civic engagement long road to go policy action brief 2011

8/3/2019 Civic Engagement Long Road to Go POLICY ACTION BRIEF 2011

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CIVICUS Civil Society Index for Macedonia

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT – LONG ROAD TO GO

POLICY ACTION BRIEF

Civicengagement

Perception ofimpact

Practice ofvalues

Level oforganisation



CIVICUS: CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX- POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA2



CIVICUS: CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX- POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA

This Policy Action Brie serves as aguiding document to government, key

constituencies and civil society to take the actionsnecessary to strengthen civil society and addressweaknesses identied in the 2008-2011 CIVICUSCivil Society Index (CSI) project.

The CSI ndings dene civil society in Macedoniaas moderately well-developed. The strongestaspects o civil society are its level o organisationand practice o values. Still, civil society does not

use eectively its internal strength to infuencesociety or to motivate citizens to take part in itsactivities. Impact o civil society on social concernsand policies is moderate or average, and civicparticipation is low. The external environment inwhich Macedonian civil society operates is onlypartly enabling.

CSI participants identied recommendations orimproving the state and impact o civil society,

especially in the areas where it is weakest. Thereare recommendations or civil society actorsas well as actors in other sectors or improvingcitizens’ participation, impact on social concernsand policies, and using the opportunities that theenvironment provides.

The key policy recommendations presented in thisPolicy Action Brie address the sustainability o civilsociety. There is a need to improve civic and socialdialogue between civil society organisations (CSOs)

and decision-makers. It is necessary or CSOsto be involved in parliamentary work, in workinggroups o the government, and in the processeso European integration. In order to ensure itsnancial sustainability civil society needs improvedand strengthened direct government support, romthe budget and lotteries, as well as indirect statesupport through tax incentives and the development

o the status o public benet organisations.

EXECUTIVE Summary




INTRODUCTION TO ThE

CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX

The CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) is an action research projectthat comprehensively assesses the state o civil society in a range ocountries around the world. The 2008-2011 project was simultaneouslyimplemented in around 40 countries and was coordinated by theinternational civil society network CIVICUS: World Alliance or CitizenParticipation. The goals o the project are to enhance the sustainabilityo civil society and to promote and strengthen its contribution topositive social change. Through a variety o methods and activities CSIalso aims at providing space or civil society to refect on its strengths

and weaknesses and make recommendations or action to strengthenthe sector. The CSI is useul both as a sel-assessment and evidence-based advocacy tool or CSOs and as a repository o knowledge aboutcivil society or other stakeholders.

Civil society in Macedonia was part o CSI or a second time. The rstCSI was conducted in the period 2004-2006, and the second between2009 and 2011. The Macedonian Center or International Cooperation(MCIC) coordinated and conducted CSI in both phases.

CSI assesses state o civil society by examining ve core dimensions:Civic Engagement, Level o Organisation, Practice o Values, Perceptiono Impact and External Environment. In Macedonia, these civil society

dimensions were studied using in-depth primary and secondaryresearch, including: representative population surveys, a survey oCSOs, in-depth interviews with stakeholders rom other sectors,regional ocus groups, a literature review and case studies.

hISTORY OF MACEDONIAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society in Macedonia has played a signicant role in the history o tcountry, particularly in the period o national renaissance at the end o Century. A number o charity associations were unctioning prior to theSecond World War, while the socialist modernisation o Macedonia as po Yugoslavia (1945-1990) provided the basis or the emergence o manycultural, sport, welare and proessional organisations, though they werkept under the control o the Communist Party during the socialist periIndependence, which took place in 1990, and the ensuing transition,were important triggers or civil society’s rebirth. The number o civicorganisations has signicantly increased rom 4,203 in 1990 to 11,326 in

2010 (5.5 per 1,000 inhabitants).




