Macedonian Center for International Cooperation Annual Report 2019

1. ANNUAL
REPORT
2019
MACEDONIAN
CENTER FOR
INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION
Nikola Parapunov 41а
PO Box 55, 1060 Skopje
Tel.: 02/3065-381
Fax: 02/3065-298
mcms@mcms.mk
www.mcms.mk

2. MACEDONIAN CENTER FOR
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
VISION AND MISSION
The Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) is a civil society organization that
believes in peace, harmony and prosperity of the people in Macedonia, the Balkans and globally.
MCIC’s vision is based on the universal principles of civil society and participatory democracy, rule
of law, equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, non-violence, respect, interde-
pendence and cultural diversity.
MCIC’s mission is to lead changes with new and alternative solutions to the societal problems,
which influence other actors to be involved in the main streams.
LONG-TERM GOALS
»» Rooted and influential civil society;
»» Good governance and fight against corruption;
»» Social inclusion and cohesion;
»» Supported process of European integration;
»» Readiness for migration challenges;
»» MCIC, an independent and credible organization – quiet, but visible networker;
»» MCIC, an attractive and innovative organization.
ACTIVITIES AND METHODS
MCIC implements its activities through:
»» Advocacy (dissemination of information, awareness raising, education; policy making;
monitoring and requesting accountability);
»» Development support (capacities and infrastructure);
»» Social-humanitarian assistance. The organizational methods are management and
implementation.
The organizational methods are management and implementation.
»

3. This year MCIC focused on strengthening the civil society in the country
by creating stronger organizations which will strengthen the ties with the
citizens and in this way, they will embed the civil society. Strong and credible
organizations are one of the ways to strengthen the public trust which will
motivate and mobilize the citizens to undertake more activities not only for
improving the life of their immediate communities, but also broader, at a
national level.
MCIC also continued to contribute to the good governance debate by offer-
ing arguments from its research on corruption, transparency and account-
ability, but also themes related to election cycles that took place this year.
MCIC implemented 33 projects, for which the total budget was around 87
million denars. The new phase of the “Civica Mobilitas” program started.
The first 35 grantees were selected and five events on current topics were
held. The program celebrated its 10th birthday. A 2018 Report on the En-
abling Environment for the Civil Society in Macedonia has been prepared as
part of the National Resource Centre for CSOs. There were nine trainings for
155 participants held, as well as four debates on topics significant for CSOs.
The support office responded to 315 CSO requests and there were 14 visits
to the Mobile Resource Centre and 186 events of other CSOs held in the
offices of the resource centres in Skopje, Shtip and Gostivar. The Conference
for Reforms of the State Funding for CSOs which was part of the Sustain-
able Civil Society State Funding to CSOs program brought back the hope
that things will move in the right direction; unfortunately, the events that
followed made this topic less significant.
Seven organizations received transparency grants, there was a research on
self-regulation practices with CSO networks and there were trainings held
on financial management, transparency and leadership.
The Public Policy Forum – Delivering on the Promise of EU Enlargement:
30 Years of Governance and Anticorruption Reforms in Central and Eastern
Europe brought the region to Skopje for a discussion whose focus was fight
against corruption. Despite this, the program Regional Anticorruption Net-
work awarded six small anticorruption grants and there was work done on
researching the phenomenon of state capture.
The project team for monitoring the anticorruption reforms prepared the
shadow report on the implementation and review of the UN Convention
against Corruption (UNCAC) in Macedonia, as well as several other publi-
cations.
The child labour abuse was eliminated in 30 cases as part of the project
Mechanism for Support to Tobacco Growers. There was an intense com-
munication with the tobacco growers that asked for help or information.
MCIC built or reconstructed children playgrounds in four primary schools
in rural environments. There was the fifth “Birthright Macedonia” held with
nine young people from the diaspora.
MCIC, together with other CSOs was quite active in the process of changing
the Law for Prevention of Corruption, as well as in the selection of the new
composition of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption.
MESSAGEOFTHEMANAGEMENT
Aleksandar
Krzhalovski
First Executive Director
Gonce
Jakovleska
Executive Director

