About MEC
The project aims at improving the interethnic relations and strengthening the institutions of the system, in order to strengthen democracy in Macedonia and accelerate the process of EU accession.
Specific objectives of the project include the improvement of the capacities of the members of the Commissions for Interethnic Relations (CIRs) so that they would be more efficient, increase their visibility and ability to work within the frames of their legally determined competencies, through the use of new technologies.
The following specific areas will be covered by:
- Creating a communication platform for the CIRs - internally between the current members, between CIRs from various municipalities and the citizens, along with procedures and practices for use of this platform (an online information system) and additional offline activities.
- Assisting the establishment of an institutional memory for CIRs through an archive of cases and decisions, as well as instructions and guidelines on the rights and obligations of CIRs, available to both the municipal administration and the citizens in general.
- The platform will be used in 4 pilot municipalities, but will be available to all other municipalities, during and after the project completion, ensuring sustainability and an effect of replication.
The stakeholders involved in the action include:
Direct beneficiaries from the four model municipalities covered with trainings and other direct interventions: CIR members; Municipal administration (Mayors, Municipal Council presidents and leading members, municipal staff); Local journalists; Representatives of local NGOs which deal with interethnic issues, decentralisation, or governance. In addition, stakeholders include political parties and the central government. Local citizens and groups are also relevant stakeholders to the project.
In addition, the various categories of direct and indirect beneficiaries are also necessarily stakeholders, such as:
- Other beneficiaries from the four model municipalities – to be included through invitations at the public events taking place within their local communities:
- Prominent community members (intellectuals and educators, religious leaders, respectable businesspersons) and all citizens, who will be invited to participate through announcements in the local media, posters, municipal websites, the Information System and through all other means at project team's disposal;
- Indirect beneficiaries who will be targeted for dissemination of project results and experiences through the internet, via media conferences, and the other public events, especially the closing conference:
- CIR members from the other municipalities which must (total of 21) or have voluntarily established CIRs (total of 3 so far), as well as the Mayors and other leading community members.
- Decision makers at the national level (MPs, ZELS, NALAS, Secretariat for European Affairs, Ministry of Local Self-Government, Ministry of Information Society, etc).
- Opinion makers at national level
- International entities interested in Macedonia or issues covered by the project
Major components of the action:
- Capacity strengthening of the CIRs through trainings, technical assistance and development of (digital) infrastructure in order to create conditions for an easy, modern citizen – CIR communication.
- Advocacy component aiming to promote the visibility of the strengthened and equipped CIRs, to familiarize citizens with CIRs, and to encourage them to turn to the CIRs with issues of relevance to interethnic relations in their communities.
Project objectives:
- increasing the accessibility of the competent organs of the local administration to the citizen through digitalization as a means for a facilitated, modern form of communication
- improvement in transparency: relevant information will be made public and easily accessible by the citizen
- Creation of a digital platform that fully subscribes to the modern concept for e-democracy: it is designed to be the electronic backbone of the system for management of interethnic relations at the level closest to the citizen (principle of subsidiarity)
- Education of CIR members about the basics of the protection of minority rights and diversity management and
- Increased inclusion of the citizens in the new, digitalized CIRs
The duration of the project is 12 months, (December 22, 2009 - December 22, 2010)
The total budget of the project is 82,000.00 euros.
