the former Yugoslav Republic of MACEDONIA

14 May 2012 - The construction of a 3km local road connecting the municipalities of Zelenikovo and Petrovec on the outskirts of Skopje has just been completed. “Thanks to the joint efforts and cooperation between our two municipalities, the citizens will only need 10 minutes to get to Zelenikovo from Petrovec. Before they had to travel for 40 minutes”, Petrovec Mayor Mitevski said.

The municipalities of Zelenkovo and Petrovec are among the 62 municipalities that have already benefited from the Inter Municipal Cooperation Programme, implemented by UNDP and the Government with the generous funding from Norway.

“Zelenikovo and Petrovec are two rural municipalities with a lot of technical issues, and it is only through inter-municipal cooperation that we have been able to overcome this lack of capacity”, says DejanDimitrovski, Local Economic Development Coordinator in the municipality of Zelenikovo.

“With the grant we received through this UNDP Programme, we developed a Strategy for Local Economic Development of the Zelenikovo-Petrovec region.We also organized several trainings for citizens from both municipalities, mainly in the area of advice and documentation for applying for EU and other funds, to help them increase their businesses or agricultural production”.

Inter-municipal cooperation has already brought tangible benefits for local administration and citizens in terms of enriched and improved IT based services in such areas as tax collection, urban planning and financial management.

And in addition to greater cost-effectiveness and better service provision, such cooperation has made it possible for municipalities, big and small, to get closer to local people and reach out to even the most vulnerable groups.

Highlights of Inter Municipal Cooperation Programme:

• 800,000 people have benefited from better public services.
• 3/4 of all municipalities in the country participate in inter-municipal cooperation.
• Comprehensive training programme delivered to more than 800 municipal officials
• Tax collection rates in participating municipalities have increased by up to 60 percent.
• Public expenditures have fallen, partly through staff reductions.