4. ROOTED AND
INFLUENTIAL
CIVIL
SOCIETY

5. “In the beginning of the previous phase of Civica Mobilitas,
the civil society was presented as a tree with a big crown, but
weak roots. Today, this situation is quite changed, thanks to
Civica Mobilitas and its insisting to renew the relationships of
the CSOs with the citizens which contributed that the roots
of this tree are deeper, and the civil society becomes a sig-
nificant actor in changing the society. This is where I see the
success of Civica Mobilitas in this decade of its existence”,
said Ibrahim Mehmeti from the Swiss Development and
Cooperation Agency (SDC) at the networking meeting that
took place in November 2019.
The participation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy
Mila Carovska at one of the debates in itself stressed the role
of the Civica Mobilitas community and the civil society in the
dialogue with the institutions. She talked to the participants,
among other also about the state financing, which CSOs ex-
pect will be implemented following a new, more transparent
methodology; however, they also did not hide their expec-
tations on the increase of the amount, which, according to
them, should be around EUR 30 million in the next years.
CSOs asked Minister Carovska if there would be changes
in the way of financing of the organizations of the disabled,
what the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy does to estab-
lish confidence in the case management system, i.e. how the
relationship in the treatment of the beneficiaries will change,
on decentralization in the social welfare area, but also about
the migration, environment, etc.
Part of the debate was also the functioning of the Council for
Cooperation with the CSOs. The numerous questions of the
people present were answered by Zoran Ilievski, a member
of the Council. During the three-day networking meeting, 97
CSO representatives which are part of the Civica Mobilitas
community worked on increasing the mutual cooperation,
finding joint priorities and establishing the foundations of
the future joint action. They worked on promoting the com-
munication skills via learning new and interesting tools, and
they also visualized their achievements in the last 10 year
and in this way, they presented the collective power that
they had built via individual actions.
In 2019, the first 35 grants were awarded to associations
and foundations. The project team organized a national
forum and two thematic forums. Also, the first festival
and the first networking meeting was held, where the
10th anniversary of Civica Mobilitas was celebrated. The
future mentors of part of the institutional grantees were
selected and trained.
PROGRAM „CIVICA
MOBILITAS“ - CIVIL SOCIETY
SUPPORT
GOAL: Achieving social changes in Macedonia which are
stimulated by the strong civil sector, active citizens and
good cooperation with the authorities, which results in a
more transparent, more accountable and socially inclu-
sive management at central and local level.
»
CIVICA MOBILITAS CELEBRATED A DECADE OF EXISTENCE

6. At nine trainings, 155 CSO representatives were trained
and GRC team organized four debates with 208 partici-
pants, there were 14 visits of the Mobile Resource Centre
to different municipalities, there were eight partnership
grants for organizational development, it prepared and
shared 40 weekly overviews and 12 monthly reports from
monitoring of ENER. The support office responded to
315 requests of CSOs or citizens. Apart from this, three
analyses were prepared: one for enabling environment
for civil society; one for the Council for Cooperation with
the Civil Society and one about the state funding.
PROGRAM NATIONAL CIVIL
SOCIETY RESOURCE
CENTRE
GOAL: Provided services for building the capacities of
CSOs to be effective and accountable independent ac-
tors and to contribute to the environment that is condu-
cive to civil society.
»
“The trend of confidence in the civil society has dropped
since 2013, but confidence in other stakeholders of the so-
ciety has also dropped. It is interesting that the civil sector
has higher trust than the political parties. On the other hand,
the prevailing attitude of the citizens is that the political par-
ties use CSOs when they have interest and otherwise they
accuse them of being close to the other side. Therefore, we
wanted to open this issue about our cooperation with the
political parties and how the citizens look at that”, said Em-
ina Nuredinoska from MCIC at the debate “Politically Ac-
tive, Party Independent – CSOs in the Interest of the Public”
which took place on 21 February 2019.
Gordan Georgiev, a university professor, spoke about the
relations between the political parties and CSOs, as well as
about the successful rehabilitation of the associations af-
ter the Multi-coloured Revolution. In the future, he expects
that the scope of the parties will decrease, that they would
become more mobile, less clientelist, as a result of the EU
accession. He also stressed that it is necessary for the par-
liament to have the role of an agora, or “threshing floor”,
where the CSOS will debate with the political parties to
avoid labelling which can happen if this is done in the party
headquarters.
Katerina Hadži-Miceva Evans, from the European Centre for
Non-for-Profit Law spoke about the EU practices, where it is
up to the countries to regulate these issues themselves, and
most of the time the limitations are related to the financing
of the political parties by CSOs. A factor that can influence
the limitations of the CSOs in conducting political activities
in some of the countries is whether the organization has a
status of an organization of public interest for which there
are bigger limitations in conducting political activities.
Irena Ivanova from the EU Delegation spoke about unify-
ing the interests of the CSOs and speaking in one voice,
because polarization is easier in a fragmented society. “The
solution to the problem is in what is happening to us now.
Maybe not with the dynamics that we want and not with
the results that we expect, but I see more and more of an
awareness of the CSOs that they are the proactive part of
the society that should move the boundaries and modernize
our society”, added she.
CSOS TO LESS POLARIZATION WITH ASSOCIATION AND TRANSPARENCY

