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Consumers Organization of Macedonia (COM), Skopje
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COM is the recognized leader within Macedonia on the issue of consumer protection, and operates via a head office in Skopje, four branches and five affiliate organizations around the country. Its consumer protection work focuses on legislation, housing, nutrition, patients’ rights, energy and public companies, and education of young consumers. Through its project COM will work to increase consumer protection in the area of public service provision, including electricity and water supply, heating, landline phone service and communal services. It will conduct a survey to determine the situation, and will propose guidelines for improvement of public service provision on national and local level. The guidelines will include recommendations on enabling access to public services by marginalized groups. COM’s expertise in a number of consumer-related issues is also a valuable potential resource to the civil sector: for example, health advocacy NGOs may benefit from COM’s perspective gained from its work on the Patients’ Rights Law.
http://www.opm.org.mk
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Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women
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ESE was established in February 1995. The strategic program priorities of ESE are: women’s rights, women and health, and women in the politics and decision-making structures. ESE has been working intensively in the area of combating domestic violence, focusing its activities on raising public awareness about the problem of domestic violence, and trying to obtain empirical data on its prevalence, nature, types and consequences. In 2000 ESE conducted the first scientific research, titled “Gray Numbers of Domestic Violence”, that provided the basis for further substantive efforts for addressing the issue. The biggest achievement of ESE has been the change of legislation to address domestic violence, more specifically changes and amendments to the Criminal Code, and the Family Law, which were enacted in March 2004, and in June 2005 respectively. ESE’s project will work closely with Macedonia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to prepare a plan for combating family violence. ESE will conduct extensive research during the first year of the project. The plan will be developed in consultation with the various organizations, agencies and individuals working in this issue.
http://www.esem.org.mk
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Centre for Balkan Cooperation LOJA
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LOJA was established in 2000. The mission of Loja is promotion of democracy and civil society by creating new ways of communication and engaging members from different communities. Loja efforts have been especially focused on strengthening inter-ethnic youth cooperation through educational and cultural activities that include alternative and creative methods. The organization has four staff members on full-time basis, one external consultant on full-time base, five persons on part-time bases and 30 volunteers. LOJA’s project will work closely with Macedonia’s Ministry of Education to create a teacher-training program so that teachers will be better able to work with students from different ethnicities. Loja will also work closely with the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius Skopje, South East European University Tetovo, and Tetovo University. The project will try to have the training program formally accepted by the Ministry of Education and included in future teacher training curriculum. The project will also include funding to support multi-cultural youth activities in schools in Tetovo, and at Faculties of Pedagogy.
http://www.cbcloja.org.mk
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