МЕК

The Civil Association Community Development Institute (CDI), organized a national conference on December 21, 2011 at the "EU Info Centre" in Skopje under the project "BONA MENTE: Supporting the Commissions for Interethnic Relations CIRs" implemented by CDI in the past 11 months with financial support from the European Union, through the IPA of 2008.  

As part of the activities of the project ‘Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens – MEC’, including the Conference ‘How to make the CIRs more efficient’ and in synergy with the research activities of Ms. Aisling Lyon, (PhD candidate, Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom), a survey was conducted for the CIR members. The purpose of this short survey was to collect information about how the members of the CIRs view their work in promoting positive relations between the communities on a local level.

A total of 26 members of the Commissions for Interethnic Relations from 11 municipalities responded to the survey.

It is important to note that the respondents of this survey do not constitute a representative sample of all members of the CIRs in the Macedonian municipalities. The analysis contained in the following sections cannot be generalized and should be considered as only an approximate impression about how some of the members of the Commissions for Interethnic Relations view the work they are doing. Since the survey included respondents that participated in the MEC project, as well as respondents that did not, there are significant differences between the responses of these two groups to the questions in the survey.

The survey results are available in Маcedonian, Albanian and English.

The closing conference of the project "Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens (MEC)” implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and CA Common Values and supported by the European Union was held on March 9, 2011.

The conference with a topic ‘How to make the Commissions for Interethnic Relations more efficient?’ focused on sharing the experiences from the MEC project, and the knowledge of all stakeholders working on the development of local democracy and interethnic relations.

Keynote speeches at the conference were delivered by Mr. Robin Liddell, Minister Counselor, Head of Section for Political & Justice and Home Affairs Issues, Information and Communication; Delegation of the European Union who stressed the importance of promoting inter-ethnic relations in the context of the process of EU integration, and Mr. Abdulakjim Ademi, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic in charge of implementation of the Ohrid FrameworkAgreement noted "we have concluded that these commissions do not have the sufficient capacity and these conferences aim to strengthen the capacities of the commissions. I’m calling the mayors and municipal councils to provide more opportunities and resources for these commissions to function and to discuss all issues related to interethnic relations on a local level".

An electronic system for archiving cases that the Commissions for Interethnic Relations will come across during their work was created as part of the project ‘Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens (MEC)’. In order to properly and effectively use the Archive, short trainings were organized for the CIR members in each of the four municipalities covered by the MEC project. During the training, the archiving system was presented in detail, starting from the way of logging in and creating their own user accounts, to explanations provided to the users about the individual sections of the form comprised by the Archive, saving the form, and searching through the already entered cases. Trainings took place in the following order:

• CIR Chair, on 04.02.2011 in the premises of the municipality, attended by 4 members of the Commission for Interethnic Relations, as well as the responsible person from the municipality Ms. Leyla Alilovska,
• CIR Tetovo, on 25.02.2011 in the premises of the municipality, attended by one member of the Commission, Mr. Blagoja Mirchevski, as well as the responsible person from the municipality, Mr. Tahir Zejneli,
• CIR Gostivar, on 04.03.2011 in the premises of the municipality, attended by the responsible person from the municipality, Ms. Nita Kaproli,
• CIR Debar, on 04.03.2011 in the premises of the municipality, attended by the president of the Commission for Interethnic Relations from Debar, Mr. Shanija Ajrovski.

The event was organized within the framework of the project ‘Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens’ (MEC)’, financed by the European Union.

The closing conference of the project "Model for Efficient Communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the Citizens (MEC)”, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and CA Common Values with the support of the European Union will take place on Tuesday, March 9, 2011.The topic of the conference is "How to have more efficient Commissions for Interethnic Relations (CIR)?" and it is taking place in the Holiday Inn hotel in Skopje.

• Draft agenda of the Conference

The opening ceremony with participation of senior representatives of the EU Delegation and the Government of RM is scheduled for 10:00h. Keynote speeches will be delivered during the working part of the event, followed by debates until 14:00h.

The purpose of the event will be to provide an opportunity to share the experiences acquired during the implementation of the MEC project as well as the information of all the stakeholders working on the development of local democracy and interethnic relations. Mayors, representatives of the municipal administration and representatives of the Commissions from 4 pilot municipalities (Gostivar, Debar, Tetovo and Chair) covered with the MEC project will participate at the conference, as well as representatives of other multiethnic municipalities required to have a CIR, and decision makers from the central and local government, ZELS, the diplomatic corps, development agencies, civil society organizations, experts in the field of decentralization and human rights from the country and abroad, and the media.

You can confirm participation at the conference online at http://mek.mk/mk/prijavuvanje or by directly contacting Ms. Frosina Tasevska via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone/fax: 02/3109-325.

The seminar ‘Joint preparatory workshop’ was held on February 19-20, in the hotel ‘Drim’ - Struga, within the framework of the project "Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens (MEC)".

The seminar was attended by 12 members and municipal officials from the Commissions for Interethnic Relations from the four model municipalities: Chair, Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar.

The seminar ‘Joint preparatory workshop’ will be held on February 19-20, in the hotel ‘Drim’ - Struga, within the framework of the project "Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens (MEC)".

The seminar is to be attended by members of the Commissions for Interethnic Relations from the four model municipalities, and one municipal official responsible for the MEC project from each of the municipalities.

The seminar is actually a joint preparatory workshop in which attendees will have the opportunity to summarize the activities conducted and the results achieved, to discuss the draft guide for the CIRs, to enter cases from their practice in the information system at www.mek.mk, and to prepare themselves for the conference that is to be held on March 9, 2011.

The seminar will also include individual meetings between the Commissions and the MEC project evaluator, Ms. Vesna Shkortova.

Computer literacy trainings were conducted in three municipalities included in the project ‘Model for efficient communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the citizens’ in December 2010. The trainings were primarily intended for members of the Commissions, but were also attended by other representatives of the municipalities.

Metamorphosis Foundation announces a call requesting bids from supplier(s) of consulting services for an external impact assessment for the project "Model for Efficient Communication between the Commissions for Interethnic Relations and the Citizens" (MEC) - www.mek.mk (2010).

The project activities are underway, and the impact assessment should be performed after their completion on March 22, 2011.

By the end of October 2010 the equipping of the offices of the Commissions for Interethnic Relations (CIR) in the municipalities covered by the MEC project: Tetovo, Gostivar, Debar and Chair was completed. The equipment was donated by several civil society organizations to assist the establishment of CIR offices as a means for a more efficient communication with the citizens.

• Two computers, communication equipment, books and other office supplies and promotional material were donated to the CIR office in Debar.
• Two computers, a desktop and a laptop, as well as communication equipment, furniture, books and promotional material were donated to the CIR office in Gostivar.
• The CIR office in Tetovo received two computers, furniture and communication equipment, books and promotional material.
• The CIR from the municipality of Chair received two computers and promotional material - posters and flyers.