The Report presents the findings from the fifth survey “Trust in institutions and civil society in Republic of Macedonia” conducted in July 2013 on a national representative sample. The goal of the research was to examine the trust that citizens in Republic of Macedonia have in institutions and civil society. Civil society organizations (CSOs), (associations and foundations) and all other stakeholders of the society have increased public trust in comparison with the past years, and for the first time CSO`s have the trust of the majority of the citizens (54,2%), mostly students and young people under 29. The research states…
Author: anja
Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN was a witness at an oversight hearing on IPA funds at the Macedonia Parliament taking place on 11th July, 2013. The hearing that was organized by the Committee for European Affairs featured accounts of Mr. Fatmir Besimi, National IPA Coordination (NIPAC), Zoran Stavreski, Minister of Finance, Ivica Bocevski, former NIPAC (2008-2011), Leposava Apostolovski Velinov, Head of IPA Audit body and witnesses-experts from civil society. Ms. Hafner Ademi focused her presentation on the IPA Civil Society Facility support concluding that Macedonia has allocated smaller amounts of IPA to other IPA countries (0,8% of IPA…
After being assessed as performing poorly in the 2012 Aid Transparency Index, DG Enlargement has published the Common Standard implementation schedule on how it is to improve the transparency of IPA funding. Publish What You Find (PWYF) has assessed the Schedule as moderately ambitious using their Tracker website where you can follow the implementation of the Schedule. According to the Schedule, DG Enlargement will start their IATI publication in September this year. To see all the findings of the 2012 Aid Transparency Index, please visit Publish What You Fund’s website. The detailed analysis of the DG Enlargement Common Standard implementation…
After two years of civil society organizations’ advocacy activities and submitting amendments as well as receiving guarantees from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the proposed Law on Accounting entered into the National Assembly’s procedure, containing articles contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. The proposed law excludes churches and religious communities from all obligations regarding submission of financial statements, except in the case that they perform economic activities. Civic Initiatives, together with an expert for non-profit law, prepared amendments to the proposed Law on Accounting for the third time in two years. The amendments seek to remove…
The European Commission’s (EC) DG Enlargement is in the process of developing guidelines for support to civil society in the enlargement countries for the period 2014-2020. Consultation on the first draft of the guidelines took place in Brussels on 25 and 26 April 2013 with invited stakeholders representing civil society, government offices for cooperation with civil society and EU Delegations in the region. Based on stakeholder input at the Brussels event, the draft guidelines were revised and published for broader consultation online as well as at national consultation events. On 14 June, 2013 BCSDN submitted its comments on the DG…
The European Commission’s (EC) DG Enlargement is in the process of developing guidelines for support to civil society in the enlargement countries for the period 2014-2020. Consultation on the first draft of the guidelines took place in Brussels on 25 and 26 April 2013 with invited stakeholders representing civil society, government offices for cooperation with civil society and EU Delegations in the region. Based on stakeholder input at the Brussels event, the draft guidelines were revised and published for broader consultation online as well as at national consultation events. On 14 June, 2013 BCSDN submitted its comments on the DG…
During April CIVICUS published the 2013 edition of their State of Civil Society Report. The 2013 report shows that CSOs still face many uphill battles and challenges towards establishing a truly enabling environment. However, although the report paints a pretty gloomy picture about the current global state of civil society it also highlights the fact that opportunities for civil society development continue to arise and that if CSOs seize these opportunities the prospects for establishing an enabling environment can become brighter. In Europe for example, the official recognition by the EC of the value of civil society, amidst the negative…
In response to domestic pressure for democratic change, authoritarian regimes throughout Eurasia cracked down on civil society and political opposition leaders in 2012, according to the newly released edition of Nations in Transit, Freedom House’s annual analysis of democratic development from Central Europe to Central Asia. Although the Balkans has largely been democratized it has not completely escaped these developments. In Kosovo a new law was passed which allowed the central bank to convert nonprofit microfinance institutions into private businesses without preserving a previous requirement that such dissolved entities’ assets be redistributed to other nonprofit groups. Although the law has…
In the framework of cross-border cooperation project “Civil Society and Local Authorities in Strengthening Social Cohesion in Albania and Montenegro”, CRNVO in partnership with Partners Albania has prepared a publication entitled “Citizen Participation and Cooperation between Civil Society and Local Authorities in Montenegro and Albania”, in Montenegrin and Albanian languages. The publication contains information about the mechanisms of citizen participation in the decision making process at the local level in Montenegro and Albania, as well as examples of good practices of cooperation between civil society and local governments in both countries. In addition, the publication contains recommendations for improving cooperation…
On 14 June, 2013 BCSDN submitted its comments on the DG Enlargement’s draft Guidelines for EU support to civil society in enlargement countries, 2014-2020 which were sent to them in May, 2013. The draft Guidelines has included some positive changes, such as more flexible programming and the availability of longer-term program support for civil society. BCSDN has welcomed these changes. They have also welcomed the more inclusive way of developing the IPA 2014-2020 support as compared to the IPA 2007-2013 cycle, with special focus on the support to civil society under the Civil Society Facility (CSF). BCSDN additionally, highlighted some…