Izlez- student newspaper

The next NGO I met with was not what I was expecting! It is a student run newspaper at the major university in MK- Sv. Kiril i Methodi. The newspaper is called Излез/Izlez. They were started 2 years ago, upon the founder’s return to MK from a year abroad. Her grant required her to start a project upon her return. She chose, with a few friends to start a newspaper that is critical of the educational system in MK.

They decided to focus on this because there are many problems with the educational system in MK according to the students in it. This is not the only thing the newspaper focuses on, they also do articles on then environment or other issues that students care about. The newspaper/journal promotes social activism. They will publish articles on local culture or investigative work. They aim to produce 2 issues per semester. This has created a total of 6 issues so far.

When the newspaper started there was no student run media at all (now there are 2 radio stations). People were complaining all the time, but no one was doing anything. They hoped to empower their peers and prove that students can be responsible. There are 8 people on the editorial board, who came together out of a series of meetings about how to best serve the community. (Last year there were 5 editorial board members.)

They have not only worked on the newspaper, but they have also worked on other projects. They helped to digitize the library through a grant they received. They have also donated books to their collection from a grant they recieved. They have applied to other grants, but haven’t heard back yet.

All of the funding sources that they had mentioned so far were foreign, and they stated that finding local sources is very hard. They want to try to stay independent, so that their research and comments are not taken to be one party or the other. They are afraid that if they take money form the university or government or party they will be forced to dumb-down their criticism to satisfy their donors. They want to be able to say what they find or want to say without fear of having their funding cut (a very real possibility here). They are also trying hard not to be labeled in anyway. They want to keep it independent.

Thus, they haven’t attempted to gain money or support from the government or any student organizations (the Student Government in MK is apparently very different than in the US and “un-officially” sponsored by the government.

They want to start engaging younger students as many of the original editorial board members are leaving (aka graduating). The newspaper has had positive results and responses to their reports, but to get anyone to actually take responsibility for the organization will be difficult (and has been up until this point). When they distribute the newspaper, they do so both online and in person. Sometimes leaving it around university hot spots, or physically handing it to people.

Their goals for the future are to keep the newspaper open and sustainable. They want to expand to hosting events for students. They also want to help any student that comes to them with a workshop or help in applying for a project. They really want this to become a force for the students.

All 4 Fair Trials

Back in Skopje, after a few weeks off from interviews, but working on writing the blog post you have been (enjoying) reading, I meet with All 4 Fair Trials. They are located in Skopje, right in the heart of downtown.

They were founded in 2003 as a coalition of NGOs across the country to fight corruption simply by observing and reporting. Their main activity is to monitor the courts, and see how well they follow procedure in prosecuting cases. They focus on the corruption in courts. As part of this observation, they have a sub focus on journalistic cases that focus on defamation and libel. They also have some other smaller projects.

At their own offices, there are currently 10 people who mostly have a law background. One has a sociological background, as well as a webmaster. The Coalition also has an executive board of 7 people.

Their funding mostly comes through foreign donations. (The US Embassy is the most stable funding source). They get some money from the MK government, but it was only for the trafficking case.  It was the small (their word) amount of $7,000.

When asked if they work with the government, they stated that they do not work closely, due to their monitoring procedures. If they do work with some form of government, it is usually with judges or prosecutors who are active in the courtroom. They organize workshops for the people involved in court cases (not those being prosecuted.) They invite experts to lecture about international experience related to the law.

Since I do not know anything about the corruption or how bad it is in Macedonia, I asked them about corruption. They stated that after ethnic problems, corruption is the main problem. Especially for democracy, because corruption is deeply routed in all aspects of MK life. They gave examples of the emergency room, court, education, or university. All 4 Fair Trials follows all cases with a high level of possibility of corruption. They try to see how correctly the laws are followed.

They have 55 people who monitor cases on a voluntary basis. There is a questionnaire so that the monitoring is similar all across the country. They follow cases from day one in court to the final judgement. They specifically follow the case: what do the lawyers say? What are the other’s reactions? There are 75 questions to work with. They will then analyze the data and produce a report about the cases. They are currently producing a report on last year.

They (along with a lot of other NGOs) have given me some materials to read. If I have time (and I really hope I have time) I want to read these materials and analyze them for you all/myself.