I had a bit of trouble meeting with this NGO- but for once it was me and not them! I confirmed the meeting with them on a Thursday for a Friday meeting. I had been fighting a cold for a while, but on Friday morning when I woke up I couldn’t even get out of bed. Like I got up and started to get dress and felt like I had been awake for 30 hours straight doing hard labor. I texted them and sent an email saying I couldn’t make it. Sadly they still showed up to meet me at the bus, but we were able to rearrange my visit to them until later. I felt so bad, but there was just nothing I could do! That whole weekend was literally spent laying in bed or on the couch drinking sprite!
The mysterious NGO is the Regional Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD) in Kratovo. Kratovo is about a 2 our bus ride away from Skopje towards Bulgaria. They met me at the bus station and we walked through the town on our way to their NGO’s building. They had the second floor of a building, with a restaurant on the first floor. Their office had a storage room, bathroom, small office with computers in it, large boardroom connected to an office room. Their walls had tons of posters on it from various campaigns they had participated in in the past. Most of their furniture had “Donated by the EU” on it.
RCSD is a result of an EU project, rather than grassroots support (which they also have). They were established in 2003; until 2006 they were the NGO support center in the region. They were part of a project that helped to open 8 other NGO support centers. When they became their own NGO, they focused on social and economic fragility. They established their NGO as a way of providing sustainability to the region. In their position as a support center, they keep abreast of the most recent changes in NGO law, which happens often- they advice other NGOs on the changes. While they act as a support center for other NGOs, they have the same status as any other NGO and fight for the same funding as the other NGOs. They offer their office up for free to use for meetings or access to the internet. Currently they have three paid staff and three volunteers. They are a part of several national and international organisations with different but compatible goals, mostly in support of quality youth laws.
They work towards sustainable development in MK. They want to have a better social and economic integration in Kratovo. This NGO tries to help make Kratovo more developed, while gaining more perspective on the national level. They are also trying to make the local government function more as a “good governance” partner. They are working with the government to make their actions more transparent and accountable towards the local community. They also work with minority groups, such as the Roma community, to help them get their voice out.
They provide trainings for public institutions and the community. When they train the community they do so because often the public is uninformed about how the government works. This way citizens can know how to best maximize their contact with the government- especially to gain better access to their services. They cover 4 municipalities and about 180 NGOs. They help people learn how to establish an NGO, strategically plan, finance, and budget for an NGO as well as project management. They do this through about 30 trainings a year. The Regional Center wants the government and private companies to be more energy efficient. Not only is this more economically, they claim, but also allows a more efficient use of taxpayer money. They are advocating for the government to create an annual energy efficiency plan; they are helping the government better understand the reasons.
They also support a youth club, in its infancy, that is focused on building the capacity of the youth. Allowing them to learn how to advocate on all issues that are important to them. They hope to grow leaders who will have developed quality work towards the youth. They focus on areas that the local youth is concerned with: training for debates (such as in a model EU), how EU policies are implemented and able to raise their voices for issues relevant to them.
They also are trying to expand the tourism base in Kratovo. Their city is known for many old buildings and a specific style of architecture that is not found elsewhere in MK. However, since they are 22 hours outside of Skopje, and they are not well advertised, no one comes. Therefore they are trying to develop sustainable tourism. They want a long term plan to draw tourists to the area. Tourism, they claim, will also provide better integration and strengthen the capacity to provide social development in the region.
In relation to both the local and national governments, they like most others, have tried to work with the national, but have had more success in the local environment. The national government cooperates when they need help but never the other way around. The national government might help in any way that doesn’t involve money, such as providing training. RCSD doesn’t feel that this is helpful cooperation nor do they count it as being supportive. When it doesn’t cost them any money, time or people, the national government will help. They will provide space, such as what they did with the local children’s park that was recently built. The national government might help with some form of money, but this is extremely rare. The government claims that they no longer have the time, but RCSD believes it is because they do not find it important. The RCSD completed all of their trainings and provided suggestions to the government.They completed all of their responsibilities to the government and received no support. The government claims there are other responsibilities.
There is a part of the budget set aside for NGOs, roughly 400,000 MKD ($8,480). They stated that the NGOs that receive the funding are often the newly formed national government/party related. Or the same ones get the grants every year. They have never received money from the MK government. As part of a way to raise money, they teach French, Spanish, and Italian to local students. They also provide other services that they charge a small fee for. But most of their money is from international donors.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After our meeting in their office, we went to a local school in Rankovce. They met up with some trainers who were going to be presenting on energy efficiency to a group of kids. Every class sent a representative to the presentation. Then, after the presentation to the children, they made one to the teachers. There were less teachers there than there should have been due to a “emergency” meeting. Both sets of trainers suggested that it was politics rather than an emergency for the meeting.
The trainers who showed up from Skopje were a part of another NGO (who I have been trying to meet with to no avail). They did most of the presentation to the children, while RCSD did most of the presentation to the adults. The trainer for the kids had an amazing personality. And I felt super good about it because I could understand most of the presentation.
