proposed to lead to the improved environment and support for the CSOs.
Although very active, CSOs have average success concerning the influence of their activities, especially in the areas of public policy, holding the state and private corporations responsible (Civil Society Index, 2005). The Programme will build CSOs capacities in networking and partnership building, advocacy and lobbying which will lead to enhanced ability of CSOs to influence public policy and deliver effective services to their target groups.
The Programme should improve the institutional frame and provide favourable environment and support for their activities.
2. FRAMEWORK OF THE AGREEMENT
2. 1. Goals and tasks
Overall objective is to strengthen the role of the civil society sector as a partner in the society contributing to positive social changes, supporting the development of democracy and establishing responsible and accountable governance by actors in the society.
The action should create open space for democratic debate, formulation of proposals, exchange of ideas and experiences, joined action of CSOs and increased influence of the civil society sector in Macedonia.
Programme purpose is to provide enabling environment and support for further development of the civil society in Macedonia.
Specifically action should contribute to:
- Improved communication, coordination and cooperation among CSOs
- Developed self-regulation capacities and mechanisms of CSOs
- Improved legal and fiscal framework for CSOs
- Increased dialogue and networking of CSOs with the government, businesses, media and general public
2. 2. Target group
Target group are the actors of the civil society in Macedonia i.e. all formal and informal citizen associations, organisations and networks that fill in the social space outside of the family, business sector, political parties and government sector, which associate to advance common goals and interests.
Direct beneficiaries are the civil society organisations (CSOs), primarily members of the CPM and other CSOs in Macedonia. 36 CSOs members of the CPM will directly benefit from the Programme activities through provision of training, exchange of information, distribution of all published materials (manuals, research studies), promotion and forum space. As CPM is open structure, also other CSOs will have access to the products and outputs of the Programme and will benefit from all activities that are aimed to develop the civil society as a whole, especially from the advocacy and lobbying activities.
2.3. Expected results
Almost all activities of the project enhance networking skills among and within partners, as well as the main target groups. For example:
- Joint development of project plans, concepts of publications, researches and especially the Codes of Conduct process will help in cooperative planning and consensus building.
- Regular meetings and training events will advance skills in working together, team building, and tolerance and strengthen interpersonal relations of the leaders in the civil society sector.
- E-mail list and Internet communication will improve skills in maintaining meaningful relationships among network members.
- Planning and evaluation meetings (Meetings of the Steering Committee and other structures) will provide an occasion to reflect on members’ motivations and expectations regarding participation in the network development process.
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