CONCEPT OF MACEDONIAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

There is no common understanding o the concept or denitiono civil society in Macedonia. In the early 1990s the term ‘non-governmental organisation’ was introduced in Macedonia, whichthe public recognised as organisations related with oreign donors.The rst criticism o this concept come in 1999 when the term ’civilsociety organisation (CSO)’ and ‘civil association and organisation’were introduced as broader and more comprehensive denitionsor civil society. The Law on Associations and Foundations denescivic organisations as associations, based on values and interests,

which are positive, non-partisan and not-or-prot. The non-partisan character distinguishes civic organisations rom politicalparties, but the Law does not include trade unions, chambers ocommerce, churches and religious communities, organisationslike the Red Cross and, o course, political parties, which are allregulated by separate laws. Some organisations, including MCIC,use and apply a broader understanding o civil society. However,this wider concept still does not include all existing actors in civilsociety. The agreed denition o civil society used in this reportis: “the part o the social space outside amily, state and market,which is created by individual and collective actions, organisations

and institutions in order to advance common interests.” Theconcept as dened in this way is broader than the traditionalconcept o Macedonian civil society. It includes ve main domesticcategories o civil society: associations and oundations; churchesand religious communities; trade unions; organisations oemployers and chambers o commerce; and political parties.

FIgURE 1:

Map of civil societybased on nuMber of registered organisations,

ANNUAL INCOMES AND NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN 2009




The largest category according to the numbero organisations, total income and numbero employees in 2009 is civil associationsand oundations, including organisations or

social and political activities. Next are tradeunions and chambers o commerce, as wellas business associations. These are thenollowed by political parties and religiouscommunities. Due to separation betweenthe state and church, data on religiouscommunities are not realistic, as churches donot submit reports. However, according to theperception o the CSI National Index Team,infuence o these orces ollows a dierentorder to size – rst political parties, then

business associations, religious communities,associations and oundations and nally tradeunions. The reverse proportional relationsbetween the infuence and resources othe organisations may be due to the close

relationship they have with the government.

MOST SUCCESSFUL CSOs IN 2010

cz m ,

it more oranisations active in democracy and uman rits:

r c, Mjh, f o s i M

(fosiM), M c i c (Mcic),

e H, rz , M, p p, u a

p M (sZpM), Hk cmm Hm

rh (HcHr), M e dm f

(Medf), a u l s-gm (Zels),

a J M (ZnM), yh im fm,

t M, f r. (Kkk s.,

nk e., sj d., 2010).




Key FeatureS OF MACEDONIAN CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society in Macedonia is moderately well-developed. Thelevel o organisation and practice o values dimensions

constitute the stronger side o civil society. Impact o civil society on social concerns and policies is moderate or average and civicengagement is low. The external environment in which Macedoniancivil society operates is partly enabling.

Civic Engagement measures the extent to which individuals engage insocial and policy-related initiatives. Only a small minority o citizensis engaged in CSOs as members or volunteers, and no signicantchanges have been seen here in the last ve years. Participation ocitizens in inormal activities to advance common interests is higherthan in organised civil society. Citizens also are not consistent involunteering; they volunteer up to 10 hours per year. Moreover, theirinvolvement in one-o activities is higher than in organisationally-ledand presumably more systematic ones. As most groups o citizens(e.g. rom rural/urban areas, women and men) are present in civilsociety, its diversity is highly rated.

FIgURE 2:CIVIL SOCIETY DIAMOND FOR MACEDONIA

100

100 80 60 40 20 20 40 60 80 100

80

60

40

20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Civic nggn

Pcpion of ipc

Pcic of

vls

Lvl of

ognision

45,0

59,857,7

45.7

Environment (56,5)




Practice o Values presents the extent to which civil society practices some corevalues. CSO tend to promote non-violence and tolerance, with isolated violent orracist groups or incidents. Non-violence and tolerance are also values on which civilsociety in Macedonia is based. Transparency and internal democracy are also highlyrated by CSOs. Corrupt practices are rare.