7. This year there was an overview of the state funding
systems of the countries in the region prepared, seven
transparency grants were awarded and 37 CSO represen-
tatives participated in the trainings on financial manage-
ment and leadership, while 200 viewers followed webinar
on “Accountability to Beneficiaries”. There was a research
on the self-regulation practices with CSO networks and
the Report on Transparency and Accountability of CSOs
was prepared.
PROGRAM SUSTAINABLE
CIVIL SOCIETY - STATE
FUNDING OF THE CSOS
GOAL: Effective, transparent and accountable CSOs that
work in an enabling financial environment
»
The Prime Minister Zoran Zaev confirmed the political will to
improve the state funding model at the conference “Reform
of the State Funding System of CSOs”, organized by the
Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC).
He stressed that with the pressure of CSOs and the public
on transparent work of the government and institutions in
2018 there were already savings of around EUR 100 million
in the state budget.
Boris Koprivnikar, former Minister of Public Administration
and Vice Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic
of Slovenia (2014-2018) shared their model for state funding.
He answered the most frequent question: why should CSOs
be funded from the state budget? “CSOs increase the social
contribution, support public services and are the correctors
of political decisions. This means that financing is not under-
stood as a donation, but rather as a payment for the good
services provided by CSOs”, said Koprivnikar. Ionut Sibian,
director of the Romanian Civil Society Development Foun-
dation stressed the need for an institution free of political
influence, as well as the importance of complementary lo-
cal financing which decreases the pressure on the state. He
added that half of the state social services are provided by
the CSOs which is a big saving for the state.
The Minister of Justice Renata Deskovska spoke about the
role of the Ministry on this issue and confirmed the open-
ness of the government for cooperation. According to her,
there is a political will, and the sustainability of the civil sec-
tor apart from the direct financial support depends on the
indirect support as well, i.e. from improvements of the other
segments of the legal and tax framework. According to Ire-
na Ivanova from EUD, the CSOs should already think about
the next step in the process, i.e. introduction of quality and
standardization criteria.
“What we need to be more interested in is how the state
mechanisms and distribution of funds do not affect the in-
tegrity of CSOs, while at the same time securing our sus-
tainability”, said Fani Karanfilova-Panovska, the President of
the Council for Cooperation and Development of the Civil
Sector and Director of FOOM.
Emina Nuredinoska from MCIC shared the data for the pe-
riod of 2006-2019 where one can clearly see the growth of
funds and improvements of the environment for CSOs, al-
though they remain insignificant compared to the regional
practices.
STATE FUNDING OF CSOS IS AN INVESTMENT WHICH WILL REPAY MANIFOLD

