Macedonia: Legislation is In Place, Public Funding Still Scarce
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The citizens, through their activities, contribute to the more comprehensive social development and improved quality and standards of living. The development of the civil sector is of utmost importance for the fundamental, democratic and pluralistic values of a country, as well as to promote the civil awareness for a wider social engagement.
There is no universally accepted definition for the civil organizations. However, according the UN definition, the civic organizations are ”...non-profit, voluntary citizens’ groups organized on local, national and international levels, with the aim to raise questions of public interest. Goal-oriented and created by people sharing common interests, they provide a variety of services and humanitarian functions, represent the needs of the citizens in front of the governments, monitor policies and implementation of programmes and support the participation of civil sector on community level”. The legislation is one of the foundations that provide for the functioning of civic organizations. It is important for the law that regulates the functioning of nongovernmental organizations to be flexible and non-restrictive and to protect their independence. It has to provide for simple and straightforward implementation, primarily in terms of establishment and registration, thus promoting the creation of non-governmental organizations. Judging from the text of the 1998 Law on Citizens’ Associations and Foundations, the citizens are able to create civic associations and foundations. These are the two main forms of non-profit organizations, their existence related to association of people (into associations) or funds (into foundations), with the exclusive goal to achieve the statutory (but also legally and constitutionally) defined goals, rights, interests and convictions. The Constitution and the laws in the Republic of Macedonia don’t present any prohibitions or restrictions in terms of activities that could be pursued by citizens’ associations and foundation, with the few exceptions listed by Law. An association may be established by at least five citizens of voting age, who are citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. A foundation may be founded by on or more founders, and the founding capital shall be no less than 5,000.00 EUR in Denar counter-value, at the exchange rate for the day of the registration, as determined by the National Bank of Macedonia. The registration procedure is rather simple, straightforward and relatively short, taking between 30 and 60 days to complete. The citizens’ associations and foundations are obligated to submit an application at the registry office within 30 days from the day the founding acts were adopted. The Court of Registry shall adopt a decision for entry in the Registry within 30 of the day of submission of application. Certified copy of the decision shall be presented to the applicant within three days of the adoption of the decision. At this moment, there are approximately 6,000 registered citizens’ associations and organizations registered in Macedonia. Institutional Dimension The initiative to establishe the Department for cooperation with NGOs adopted by the Government in November 2004, demonstrates its will to establish relationship of trust and cooperation with the civil sector. The Rulebook on Internal Organization of the General Secretariat of the Government lists the tasks and obligations of the Department:
In addition to the Department, there are two other bodies that work on strengthening the NGO sector in the country, the Macedonian Women Loby and the Parliamentary Lobby Group for Promotion of Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Participation in Policy-Creation Over the past several years, associations and foundations have proved themselves as very successful in terms of public policy creation, in cooperation with the institutions of the state, especially in terms of treatment of issues important to individual groups, such as women, the Roma, disabled persons, environmental protection, social welfare, etc. Similar cooperation very much applies to the preparation of legislation and national strategies on a number of issues and/or in cases of emergency (humanitarian) activities. A number of laws were changed or adopted upon initiatives started by civic organizations: the Law on Welfare and Law on Family; Law on Citizenship; Asylum Law; several laws regulating the rights of children and disabled persons; the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests; the Law on Free Access to Infomation; Law on Donations and Sponsorship (source: Strategy for Cooperation with Civic Organizations). The civil sector also played an important role in the preparation of a number of strategies in a variety of fields, including the National Education Strategy (2006); National Strategy for Information Society (2005); National Poverty Reduction Strategy (2002); the Strategy for the Roma (2004); National Sustainable Development Report (2002), etc. Strategy Documents Aiming to improve its cooperation with the civic organizations, to assist their development and strengthen the important role they have in terms of satisfaction of citizens’ needs and representation of civic activities, the General Secretariat of the Government adopted the Strategy for Cooperation with the Civil Sector and the Action Plan for its cooperation. The Strategy covers the period 2007-2011. The civil organizations were actively involved in the preparation and their remarks, suggestions and proposals were