FIgURE 2:

SOURCES OF FINANCINg OF CSOs IN 2009

Perceived Impact describes the extent to which civil societyis able to infuence the social and policy arena, according tointernal and external perceptions. The overall infuence ocivil society is ound to be moderate or average. According to

respondents, the impact on social concerns and policies isaverage, whereas civil society’s infuence on policy positions ihighly limited. Infuence on key priority issues reerenced in thresearch is also regarded as being at a moderate level, whilstCSOs themselves have average success in infuencing societyThe highest impacts o civil society are seen to be empowerincitizens and promoting policies or human rights and equalitywith external stakeholders rating civil society’s impact as slighigher than the internal sel-assessment. Members o civilsociety are, however, not setting a strong example or promottolerance, trust and public spiritedness.

LAw FOR PREVENTION AND PROTECTION

FROM DISCRIMINATION

In the last ve years, civil society has been most active inthe area o human rights and equality, with a central role in

the adoption o the Law or Prevention and Protection rom

Discrimination. Ater the unsuccessul individual attempts o

Macedonian Center or International Cooperation (MCIC) and

Helsinki Committee or Human Rights (HCHR) in 2005, the La

Level o Organisation assesses the degree o institutionalisation thatcharacterises civil society. Sectoral communication and cooperation arehighly rated as well as networking. Here the weakest point is unsustainablehuman resources. A large majority o organisations either have no paid

personnel, or a small number. Only around one in ve CSOs can be deemedto have a sustainable resource base. Finances are stable, but will be the mainchallenge ahead as major traditional donors withdraw rom Macedonia andpublic unding, individual and corporate donations are on a lоw level.




was adopted in April 2010, as a result o its prioritisation in the moves towards

EU integration, and ollowing the campaigns o civil society. Civil society used

a successul model rom the Inter-party Parliamentary Lobby Group (IPPLG):

there was a joint approach by 11 organisations in an alliance, Macedonia

without Discrimination (MWD), and there was a national coordination body

established which included politicians (MPs), civil servants, experts, interested

CSOs and international organisations. A representative o MWD participated in

the working group on the law at MLSP which resulted in a drat law supported

by civil society. The government then decided to introduce signicant changes

to the drat law and cut out about one third o the articles, submitting the

reduced law to parliament. One part o civil society asked or the drat law

to be withdrawn and submitted the initial version to the procedure instead,

with the support o the let opposition (SDSM); however, Parliament did notaccept it. Another part o civil society continued to work with the conservative

parliamentary majority (VMRO-DPMNE, DUI) which resulted in 11 adopted

amendments in Parliament. The result was an example o a procedural and

sensitising infuence and a partial substantive infuence. The partial substantive

infuence is due to the big ideological dierence between the interests o (part

o) civil society and (part o) the conservative ruling party. Civil society entered

into a late interaction with the key opponents o the law (Mangova, I., 2011),

and the exercise was also one o dening expectations, and addressing the

question o whether it is realistic or civil society to hope to achieve a victoryin an ideological battle, or to strive or an optimal consensus position. The

lesson here is that dening expectations infuences the assessment o success;

the ormulation o unreachably high expectations can strengthen the ensuing

perception o ailure.




External environment includes the conditions (socio-economic, political,legal and socio-cultural context) within which civil society operates. Mostorganizations perceived the legal regulations or CSOs to be enabling andhave not had experience o unlawul limitations or restrictions orced on

them by the various levels o government. The environment is, however,hindered by an only partially eective state, corruption in the public sectorand a deep lack o public trust. As part o this, trust in civil society is low.More encouraging is that CSOs eel the legal environment has improvedin the last ve years: a Strategy or Cooperation o the Government withthe Civil Sector; a new Law on Associations and Foundations; Law andStrategy on Volunteerism; and Law on Donations and Sponsorships o PublicActivities have been adopted since 2006, when parts o these policies wererecommended by CSI. Representatives o CSOs participate in working groupsor drating laws and strategies, but there is no centrally established systemor participation in policy-making. Also, there is no established, transparent

system or provision o state unds to CSOs.