8. GOOD
GOVERNANCE AND
FIGHTS AGAINST
CORRUPTION

9. “We need a systematic dealing with corruption and estab-
lishing a new value system which is preconditioned by a
clearly established will of the relevant political factors in the
state”, stressed President Pendarovski at the regional forum
called “Delivering on the Promise of EU Enlargement: 30
Years of Governance and Anticorruption Reforms in Central
and Eastern Europe”, which was organized by the Regional
Network for Development and Integrity of Southeast Europe
(SELDI) and the Platform of CSOs for Fight against Corrup-
tion. According to him, the necessary reforms in the area of
rule of law and legal state should not be done to meet the
criteria for EU membership, but to regain the confidence of
the citizens in the institutions and their own state.
At the event there were more than 100 representatives of
CSOs and state institutions from Macedonia and the coun-
tries in the region, and the Minister of Defence Radmila
Shekerinska also gave her support to the civil sector in the
fight against corruption.
SELDI experts presented the Corruption Assessment Report
for Macedonia. According to it, 29.4% of the citizens have
been exposed to corruption pressure and expressed in pop-
ulation almost half million citizens. On the other hand, cor-
ruption remains unpunished, because only 92 people were
convicted for abuse of official power of bribe in 2018, which
is an efficiency of 0.02% discovered and convicted cases by
the institutions. Another disappointed statistics shows that
four out of five citizens (84%) expect increase of the corrup-
tion pressure in the future.
Discussion on the reforms in the judiciary has confirmed that
the changes in this area happen dynamically in all coun-
tries in the Balkans. The representatives of the anticorruption
bodies in the region shared their work experiences so far
and they presented the future challenges. Common for all
of them is the need to build their capacities, lack of coop-
eration with the institutions in charge, lack of their indepen-
dence, as well as the fact that the conflict of interests with
high corruption is not prevented.
The event was also used to open the issues of continuation
of EU enlargement, with simultaneous fulfilment of the good
governance reforms in the Western Balkans. Also, corrup-
tion and state capture were discussed, as the main challenge
for the Western Balkans countries.
The partners worked on implementing the first round
of the Corruption Monitoring System (SSK) to research
state capture via the MACPI State Capture, to prepare
thematic documents and select small grantees. They
were especially active in advocating for policies and
changes in their states. The finds of the research were
shared at a public policy forum in Skopje.
PROGRAM REGIONAL
ANTICORRUPTION
NETWORK
GOAL: Enhance the impact of civil society in public de-
cision-making and reform processes in the Western Bal-
kans in the area of good governance and anti-corruption
through evidence-based advocacy, watchdog and policy
monitoring.
»
RESISTANCE TO CORRUPTION GROWS, BUT PESSIMISM AS WELL

10. There have been three publications issued on the top-
ic of good governance and fight against corruption, the
shadow report on implementation and revision of the
UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Macedo-
nia, the Report on the Approximation of the Macedonian
Legislation to EC Recommendations and the GRECO re-
ports and a final conference was prepared and held.
PROJECT MONITORING
ANTICORRUPTION
REFORMS
GOAL: Promoting the efficiency of CSOs in anti-corrup-
tion reforms related to EU integrations, by monitoring
the implementation of the United Nations Convention
against Corruption (UNCAC).
»
There is a low level of awareness about the regulations of
the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the
involvement in the process of implementation and audit is
partial. This is the general conclusion given at the Forum on
Anticorruption Reforms which was organized by MCIC and
the Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) on
18 June 2019.
The shadow report on the second process of review and im-
plementation of UNCAC in Macedonia also concludes that
the state institutions are not fully transparent, and there is
an inconsistent implementation of the local regulation. The
report concerns the implementation of chapter 2 (prevention
measures) and chapter 5 (property returning).
Mathias Huter from UNCAC coalition spoke about the mea-
sures that are available to the CSOs for exercising pressure
on the states when it comes to prevention and repression
of corruption. “The coalition has more than 350 CSOs from
more than 100 countries that are dedicated to promoting the
ratification, implementation and monitoring of the Conven-
tion”, said he. Pedja Djurashević from Transparency Interna-
tional B&H presented the experience from Bosnia and Herze-
govina, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia
in UNCAC implementation and the revision process.
The study provides an insight into the best practices and les-
sons learned in these countries with a comparative overview
of the involvement of the civil society in the process of revi-
sion of UNCAC.
CSOs with the shadow report recommend the institutions a
consistent implementation of the Law for Prevention of Cor-
ruption and Conflict of Interests, as well as providing full in-
dependence, free of political influence for DKSK. Also, it is
especially important to provide a procedure for determining
the integrity of the judges when reforms in the judicial system
are being implemented. They consider integrity to be a pre-
condition for decreasing corruption and therefore it should
be taken into consideration as one of the basic anti-corrup-
tion measures.
In the introductory part, there were addresses by Oliver Ris-
tovski, Deputy Minister of Justice, Vladimir Georgiev, member
of the State Commission for Corruption Prevention and Freek
Janmaat, Head of the EU Delegation sector.
ANTICORRUPTION REFORM FORUM

