the former Yugoslav Republic of MACEDONIA

12 July 2012: Thought-provoking findings about public perceptions of the country’s social services and recent policy reforms made for interesting discussion at a meeting held in Krushevo as part of the Social Services for Social Development and Cohesion project aimed at supporting inclusive local development and improving the financing of local services.

Organized by UNDP in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the South-Eastern European University, the two-day meeting was attended by more than 90 local stakeholders from the pilot municipalities of Krushevo, Konche, Cair and Jegunovce, mayors from the relevant ZELS Commissions, as well as members of national coordination bodies such as the Decentralization Working Group and the Commission for Inter-Municipal Cooperation.

The findings are from a detailed survey carried out by experts from the South-Eastern European University in the four pilot municipalities. The survey forms part of a wider report entitled Citizens’ Responses for Improvement of Local Policies. ‘The questionnaire for measuring the satisfaction of the citizens with the quality of local services can be used on a regular basis,’ said Toni Popovski, UNDP Coordinator for Decentralization and Local Development Initiatives, ‘not only by the four pilot municipalities but by all municipalities in the country.’

The survey found that citizens in all four municipalities see the development of the local economy and public infrastructure as challenges that urgently need to be addressed by their local authorities. Respondents pointed out that insufficient allocation of funds for local economic development in the budgets of these municipalities, combined with high unemployment, have led to a high level of local dependence on state interventions.

Local action is possible and called for, nonetheless, to encourage greater cooperation amongst municipalities and in the private sector in support of productive economic activities at micro-region level. 

Other significant results from the survey include comparative data on public perceptions of proposed reforms to integrate education and further decentralize services for social protection and childcare.

Support for the concept of integrated education differed according to the ethnic composition of each municipality. Greatest resistance to the concept was evident in municipalities with balanced ethnic communities while the highest support was found where there was a clear ethnic majority. Such data will need to be taken into account in the process of introducing integrated education.

Public attitudes towards the further decentralization of social protection and childcare services also differed significantly, with citizens from the urban municipality of Cair declaring greater confidence in the central government as a provider of these services while those from the three rural municipalities expressed more trust in local authorities. In all four municipalities, however, there is an evident lack of confidence in civil society organizations and the private sector as service providers. This data needs to be considered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in the process of deinstitutionalizing social protection and childcare services.  

The meeting also included a presentation by the Association of Financing Officers of the first drafts of local plans for inclusive development and multi-annual capital investments. Prepared with the participation of local community-based planning groups, these plans are a direct response to the perceptions and proposals of citizens in the municipalities and are aimed at mobilizing local social capital and creating social and public-private partnerships and socially responsible entrepreneurship. ‘The innovative format of the Plans for local inclusive development and public capital investments have great replication potential,’ said the UNDP Coordinator for Decentralization and Local Development Initiatives.

Other highlights of the first day’s meeting included a presentation of the Krushevo Ethno-City project, one of the country’s most successful projects for local development through culture, while the second day involved events to raise awareness of the importance of local services and of opportunities for the community to participate in delivering such services. These events included a clean-up campaign organized in cooperation with the local Public Communal Enterprise in which participants from the meeting helped to clear litter from the area surrounding Lake Krushevo.