Key cHanges in tHe new law on

ASSOCIATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS

The new Law makes it possible or associations to be established by

numerous dierent groups including individuals, oreign persons, and

minors under certain conditions, compared to previous regulations which

limited these to adult citizens o Macedonia. This can be seen as a direct

contribution towards the overall ullment o the right to ree association, in

accordance with the European Convention or Protection o Human Rights

and Basic Liberties, practices o the European Court or Human Rights

and recommendations o the NGOs o the Council o Europe. The new Law

gives equal rights to local and oreign persons, allowing greater reedom

to establish oreign organisations. Also, the new Law does not specically

mention inormal associations, and thereore does not put any restriction

them.

The new Law conorms with practice in most European countries, and

importantly allows organisations to generate income, which will contribut

the nancial sustainability o the civil sector.

The biggest change is the introduction o a public benet organisation (PB

status, which encourages organisations to work in areas o public interes

by providing conditions that will enable these organisations to improve the

sustainability, which looking orward, could include greater tax incentivesas the law works through. The introduction o this status was the result o

a demand put orward by CSOs in the previous ten years. The usage o the

concept, and the implementation o the regulations or it will be one o the

biggest challenges or the uture, both or government and CSOs.

The Law also intends to contribute to the good governance o organisation

determining the basic bodies that associations and oundations should

have. The Law calls or a division o unctions in organisations between

management and executive unctions, especially with organisations with a

public interest status.

A number o regulations are intended to contribute to increased transpare

o both organisations and government administration. In this regard, ther

a request or transparency and openness o the work o organisations (Ar

11), as well as a stipulation or work to be non-partisan.




Main strengtHs and weaKnesses

To encourage the urther development o CSOs and civil society

in general, Macedonia should build on existing strengths andopportunities or civil society:

� Civil society is most active in the feld o human rights. With itshigh level o commitment and diverse activities, civil society exertssignicant infuence over policies related to the protection ohuman rights and equality. Civil society has initiated the adoptiono numerous laws in the eld o human rights and equality, e.g.the Law on Equal Opportunities o Women and Men and the Lawon Prevention and Protection against Discrimination as leadingexamples.

� Civil society empowers citizens. Civil society successullyinorms and educates citizens, predominantly by ocusing on themarginalized and poor.

� A strong degree o networking, communication and cooperation isevident among CSOs. CSOs have relatively well developed mutualrelations and there is a signicant level o connectivity in the ormo networks, alliances and groupings o similar organisations.Participation in networks and coalitions contributes to greaterinclusion in the policy creation processes.

� Corruption in civil society is a rare event. This act is conrmed byother international surveys relevant to the CSI, such as the GlobalCorruption Barometer, which ranks civil society as the least corruptsector in society (Transparency International, 2009).

� Civil society has capacity to raise unds rom diverse sources. This

includes nancing rom oreign and international sources, includingrom the European Union; rom membership ees; and romgovernment at both local and national levels.

� Further liberalisation o reedom o association is possible. Inthe Law on Associations and Foundations adopted in April 2010,expansion o the reedom o association was one o the most crucialchanges or civil society. The possibility given to legal entities,oreign persons and minors to establish associations, as well asthe opportunity or inormal association, is a direct contribution toenable citizens to ully exercise their right to ree association.

� New legal measures or fnancial sustainability are in place. Otherbenets rom the new Law on Associations and Foundations includeopportunities related to perorming economic activities and thestatus o organisations o public benet.

� European Union (EU) integration processes oer a positivepotential or change. In the past, the EU has demonstratedsignicant support to civil society by giving it a special signicanceand place in the regular reports on the EU accession progress. Theabilities, know-how and skills o CSOs can certainly contribute toMacedonia’s negotiations or membership o the EU.




Through these strengths above Macedonian civil society could deal with themain weaknesses and threats which are:

� Poverty eradication has low priority, and actions are only ad-hoc.Although poverty is regarded as the main social problem in Macedonia,with CSOs considering it as a priority, actions undertaken and the degreeo infuence o organisations in this eld are insucient in light o themagnitude o the problem.

� Insufcient activities are targeting the national budget. Inclusion in,monitoring o, and infuence over the drating o the national budget is thearea where civil society is practically absent.

� Civil society is not a role model. Members o civil society are not any moretolerant or have higher public spirit than other citizens in Macedonia. Theyhave only insignicantly higher general public trust as opposed to other

groups.

