Selection of Media that Made the Greatest Contribution to the Development of Civil Society in 2006

The Macedonian Institute for the Media (MIM) and the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) announced the start of the selection process for the media outlet that made the greatest contribution to the development of civil society in 2006. Vesna Stamenkovska from ICS and Mihajlo Lahtov from MIM at the press conference at the NGO Infocentre. The process started yesterday, September 12, 2006, and votes will be accepted by December 10, 2006. The Winner of the Award will be announced at the end of the year. All registered non-governmental organizations, foundations and offices of international organization will be eligible to cast their votes. The voting form should be completed by the director of the respective organization or the person responsible for public relations. Each individual organization may cast a single vote. “We aim to strengthen the role of the NGO sector and to bring it to the level reserved for political and business elites in the country”, said Mihajlo Lahtov, MIM Project Coordinator, at the launch of the contest. He said that all interested NGOs can receive detailed information about the selection process on the special link (http://www.mim.org.mk/mim/pages/common/database/commertials/glasanje.html), easily accessible through MIM’s website (www.mim.org.mk). The selection of the Media that made the greatest contribution to the development of civil society in 2006 is conducted under the framework of the Civil Society Strengthening Project. The three-year project is financed by USAID and is implemented by a consortium lead by the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ICS), Macedonian Institute for the Media (MIM), the Centre for Institutional Development (CIRa) and the European Centre for Non-Profit Law (ECNL). The mission of the project is to increase the civic participation in the decision-making processes on political and social levels, through expansion and deepening of civil society’s influence. Vesna Stamenkovska from ICS explained that the aim of the project is to improve the capacities of the NGO sector through development of a greater number of professional organizations that will represent the interests of the citizens of Macedonia. The activities of the project are mainly directed towards improved environment for the work of the NGOs and the possibilities for their continuous functioning.