Only with a clear and understandable approach to all citizens, without exception, can there be a sustainable digitalization in all spheres as an effective mechanism for significantly improving the lifestyle of the population. When we talk about digitalization in all spheres, we refer to the advancement and bigger efficiency of the institutions, organisations and other entities. Being witnesses of the pandemic crisis, we can note that this is a more than needed step for a better functioning of the society, and we can see how this unfortunate circumstance has accelerated the spread of knowledge about benefits from the digitalization. However, we must be aware that the swift digitalization has also brought up a lot of issues, where we gave devices to citizens are not taught how to use them properly, which is why we are faced with hate speech, fake news and misinformation, cyber bullying, cyber crime, etc.
As we have not come across any comprehensive research of this kind, in this report we have tried to provide a baseline for the state of e-Governance development and digital literacy in North Macedonia in order to provide a starting point for further measuring of the advancement in these areas in correlation to the Digital Agenda and to provide further recommendations for improvement.
This research is part of the Digital Agenda Observatory and is implemented in 5 Western Balkan countries as part of the project Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Metamorphosis Foundation (North Macedonia) as the leading partner, e-Governance Academy (Estonia), CRTA – Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (Serbia), NGO 35mm (Montenegro), Open Data Kosovo (Kosovo) and Lëvizja Mjaft (Albania). The issues addressed by the reports are specifically related to the chapters relevant to the Digital Agenda in particular Chapter 10 – Information Society and Media from the EU’s acquis, with a goal to reinvigorate the issues of the Western Balkans Digital Agenda on the EU agenda.
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This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Metamorphosis Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