� Insufcient involvement o citizens in civil society is evident. Activitieso civil society are not “attractive” enough to provoke the attention andinterests o citizens to become part o them, or even to a greater extent, tovolunteer in them.

� A minority o organisations have paid sta. The small number o“proessionally engaged” sta may lead to long-term decline in thequality o work perormed. Further, volunteering cannot be taken intoconsideration as a serious alternative as it is on low level.

� Organisations are insufciently committed to their relations withmembers, citizens and other actors. Foreign donors remain the majosource o unding o civic organisations in Macedonia. This leads tothe establishment o upward accountability relations primarily withoreign donors, rather than internal relations with members, downwaconnections to citizens, or even horizontal linkages with other actors.

� Corruption and “captured civil society” is a ear. Financing andunding rom the EU are a source o concern. There is ear o abuseo the incoming larger sources that will be distributed through stateadministration bodies. This ear is well ounded i one remembersexperiences rom new member countries o the EU, such as Bulgaria

� Public trust is low. General trust, including trust in civil society, islow in Macedonia. This is most probably one o the causes o lowcivic engagement, both o its extent and depth. This low level o civicengagement can hamper the uture development o civil society.




RECOMMENDATIONS

� Civil society needs to become a leading orce or poverty eradicationand the fght against corruption: Poverty eradication has long been achallenge or civil society, and will remain a huge issue or years to come.Shiting poverty rom a marginal topic to a primary ocus o civil societywill signicantly change the problem. This needs to include revealingthe cause-and-eect relations o poverty, as well as undamental social-economic injustices, as these are challenges that will have to be tackledby civil society in the uture.

� Civil society needs to move beyond advocacy or policies to monitoringo implementation and budgets: Moderate success has been registered

in infuencing public policies in the past. For a better assessment othe impact civil society is having on public policies, there is a need or acommon understanding o priorities, expectations and indicators to beestablished. Following this, what is required is to pay more attention tothe implementation o laws, including infuencing the national budget, aswell as monitoring the implementation o policies and the utilisation obudget unds. In order to achieve this, CSOs need to strengthen their owncapacity.

� Civil society should ocus on intensiying public relations: The long-termemphasis on donor relations by CSOs contributed to less attention beingpaid to public relations needs; this involves relations with citizens andthe organisational membership base. What is required in the uture isthat CSOs ocus their eorts more intensively on their own constituenciesand the general public. Building such relations will enable the proactivepresentation o results rom activities, which in turn will secure greatervisibility o the organisations themselves. In the long run, such bonds willimprove and enorce the trust and support received or CSOs.

�Strong partnerships are needed or a sustainable civil society – romlegal ramework structures to mutual acquaintance and recognition:Partnerships and permanent networks among CSOs, but also with othbodies, including the state and business sectors, are essential elemenin order to ensure an eective and sustainable civil society. Previouslydevelopment and organisational growth ocused more attention onbuilding social capital with oreign donors than with other actors. CSOsin relationships with the state have ocused on legal rameworks thatenable cooperation, something already partly achieved. Socio-culturallimitations, such as low trust and tolerance, and national history, havemade the problematic situation o mutual acquaintance and recognitio

evident. It is clear that the ocus needs to move rom the legal ramewtowards mutual respect. One o the rst steps involved in this is toovercome the historical gap between political parties and CSOs. Next,urther strengthening o cooperation with business associations, tradeunions and civic organisations will be necessary.

CIVICUS CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA12




� Substantial civil and social dialogue is essential:There is a need to urther build substantialcivil and social dialogues, using the existingmechanisms and encouraging their urther

development. It is necessary or CSOs to beinvolved in parliamentary work, in working groupso the government, as well as in the processes oEuropean integration. Good relations at a locallevel between municipalities and civil societyshould be urther developed, as well as relationswith the business sector. Further strengthening onational and sectoral platorms and alliances isnecessary in order to strengthen the credibility ocivil society.