11. SOCIAL
INCLUSION
AND
COHESION

12. MCIC built four children playgrounds last year, in “Rampo
Levkata” in Prilep; in the local school “Nikola Karev” in the vil-
lage of Aldinci, municipality of Krushevo; in “Gjorche Petrov”
in the village of Ropotovo, municipality of Dolneni; as well as
the local school “Miladinovci Brothers” in the village of Sopo-
tnica, municipality of Demir Hisar.
The children of these communities that grow tobacco have
various equipment at their disposal: swings, see-saws, spring
toys, toboggans, towers, dynamic bridges and swirls.
Mishe Miloshevski, head of LED department from Demir His-
ar, explained that in the mining settlement in the village of
Sopotnica there are 62 children aged 2 to 10 who use the
school.
“When we started to work on the project, the people were
sceptical because they thought that it was a pre-election
marketing. However, in ten days the project was implement-
ed and the playground started to be used immediately, to
the great pleasure of the citizens”, stressed Miloshevski.
The students of “Rampo Levkata” school in Prilep also have a
covered seating area on top of the playground, where they
could play, but also have part of their classes. The princi-
pal of the school, Menka Adžioska, said that there was a big
difference from the previous situation when the yard was
overgrown with grass and there was a lot of unused areas,
compared to the new infrastructure.
New children playgrounds were built in four primary
schools from local communities where there is pre-
dominant production of oriental tobacco.
PROJECT
EDUCATION
MODERNIZATION
GOAL: Improved learning conditions in schools
»
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE TEACHING

13. The innovativeness and creativity marked the fifth compe-
tition for the primary school students from the municipality
of Krivogashtani and Krushevo under the title “The Smell
of Tobacco which Colours Children’s Games”. The event
was organized by the Macedonian Center for International
Cooperation (MCIC), the municipality of Krivogashtani and
the primary schools “Manchu Matak” from Krivogashtani,
“Jonche Smugreski” from Obrshani, “Strasho Pindžur” from
Malo Konjari and for the first time, “Nikola Karev” from the
municipality of Krushevo.
The students aged 6-14 presented their art work from re-
cycled materials that are used in tobacco growing and in
this way, they raised the awareness with the population on
decreasing child labour and recycling waste material when
processing tobacco. Apart from this, they prepared a theatre
play and recited their works on this topic.
Ivana Karaviloska, a fifth-grade student, said that she was
participating at the competition every year, together with
her friend Elena; however, this time they prepared an inno-
vation – a machine for removing sand from tobacco when
the latter is prepared for ironing. “It is a very interesting when
we see how tobacco materials are brought to life and the
parts that we have put together start to move”, she added.
Her biology teacher, Elena Kadinska, said that she was happy
that the children had the opportunity from earliest age to
direct their creativity and love to innovations with this kind
of opportunities.
Apart from the exhibited part, 40 students competed in four
games with a recycled equipment that they had prepared
themselves, such as balls from tobacco strings and baskets
made of rough bags in which tobacco is packed. The gym
teacher Pece Apostoloski who was the initiator of this idea
said that this was an excellent opportunity for the children
from the region to get to know each other and spend time
together.
“I hope that with MCIC support this event will turn into a
traditional sport competition, which will last longer and mo-
tivate the children to develop their sport spirit and in this
way transfer the message for non-involvement in tobacco
processing”, he stressed.
The education advisor for the municipality of Krivogashtani,
Dejan Kiseloski, stated after the end of the competition that
these events were more than welcome, because they pro-
moted cooperation among the municipalities and schools
from the region.
At the event there were representatives of the tobacco as-
sociations, tobacco byers, local self-government from Krivo-
gashtani and Krushevo, parents, students and teachers.
The abuse of child labour was eliminated in 30 cases.
The operators, together with the field technicians of
the three tobacco companies visited 1,619 tobacco pro-
ducers, whose families gave children, in order to inform
them about the rights and obligations related to using
child labour. In the course of the whole year, a total of
1,090 tobacco growers or workers asked for help of infor-
mation from the operators, 239 of whom called the free
of charge SOS line, 141 directly visited the Krivogashtani
office, and 710 farmers asked their questions during the
field visit. The project is implemented in 31 villages from
the municipalities of Krivogashtani, Dolneni, Krushevo
and Prilep, as well as the towns of Krushevo and Prilep.
PROJECT TOBACCO
PRODUCERS SUPPORT
MECHANISM
GOAL: Eliminating child labour and creating a mecha-
nism to support tobacco growers and workers hired by
them.
»
TOBACCO MATERIALS CAME TO LIFE WITH KRIVOGASHTANI CHILDREN INNOVATIONS

