While there are technically three guys who work at Florozon, I had only met one of them once at the workshop they hosted. I was able to set up a meeting with him to see his views of the NGO sector. He has worked since 1994 in the civil society sector, and since 1998 with NGOs specifically. Many of the views stated below are his, and just give another perspective to the debate.
He said that the sector has changed in the last five years in a positive sense. In the post-conflict society, there was some activism, mostly in youth organizations. The organizations were mostly with sports, schools, labor unions. In the beginning of transnational period, there was additional input from external sources. They began activism with issues of the environment, humanitarian aid connected to the Balkan wars. After 2001, there were organizations who dealt with peace issues and human rights. During their unlucky circumstances, it developed positively.
The problem with civil society in Macedonia, according to him, is that they mainly lack activism. Most NGOs are not member based or financed well. The knowledge and skills of NGO workers are still in development. Many people are not involved in civil society due to their fear of the government. there were some attempts to work critically against the government, but they were often “neutralized immediately.” Some of the attempts were shut down discreetly by discrediting the organizations or threatening the people who work there with jail.
When I asked if there was cooperation with the government, and he commented that there is some. Int he transition, the government didn’t see the benefit of civil society. Soon they realized the power that civil society had and wanted to be involved. Sometimes it is called the 5th sector, and the government tries to discredit NGOs as working for foreign agencies as spies. The political party with power is dealing with establishing small satellites all over the country (the NGOGOs). However, cooperation exists with a lot of analysis on who and why. The EU is pushing for cooperation especially in UNDP. There are areas where the government has no experience, and he thinks that NGOs can help in this area.
My contact is currently working in the government helping them to implement affirmative action. “No matter what, the government should cooperate to better serve.” He is helping the government to try to link projects to have a better impact. The municipalities have responded favorable to the linkage. They are trying a mediation in schools as well. He wants better cooperation so there is a better institutionalization of the cooperation. He has worked with ‘teaching the teacher’ to reteach for more mediation between different groups, if the government doesn’t like anything they can just forget.
Financially, there are some connections between the government and NGOs. There is funding from casinos and the lottery. There are yearly bases, but they only give money to ‘their’ NGOs. There are special funds for NGOs, but there is a lot of criticism. When the government changes (as in the party changes), the list of recipients changes. If cooperation doesn’t go well, they will loose the money. Many NGOs have never asked for money, because they don’t want the money from the government. Many feel that it lacks impartially. It is seen as corrupted if they take the money; however, if there was a separate organization, they feel it would be corrupted too. Money often comes from international organizations and bilateral agreements.
For cooperation with the municipality, it depends on the individual municipalities. Some municipalities still want NGOs to be obedient. If the municipalities see the NGOs as having some power- they want to work with them. The municipalities will also work closer if the NGO is connected internationally. Sometimes municipalities support small NGOs or smaller projects by NGOs.
The biggest organizations are focused in Skopje, where there is a higher concentration of money. A few have tried to decentralize from Skopje, but most are still there. There is rarely any high profile organizations or money in the non-capital cities.
The current NGOs focus mostly on peace building. They might be dealing with the past and conflict management or the “burning issues” (more ad-hoc intervention, monuments, identity issues, etc.). Some of the more successful ones focus on youth leadership and identification of potential leaders. Since 2001, most have focused on inter-ethnic cooperation. Many have targeted secondary schools and the youth. Some do this by teaching the directors and teachers of schools other by reaching out to the students. Some organizations want to better teach the OFA an related issues, others focus more on the environment.
This meeting went very well for such a short meeting, he offered to give me some contact information to other NGOs.
He said that the sector has changed in the last five years in a positive sense. In the post-conflict society, there was some activism, mostly in youth organizations. The organizations were mostly with sports, schools, labor unions. In the beginning of transnational period, there was additional input from external sources. They began activism with issues of the environment, humanitarian aid connected to the Balkan wars. After 2001, there were organizations who dealt with peace issues and human rights. During their unlucky circumstances, it developed positively.
The problem with civil society in Macedonia, according to him, is that they mainly lack activism. Most NGOs are not member based or financed well. The knowledge and skills of NGO workers are still in development. Many people are not involved in civil society due to their fear of the government. there were some attempts to work critically against the government, but they were often “neutralized immediately.” Some of the attempts were shut down discreetly by discrediting the organizations or threatening the people who work there with jail.
When I asked if there was cooperation with the government, and he commented that there is some. Int he transition, the government didn’t see the benefit of civil society. Soon they realized the power that civil society had and wanted to be involved. Sometimes it is called the 5th sector, and the government tries to discredit NGOs as working for foreign agencies as spies. The political party with power is dealing with establishing small satellites all over the country (the NGOGOs). However, cooperation exists with a lot of analysis on who and why. The EU is pushing for cooperation especially in UNDP. There are areas where the government has no experience, and he thinks that NGOs can help in this area.
My contact is currently working in the government helping them to implement affirmative action. “No matter what, the government should cooperate to better serve.” He is helping the government to try to link projects to have a better impact. The municipalities have responded favorable to the linkage. They are trying a mediation in schools as well. He wants better cooperation so there is a better institutionalization of the cooperation. He has worked with ‘teaching the teacher’ to reteach for more mediation between different groups, if the government doesn’t like anything they can just forget.
Financially, there are some connections between the government and NGOs. There is funding from casinos and the lottery. There are yearly bases, but they only give money to ‘their’ NGOs. There are special funds for NGOs, but there is a lot of criticism. When the government changes (as in the party changes), the list of recipients changes. If cooperation doesn’t go well, they will loose the money. Many NGOs have never asked for money, because they don’t want the money from the government. Many feel that it lacks impartially. It is seen as corrupted if they take the money; however, if there was a separate organization, they feel it would be corrupted too. Money often comes from international organizations and bilateral agreements.
For cooperation with the municipality, it depends on the individual municipalities. Some municipalities still want NGOs to be obedient. If the municipalities see the NGOs as having some power- they want to work with them. The municipalities will also work closer if the NGO is connected internationally. Sometimes municipalities support small NGOs or smaller projects by NGOs.
The biggest organizations are focused in Skopje, where there is a higher concentration of money. A few have tried to decentralize from Skopje, but most are still there. There is rarely any high profile organizations or money in the non-capital cities.
The current NGOs focus mostly on peace building. They might be dealing with the past and conflict management or the “burning issues” (more ad-hoc intervention, monuments, identity issues, etc.). Some of the more successful ones focus on youth leadership and identification of potential leaders. Since 2001, most have focused on inter-ethnic cooperation. Many have targeted secondary schools and the youth. Some do this by teaching the directors and teachers of schools other by reaching out to the students. Some organizations want to better teach the OFA an related issues, others focus more on the environment.
This meeting went very well for such a short meeting, he offered to give me some contact information to other NGOs.
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