CSOs asK for increased participation in policy

MaKing and for transparent civic dialogue

The basic ramework or participation o CSOs in policy-making is set out

in the Constitution, the Law on Government and the Law on Local-Sel

Government., as well as in the Strategy or Cooperation o the Governmen

with Civil Society. The main provisions o these acts are specied in two

relevant documents: methodology or policy analysis and coordination, an

methodology o regulatory impact assessment. Still, the willingness and

capacities o ministries and other Government institutions or engaging w

civil society is uneven. There is no system or ensuring participation o CSin the policy-making process. This includes the absence o a mechanism

to acilitate the regular, timely and meaningul involvement o civil society

in the process o European integration, as prescribed by the EC, including

participation in the drating o national development plans, operational

programmes and the accompanying strategic documents. Although syste

are not in place to enlist civil society in dialogue, there are positive examp

where CSO representatives have participated in working groups tasked w

drating laws, such as: Working Group or the Law on Citizens’ Association

and Foundations, Working Group or Law on Volunteering and Working Gror the Law on Protection rom Discrimination. In addition, a ew ministrie

have made real steps to include civil society in policy dialogue and are bet

prepared, in terms o capacity, or this task, including Ministry o Labour a

CIVICUS CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA




Social Policy, the Agency o Youth and Sport and the Ministry o Environment

and Physical Planning.

Recommendations:

- Systematic solution on involvement o citizens in policy-making: There

is a need or adoption o one, legally binding document, e.g., a rulebook or

inclusion o the public in the law adoption process, or alternatively a code

o good practices or inclusion o the public in law adoption process. The

same rules concerning participation in law-making should be applied in the

preparation o by-laws or other implementing documents.

- Defned clear and transparent mechanism or the selection o CSO

representatives in the bodies that will drat policies and laws: Thereis a need or a standard mechanism or the manner o selection o CSO

representatives in the bodies that drat laws. Some examples o mechanisms

are public competition or selection; clear criteria based on experience and

expertise; selection made with voting by the interested organisations; and

open registry o concerned parties, maintained by the ministries.

- Capacities o state institutions and CSOs or substantial civic dialogue

should be strengthened:

There is a need to strengthen CSO capacities or inclusion in creating

policies, especially in the processes o law adoption, through trainings and

direct consultations with the interested organisations. This includes capacity

building o national CSO networks or organised contribution during the

course o law preparation/implementation. There is a corresponding need

raise the awareness o public ocials about the benets o consultation a

participation and the contribution that CSOs and other interested parties c

make to the process.

- Timely and organised participation o civil society in policy making: Th

timerame or solicited public comments and opinions in a consultation

process should be made longer. Also, every ministry, as part o its annual

plan or the preparation and amendment o laws should oresee minimal

nancial means necessary to conduct a solid and more wide-ranging

consultative process.

CIVICUS: CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA14




� Eorts should be made to ensure the fnancial sustainability o civilsociety: The sustainability o civil society is very worrying given thepossible scenario o withdrawal o oreign resources. This would lead toa remodelling o civil society, on the basis o its ability to mobilise new

resources. The various sub-sectors will need to develop dierent modelso unding. These could include ees or mass organisations, such astrade unions or pensioners’ movements, or voluntary contributions wherecitizens recognise certain needs, such as or children and people withspecial needs. There is a need or the improvement and strengthening odirect government support (including incomes rom games o chance).Indirect state support also needs to be improved through tax incentivesand the development o the status o public benet organisations, aswell as through the development o volunteerism and increased servicecapacity o the civil society sector. In the mid-term period, civil society willrequire continued oreign support or projects on democracy and human

rights, especially where civic organisations won’t be able to quicklymobilise new sources o resources.