14. Nicol, Erin, Caley, Ewan, Maria, Stephani, Anastasia, Dona
and Luca completed their three week stay in the fatherland
of their ancestors. On 18 July 2019, at the final event, they
told something about their impressions and experience.
“I was in Macedonia in 2013 for the last time”, says Steph-
ani Taskova who lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is satis-
fied that she had the opportunity to have her internship in
the cabinet of Edmond Ademi, Minister without Portfolio, in
charge of the Diaspora issues. “It is very important to main-
tain the relations with the Diaspora”, said she and added that
had loved Macedonia since her childhood and that she felt
at home here.
For Dona Todorovska who lives in Chicago, the USA, “Birth-
right Macedonia” is also an excellent experience. “I would
like to stay here more often”, she said. This student of finance
had her internship in “Efekt Plus”, an accounting and audit
house.
For the other participants, the internship was designed to
be in accordance with their academic goals, their careers or
general interests. The organizations that opened their doors
for the “Birthright Macedonia” participants were also the
Business Accelerator of “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University,
Euro BPO company, CSOs “Societal Civilis” Institute for De-
mocracy, Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers, Centre
for Psychotherapy and Education and the Centre for Street
Children from Shuto Orizari.
During the weekends they visited the surroundings of Sko-
pje, visited Ohrid and they were part of this year’s Galichnik
wedding.
The fifth “Birthright Macedonia” enabled nine young people
to research better their roots. The project was designed and
developed by Peter Dallas, member of the United Mace-
donian Diaspora (UMD) Council who was born in the USA
and originates from Gevgelija and Aegean Macedonia. “We
managed again to bring back young people to their roots”,
he said at the final event.
At the final event, apart from the nine young people from
the USA, Canada and Australia, there were also part of the
participants from previous years, Minister Ademi, USA Am-
bassador in the Republic of North Macedonia Cate Marie
Burns, representatives of the host families and other repre-
sentatives of organizations and institutions.
Nine young people of Macedonian origin who live in the
USA, Australia and Canada have been enabled to learn
something more about their origin by internship and
stay in Macedonia. “Birthright Macedonia” was imple-
mented for a fifth year in a row, and 33 young Macedo-
nians so far, born and living outside the country had the
opportunity to become acquainted with their cultural
heritage and establish contacts and friendships among
themselves and their peers in Macedonia. The activities
are part of “Birthright Macedonia 2019” project which is
implemented for a fifth year in a row by MCIC and Unit-
ed Macedonian Diaspora (UMD). The stay was from 28
June to 19 July.
PROJECT SMALL
DEVELOPMENT
INITIATIVES
GOAL: Creation of a basis for activities of CSOs and mu-
nicipalities for fact-based advocacy, financial sustainabil-
ity, cooperation and sustainable development.
»
“IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN THE RELATIONS WITH THE DIASPORA”