integrated in the Strategy. The measures listed in the Strategy refer directly to the associations and foundations, as part of the organizations that constitute the civil sector. The adoption of the Strategy was a legal obligation of the Government to promote the development of civil society, as an important democracy watchdog. The Action Plan, on the other hand, lists concrete deadlines for implementation of activities, such as improved state financing framework, which should be adopted in 2007 and the active participation of civic organizations’ representatives in state advisory and other bodies (2007-2008). When and how will the Government implement these measures and activities remains to be seen. Financing of Civil Organizations The legislation provides opportunity for civic associations and foundations to receive funding from the state, in accordance with legally defined procedure. At this moment, the Government funds foundations and civic associations from several sources: a) Each year, the Goverment allocates funds from the Budget, in accordance with the Decision on Criteria and Procedure for Distribution of Finances to Foundations and Civic Associations. The total allocated funds under this programme are 15.000.000 Denars (approximately 244,000 EUR), or less than 1% of the Budget. The Ministry of Finance published a public call for proposals, and a Government Commission decides which organizations will receive funding. The list of organizations that won funding is published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Macedonia. The procedure for allocation is conducted along a set of criteria set in advance, and is restricted to a limited group of activities, primarily sports and cultural institutions. Having in mind the fact that associations and foundations are now active in a wider area of activities which the state is interested in supporting, there is a rising need to expand and improve these criteria and procedures. Also, a need was identified to secure greater accountability of organizations in terms of spending, to ensure that the funds are used for the exact purpose for which they were allocated. b) Funds are also distributed through the budgets of Government ministries and other institutions. For instance, the Youth and Sports Agency has a fund to support civic organizations’ projects. There are innovations in the new Law on Social Welfare, which provides that services provided by the civil sector will be contracted by the Government. The first examples appeared in 2001, when a some civic organizations, acting on the behalf of Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, accepted IDPs in their collective centres. These more instrumental approaches to the civil society shall be based on increased finances secured through delivery of contracted services, according to set criteria and effect indicators. Actually, the process of licensing of NGOs that want to be professionally engaged in the social field, for which they will receive funds from the Budget, is already under way. Still, care should be taken for civic organizations to avoid becoming totally dependent on Government funding. c) The Government allocates funds on the basis of the 2001 Law on Lottery and Games of Chance (and its 2002 amendments). Each year, it adopts a decision for redistribution of funds collected from lottery and games of chance earnings, usually to sports organizations, Union of Organizations of Disabled Persons and the Red Cross. Lottery and games of chance are an important source of support for civic organizations in the countries of the region. Therefore, there is a need to establish a database of comparative experiences and to consider the possibility to amend the Decision and expand the circle of organizations that will be eligible for funding. Tax Policies, Promotion of Charitable Work and Volunteering The state assists the civil sector not only through direct financing from the Budget, but also through adoption of appropriate tax policies. In that regard, the existing legislation provides a series of solutions aimed at promoting the work of the civic associations and foundations. For instance, the 2006 Law on Donations and Sponsorship in Public Domain proposes tax rebates for private persons and business entities for donations and sponsorships given to civic organizations that work in the area of public interests. Also, the Law on VAT relieves from import taxation the goods donated from foreign donors to domestic civic organizations. These positive trends impose the need to review the existing tax legislation framework and to define new directions, in accordance with EU directives, regional good practices and local situation, in order to provide conditions for improved work of the civic organizations. The EU takes the same route in its Stabilization and Association Reports on Macedonia from 2002, 2003 and 2004, in which it estimates that the financing of civic organizations is weak, there are no legal provisions on tax treatment and stimulation of civic associations and foundations, as well as that the legal framework should promote their development much better. The Government also emphasized, on several occasions, the importance of volunteering as an important segment in society, since it enables the citizens to make direct contributions to community development. Civic organizations in Macedonia and the region increasingly rely on volunteers to implement their activities, while the countries of the European Union have already adopted legislation designed to promote volunteering and provide mobility of volunteers. |
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