CSOs asK for transparent and increased

FINANCIAL SUPPORT BY ThE STATE TO A LARgER

NUMBER OF ORgANISATIONS

The general understanding in the Republic o Macedonia is that there is not

sucient direct state support to CSOs. However, a more detailed analysis

o the national budget shows that in the last six years the amount o

apportioned unds or “non-governmental organisations” is approximately

4,000,000 EUR. It seems that this amount is not so small, and the problem

the way in which unds are allocated, and the act that part o the unds is

allocated to CSOs at all. Only a ew state institutions distribute these undthorough open call. Others most oten distribute unds by decisions where

beneciary organisations are predetermined. More transparent procedur

are applied only or one small portion o these unds (app. 245,000 EUR or

12% o the budget line or nongovernmental organisations� in 2007). In the

last two years there were eorts made to improve the transparency o the

procedure or state unds distribution with approval o the Code o Good

Practices or Financial Support o the Citizen Associations and Foundation

rom the Budget o the Republic o Macedonia. But the practice shows tha

the Code is not consistently applied. Additional improvement came in 200when the Government adopted the Decision or Criteria and Procedure o

Distribution o the Funds or Programme Activities o the Citizen Associat

and Foundations rom the Budget o the Republic o Macedonia. The Decis

also introduces programme criteria and scoring o applications against th

criteria.

Recommendations:

- A law should determine the size o the amount (special percentage) ounds which will be regularly apportioned rom the budget and distribut

to associations and oundations: This step will make known the size o th

unds that the state allocates or support to the civil society sector and at

same time it will represent a long-term and clear strategy or support to t




CIVICUS: CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA

civil society sector, which has been the case in the majority o countries in

Europe.

- Amendments to the binding powers o the Code or Best Practices or

Financial Support to the Associations and Foundations rom the Budget o

Republic o Macedonia: The proposed measures in the Code are in line with

all European standards or a transparent procedure or distribution o unds

rom the budget, intended or CSOs. Should these become obligatory and

consistently applied by the state administration bodies, the deciencies listed

above related to procedure will be overcome.

- Amendments to the Law on Games o Chance and Amusement Games

which will result in increased fnancial support to larger number o

organisations: It is required to amend the Law, with reerence to provisions

in Art. 4 which determines the distribution o income rom games o chanceand amusement games to certain annual programmes and activities o

associations o citizens. Change, also is required in the amount o unds

which are apportioned and in the scope o activities which are supported. The

recommendation is to remove the limitation o the amount o unds and to

expand the currently narrow scope o activities.

- Amendment o the criteria and procedure or distribution o income

rom games o chance and amusement games: A change is required to

the existing procedure and criteria determined by the Ministry o Labour

and Social Aairs or distribution o income rom games o chance and

amusement games which presently reer to unds that are distributed or

support to only programmes o associations o people with disabilities.

- All state bodies to take into account the Article 49 o the Law on

Associations and Foundations: This article clearly stipulates an obligation

or all state administrative bodies to regulate the conditions or allocation

and use o unds intended or associations and oundations, as well as to

adopt annual plans and programmes or allocation o these unds.




CIVICUS: CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX POLICY ACTION BRIEF FOR MACEDONIA16

The CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report or the Republic o Macedonia is prepared by themembers o the National Index Team (NIT).

PublisherMacedonian Center or International Cooperation

For the PublisherSašo Klekovski, First Executive DirectorAleksandar Kržalovski, Executive Director

AuthorsSašo KlekovskiDaniela StojanovaGonce JakovleskaEmina Nuredinoska

National Index Team Coordinator: Sašo Klekovski

Project Coordinator: Daniela Stojanova

ISBN 978-608-4617-36-5

The CSI project in Macedonia was fnancially supported by:

Electronic version of the CSI Analytical Report and Policy Action Brief is available at

www.mcms.org.mk.

Opinions expressed herein are o the authors and do not refect the viewpoints o theMacedonian Center or International Cooperation.

Macedonian Center or International Cooperation

All rights reserved reproduction, copying, transmission or translation o any part o this

publication may be made only under the ollowing conditions: with prior permission bythe publisher, to be quoted in a book analysis and under conditions set urther down.

The copyright o this publication is protected, but the publication may be reproduced inany manner and without any compensation or educational purposes. For copying underother conditions, or usage in other publications or or translation or adaptation, priorpermission by the publisher is to be provided.

civic engagement long road to go policy action brief 2011

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