The final conference of the “CSO Network for Efficient Active Participation” (NEAP) project took place on June 19, 2015 at the Arka Hotel in Skopje, marking the end of this project.
The project was implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation in partnership with the Macedonian Center for European Training (MCET), and supported by the European Commission through the “Support To Enhancement, Sustainability And Development Of An Active Civil Society In Macedonia” Program.
The conference was attended by representatives of civil society organizations, institutions and media. Bardhyl Jashari, the executive director of the Metamorphosis Foundation delivered the keynote speech at the beginning of the conference: “The project clearly indicated that it is important to create tools that will be easily accessible, simple to use and enabling NGOs and citizens in general, to efficiently participate in the decision-making processes both online and offline. The project also indicated that we need true political will and commitment of the representatives of state institutions to involve the citizens in those processes, as a prerequisite for an efficient citizen participation.”
“The main role of our organization as a co-applicant in this project, was to prepare materials for trainings and capacity building of civil society organizations. Aside from developing the modules for the “Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance – IPA II” training and the “Common methodology for participatory assessment, collaborative advocacy and coalition building” training, we’ve also created e-learning content. The NEAP project enabled the development of an e-learning platform – used for creating resources that can boost citizens’ participation in terms of IPA II. The content generated by MCET helps understand the basic terms related to IPA II and the way it works, the ‘Europe 2020′ strategy, EU’s programs, as well as other interesting resources for the European integration from the perspective of citizens’ participation” – said Aleksandar Kolekeski, Senior Researcher/Analyst in the “Macedonian Center for European Training”.
During the conference session “Presentation of the projects implemented within the framework of the action” attendees had an opportunity to learn more about the 6 projects of the CSOs that were awarded microgrants within the “CSO Network for Efficient Active Participation” project:
| Organization | Project name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| “Vila Zora” Environmental Association | Green service for the citizens | Veles |
| Local Community Development Foundation | Parking, too, is a standard of living | Stip |
| Eco Logic | Promoting and initiating cooperation and networking between the civil society sector and the local authorities | Skopje |
| “Center for sustainable community development” Association | Together for reducing youth unemployment | Debar |
| “Young European Federalists” Association | Councillors discuss, citizens read | Kumanovo |
| “NOVUS” Association | Municipality of Strumica – Accountable, participatory and transparent municipality tailored to the citizens’ needs | Strumica |
The www.akcija.mk web platform was promoted at this closing event, as a platform created and used for publishing relevant information about the project, and for e-learning as it contains relevant learning resources, curricula and lectures, and an online library of e-publications, available in a form that is simple and easy to use.
During the second part of the event, Filip Stojanovski, program director at the Metamorphosis Foundation presented the results from the conducted survey on the current use of government websites at the municipal and national level (.gov.mk websites) in the area of transparency, accountability and e-participation in the decision-making process, and provided recommendations on how to overcome obstacles that prevent the realization of the full potential of the new technologies in these areas. Aleksandar Kolekeski from MCET discussed about the IPA 2 Programming Initiative (IPA mechanism).
Several discussions on this topic took place between the representatives of CSOs during the final session of the event, resulting with conclusions and messages encouraging all civil society organizations to contribute to good governance via active participation.
More photos from the event are available here.
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