15. PARTNERSHIPS,
PUBLIC RELATIONS
AND
SUPPORT

16. RELATIONS WITH
STAKEHOLDERS
In 2019, the cooperation with the local and foreign CSOs, ministries and state institu-
tions, was done within the regular programs of MCIC.
MCIC representatives participated in several consultative sessions organised by the
government and ministries and government representatives participated in MCIC
events. Such a cooperation also existed with part of the local self-government. With
the business sector, the cooperation has been more intense with Philip Morris, Sokotab
and Alliance One Macedonia with which MCIC had been working on school rehabilita-
tion for 12 years already.
The collaborators also participated in events in the country, region and broader.
SUPPORT - SUSTAINABLE MCIC
»
ACCESS TO FUNDS
MCIC prepared and submitted 9 project concepts,
project applications or applications for expressions of
interest for participation at calls for delivery of ser-
vices. Two were approved, while seven were rejected.
VOLUNTEERING
MCIC continued with their activities to connect the civil
sector with the academy by volunteering and practice.
In 2019 there were 15 interested volunteers, and seven
of them were part of MCIC for several months.
The volunteers had the possibility by being involved in
the implementation of various project activities within
the Civil Society and Good Governance department to
be directly acquainted with the work of MCIC and the
situation with the civil society and political develop-
ments in the country.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
MCIC regularly informed about their activities via sev-
eral information channels. In 2019, there were 12 issues
of MCIC e-bulletin. The Annual Work Report for 2018
was prepared and published and MCIC web page was
fully functional and it has been constantly updated.
Part of the contents is published on other social media
enabling in this way big visibility of the work of MCIC.
In 20198, the web page had 38,450 visits where the
visitors saw 88,474 articles.
MCIC regularly communicated with the media via press
releases, direct contacts at presentations and promo-
tions. The contacts resulted with 428 news items. Most
of them concerned the research related to presidential
and parliamentary elections.

17. MCIC’S COUNCIL
»» Aleksandar Zarkov (SSK)
»» Boban Mitevski (MOC)
»» Vancho Stojanov (Vasilevo municipality)
»» Viktor Arnaudoski (ZELS)
»» German Filkov (CCC)
»» Dragan Sekulovski (AJM)
»» Elena Kochoska (Polio Plus)
»» Irsal Jakupi (IRC)
»» Lulzim Haziri (ADI)
»» Marija Ackovski (EMC))
»» Marko Troshanovski (IDSCS)
»» Nazim Rashidi (Diversity Media)
»» Nikica Kusinikova (Konekt)
»» Rizvan Sulejmani (SB of MCIC)
»» Samet Skenderi (InSok)
»» Sanja Vasić (Telma)
»» Sasho Klekovski
»» Sonja Stefanovska-Trajanoska (UNDP)
»» Toni Zatkovski (Krivogaštani municipality
GOVERNANCE BOARD
»» Rizvan Sulejmani, Chairman, Doctor of
Political Science, Director of the Institute
for Political and Intercultural Studies in
Skopje
»» Elena Kochoska, Deputy Chairperson,
Polio Plus
»» Samet Skenderi, member of the HDZR
“Mesečina” – Gostivar
»» Naser Selmani, former President of the
Association of Journalists of Macedonia
»» Goran Mihajlovski, editor of the Internet
portal “I want to say”
»» Boban Mitevski, Macedonian Orthodox
Church
»» Sanja Vasić, editor of the national
television Telma and a Voice of America
correspondent
ORGANIZATION
MCIC’s Council held one session where 2018 MCIC’s Annual Work Report was
adopted, along with the Financial Report and the Independent Audit Report. An
independent auditor for MCIC for the period of January 2029 to December 2022 was
selected.
There were five sessions of the MCIC’s Governance Board.
»

18. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
First Executive Director
Aleksandar Krzhalovski
akr@mcms.mk
Executive Director
Gonce Jakovleska
gjk@mcms.mk
CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP
Emina Nuredinoska
enr@mcms.mk
Valentina Atanasovska
vat@mcms.mk
Jasmina Ristovska
jrs@mcms.mk
Snezhana Kamilovska Trpovska
skt@mcms.mk
Aleksandra Savevska
asv@mcms.mk
Valentina Chicheva
vch@mcms.mk
Simona Ognenovska
sog@mcms.mk
Darko Dimov
ddm@mcms.mk
Jasmina Chaushoska
jch@mcms.mk
Sara Mustafa
sms@mcms.mk
Natasha Ivanoska
niv@mcms.mk
Fanija Ivanovska
fiv@mcms.mk
Aleksandra Siljanovska
asl@mcms.mk
Aleksandar Kostadinov
aks@mcms.mk
Jelmaz Dervisi
jdr@mcms.mk
Florian Mehmeti
fmh@mcms.mk
Blinera Rexhepi
brd@mcms.mk
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
GROUP
Goran Stamatoski
gst@mcms.mk
INFORMATION GROUP
Boris Ristovski
brs@mcms.mk
ADMINISTRATION
GROUP
Milka Bozhinovska Miova
mmv@mcms.mk
Adis Rahikj
arh@mcms.mk
Borche Jakimovski
bjk@mcms.mk
Danilo MItov
dmv@mcms.mk
PERSONNEL – EXECUTIVE
OFFICE
At the end of 2019, there were 25 people working in MCIC. Less than half of the
employees (11) have indefinite period contracts. In 2019, they attended 13 trainings,
individually or as a group. In October, all employees participated at a two-day
workshop on internal organizational issues, held in Bansko, Republic of Bulgaria.
»