The children were pretty attentive during her presentation. They used a powerpoint and handed out comic books. they also had some things that they hung up around the classroom and just for the presentation. The presentation was on how to use energy efficiently and the different types of places we can get energy from in the world (water, sun, wind, gas, coal, waste). My favorite line of the whole day was “Енергетски ресрси виза за зелена иднина!“ “‘Renewable Energy is the visa for a green future!”
See my travel blog for the travel part of this trip.
The mysterious NGO is the Regional Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD) in Kratovo. Kratovo is about a 2 our bus ride away from Skopje towards Bulgaria. They met me at the bus station and we walked through the town on our way to their NGO’s building. They had the second floor of a building, with a restaurant on the first floor. Their office had a storage room, bathroom, small office with computers in it, large boardroom connected to an office room. Their walls had tons of posters on it from various campaigns they had participated in in the past. Most of their furniture had “Donated by the EU” on it.
RCSD is a result of an EU project, rather than grassroots support (which they also have). They were established in 2003; until 2006 they were the NGO support center in the region. They were part of a project that helped to open 8 other NGO support centers. When they became their own NGO, they focused on social and economic fragility. They established their NGO as a way of providing sustainability to the region. In their position as a support center, they keep abreast of the most recent changes in NGO law, which happens often- they advice other NGOs on the changes. While they act as a support center for other NGOs, they have the same status as any other NGO and fight for the same funding as the other NGOs. They offer their office up for free to use for meetings or access to the internet. Currently they have three paid staff and three volunteers. They are a part of several national and international organisations with different but compatible goals, mostly in support of quality youth laws.
They work towards sustainable development in MK. They want to have a better social and economic integration in Kratovo. This NGO tries to help make Kratovo more developed, while gaining more perspective on the national level. They are also trying to make the local government function more as a “good governance” partner. They are working with the government to make their actions more transparent and accountable towards the local community. They also work with minority groups, such as the Roma community, to help them get their voice out.
They provide trainings for public institutions and the community. When they train the community they do so because often the public is uninformed about how the government works. This way citizens can know how to best maximize their contact with the government- especially to gain better access to their services. They cover 4 municipalities and about 180 NGOs. They help people learn how to establish an NGO, strategically plan, finance, and budget for an NGO as well as project management. They do this through about 30 trainings a year. The Regional Center wants the government and private companies to be more energy efficient. Not only is this more economically, they claim, but also allows a more efficient use of taxpayer money. They are advocating for the government to create an annual energy efficiency plan; they are helping the government better understand the reasons.
They also support a youth club, in its infancy, that is focused on building the capacity of the youth. Allowing them to learn how to advocate on all issues that are important to them. They hope to grow leaders who will have developed quality work towards the youth. They focus on areas that the local youth is concerned with: training for debates (such as in a model EU), how EU policies are implemented and able to raise their voices for issues relevant to them.
They also are trying to expand the tourism base in Kratovo. Their city is known for many old buildings and a specific style of architecture that is not found elsewhere in MK. However, since they are 22 hours outside of Skopje, and they are not well advertised, no one comes. Therefore they are trying to develop sustainable tourism. They want a long term plan to draw tourists to the area. Tourism, they claim, will also provide better integration and strengthen the capacity to provide social development in the region.
In relation to both the local and national governments, they like most others, have tried to work with the national, but have had more success in the local environment. The national government cooperates when they need help but never the other way around. The national government might help in any way that doesn’t involve money, such as providing training. RCSD doesn’t feel that this is helpful cooperation nor do they count it as being supportive. When it doesn’t cost them any money, time or people, the national government will help. They will provide space, such as what they did with the local children’s park that was recently built. The national government might help with some form of money, but this is extremely rare. The government claims that they no longer have the time, but RCSD believes it is because they do not find it important. The RCSD completed all of their trainings and provided suggestions to the government.They completed all of their responsibilities to the government and received no support. The government claims there are other responsibilities.
There is a part of the budget set aside for NGOs, roughly 400,000 MKD ($8,480). They stated that the NGOs that receive the funding are often the newly formed national government/party related. Or the same ones get the grants every year. They have never received money from the MK government. As part of a way to raise money, they teach French, Spanish, and Italian to local students. They also provide other services that they charge a small fee for. But most of their money is from international donors.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After our meeting in their office, we went to a local school in Rankovce. They met up with some trainers who were going to be presenting on energy efficiency to a group of kids. Every class sent a representative to the presentation. Then, after the presentation to the children, they made one to the teachers. There were less teachers there than there should have been due to a “emergency” meeting. Both sets of trainers suggested that it was politics rather than an emergency for the meeting.
The trainers who showed up from Skopje were a part of another NGO (who I have been trying to meet with to no avail). They did most of the presentation to the children, while RCSD did most of the presentation to the adults. The trainer for the kids had an amazing personality. And I felt super good about it because I could understand most of the presentation.
The children were pretty attentive during her presentation. They used a powerpoint and handed out comic books. they also had some things that they hung up around the classroom and just for the presentation. The presentation was on how to use energy efficiently and the different types of places we can get energy from in the world (water, sun, wind, gas, coal, waste). My favorite line of the whole day was “Енергетски ресрси виза за зелена иднина!“ “‘Renewable Energy is the visa for a green future!”
See my travel blog for the travel part of this trip.
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