Structure-relations (Governmental office, Government/ministries, CSOs)
As it is written above the Unit for Cooperation with Non-governmental Organizations was established in November 2004 under the Sector for Policy Analysis and Coordination within the General Secretariat of the Government. Its establishment means defining clear Government’s policy for development and continuous cooperation with the civil society, as well as creating conditions for policy implementation. Through the Unit, the intention of the Government is to make the administration able to recognize the role of the civil society sector and develop partnership with the sector itself. The overall objective of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-governmental Organizations is to gain credibility and develop institutional cooperation between the Government and civil society organizations, which will contribute to the development of the civil society sector.
Since November 2006 and part of the EC-funded project, the Unit has undertaken significant capacity‐building activities, including study trips abroad and comprehensive trainings in the key areas of civil society, CSO management and social research and analysis. Staff numbers and capacities are considered to be adequate, but the Unit appears to be constrained in its ability to carry out its mandate owing to its position under the General Secretariat of the Government. The Head of the Unit is responsible to the Head of the Sector for Policy analysis and Coordination who is responsible in front of the Secretary General. Thus, the Unit lacks sufficient autonomy to allow it to work flexibly and it lacks the authority required to make independent decisions, to take proactive measures towards implementing the Strategy for Cooperation with NGOs, and to establish direct communication with civil society.
Notionally, the Unit is responsible for coordinating specially assigned civil society contact persons in each ministry. However, there is little evidence that this task is being carried out, principally because contact points, for whom the task of liaising with civil society is an additional duty to their regular full‐time civil service function, are ill‐prepared and unable to devote sufficient time to interacting with CSOs. It has been observed by CSOs that sometimes, rather than facilitating communication with the Government, the Unit appears to hinder this process by standing between the two parties.
The key achievements of the implementation of the Strategy for the period 2007-2008 are the following:
Law on Volunteering adopted through an exceptionally participatory process. Also, the bylaws necessary for implementation of the Law were adopted (responsible institution in the process was the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy);
Although there is no systematic solution, yet the representatives of the civil society organizations participate in the working groups tasked for drafting the laws and strategies that are relevant to their work, such as: Working Group for the Law on Citizens’ Associations and Foundations (Ministry of Justice), Working Group on Law on Volunteering (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy), Working Group on the Law on Protection from Discrimination (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy), etc.
Changes were made to the Rules of Procedures of the Government, according to which it is obligatory to publish the bylaws on the web sites of the ministries. In case any suggestions are submitted, they should be taken into consideration or otherwise an explanation to be provided if they are dismisses.
The Citizen Charter is functional as a tool for easier access of the citizens to the services provided by the state administration (responsible institution is the General Secretariat of the Government).
Strategy’s goals in which no progress was made:
Despite the few examples of some ministries and the activities undertaken by the General Secretariat of the Government, there is no centrally established system of participation of the civil society organizations in the processes of policy making, particularly in the process of drafting and adopting the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia.
Except for the adoption of the Code of Good Practices for state funding of the citizens’ associations and foundations, which is not a legally binding act, there are no improvements in provision of state funding to the civil society organizations;
Measures have not been undertaken for development of the civil sector in the rural areas.
The programs and activities of several ministries and state administration bodies related to the cooperation and development of the civil sector are harmonized with the goals and measures set in the Strategy. Such an example is the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Agency of Youth and Sport.
The organizational setup of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations under the General Secretariat of the Government does not provide the necessary flexibility and does not have the required authority in the hierarchy of the General Secretariat of the Government to respond and act proactively in realizing the measures of the Strategy, but also in establishing direct communication with the civil society organizations.
Most of the implemented activities were realized when external financial support was provided (the project funded by the European Union on Technical Assistance for the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations or other donations provided by the Unit) or when it is necessary to harmonize the activities with the European and international standards or directly with the Acquis Communautaire. Despite the commitment of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations and the General Secretariat of the Government, when there is no budget for realization of the activities, the difficulties in the realization of the plan could have been expected. The lack of funds for programme activities of the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations additionally impedes the process of implementing the measures
Source: Progress report on implementation of the Strategy for Cooperation of the Government with Civil Sector, MCIC 2009
Examples of coop Governmental office and CSOs
Starting from 2008 the Unit for Cooperation with non-governmental organizations is responsible for administration of the certain amount (15 million denars or around 250.000 Euros) of the governmental funds for CSOs. Up to this period, the Ministry of Finance was in charge. The Unit usually follows the provisions prescribed in the Code of Good Practices for CSOs funding, they follows the governmental programme with main priorities for funding, as well as they announced the possibility for funding on appropriate time. The main problem, and in the same time the most of complains from CSOs are focused to the period of decision and information to the granted organizations which is the responsibility of the governmental committee consist of the top level representatives from the government. In the last 3 years the decisions were made during the fourth quarter of the year.