20. REVENUES 2019 2018
DONATIONS AND GRANTS
European Union 37.908 40.205
Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation 22.025 33.743
USA Agency for International Development 0 8.380
United Kingdom Embassy 0 1.295
Tobacco companies 5.602 7.399
Other donors 2.720 2.621
Total donations and grants 68.256 93.642
OWN REVENUES
Macedonian Enterprise Develop. Foundation 2.169 2.209
NIRAS (Civica Mobilitas) 12.155 9.655
Other own revenues 381 270
Total own revenues 14.705 12.133
Interest and positive exchange rates 2.280 1.789
EXTRA REVENUES 525 1.087
TOTAL REVENUES 85.766 108.651
EXPENDITURES 2019 2018
CHARITY EXPENDITURES
Civica Mobilitas (PCM) 26.305 47.613
National Resource Centre (NRC) 5.003 5.510
State Funding for CSOs (DFG) 5.249 4.961
Rooted and Dynamic CS (VDG) 0 4.629
Regional Anti-corruption Network (RMA) 12.470 10.671
Good Governance and Participation (DVP) 1.729 2.441
Social Inclusion and Cohesion (SKH) 6.456 7.889
Expenditures for completed projects 0 2.791
Total Charity Expenditures 57.212 86.505
OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURES
Salaries and benefits for the personnel 20.004 19.398
Other operational expenditures 9.769 10.697
Total operational expenditures 29.773 30.095
TOTAL EXPENDITURES 86.985 116.600
BALANCE prior to taxation -1.219 -7.949
Tax on surplus of revenues over expend. 165 0
BALANCE -1.384 -7.949
BALANCE STATEMENT 2019 2018
ASSETS
Fixed Assets
Capital Assets 8.090 10.442
Non-material Investments 960 960
Housing Funds 3.210 4.120
Total Fixed Assets 12.261 15.522
Current Assets
Cash and Cash Equivalents 1.654 5.793
Advance Payments 45 39
Accounts Receivables 6.771 2.468
Short-term Receivables 92.475 73.170
Other Receivables 14.987 15.765
Total Current Assets 115.932 97.236
TOTAL ASSETS 128.193 112.757
LIABILITIES AND FUNDS
Short-term Liabilities
Accounts Payables 2.305 738
Other Short-term Liabilities 3.824 665
Total Short-term Liabilities 6.129 1.403
Time-apportionment Claims 16.544 0
Deferred Revenues 15.858 20.308
Total Liabilities 38.531 21.711
Funds and Reserves
Funds 91.046 98.995
Assets/Liabilities Ratio -1.384 -7.949
Total Funds and Reserves 89.662 91.046
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND FUNDS 128.193 112.757
FINANCIAL REPORT
»

21. Publisher
Macedonian Center for
International Cooperation
Address of the Publisher
Macedonian Center for
International Cooperation,
Nikola Parapunov str., no.
41a, PO Box 55, 1060 Skopje,
Republic of Macedonia
Contact
Теl.: 02/3065-381
Fax: 02/3065-298
mcms@mcms.mk
www.mcms.mk
facebook.com/mcms.mk
First Executive Director
Aleksandar Krzalovski
Executive Director
Gonce Jakovleska
Responsible editor
Gonce Jakovleska
Preparation
Aleksandra Siljanovska
Photos
MCIC Photo Archive
Graphic Design
Boris Ristovski