The project aims at increasing the engagement of external stakeholders (citizens, civil society organizations and local media) in the design and monitoring of local budgets and public procurement.

The main activities of the project include: 1) Analysis of the existing budget documents, practices and civic engagement; 2) Devising recommendations for policymakers; 3) Capacity building for implementation and monitoring of local procurement; and 4) Advocacy in public.

The planned activities are expected to result in: 1) Qualitative assessment of the design and transparency of local budgets in the three municipalities; 2) Familiarizing key stakeholders with the need to reform the process of drafting and publication of budget documents; 3) Building capacity of the civil society, local media and public administration for implementation and monitoring of public procurement; 4) Increased public awareness for the need of and the possibility for civil society participation in the process of devising local budgets and the way municipal money is spent.

 

Duration: 2017-2018 (12 months)

Donor: Project WEBER through the European Policy Institute, Skopje

 

The overall purpose of the project is to enhance local-stakeholders’ practice and participation in the local budgeting process and to increase the effectiveness of the municipal-money spending.

 

The particular objectives/tasks of the project include:

• To increase participation of local stakeholders – civil society, business community, citizens, local media – in the municipal-budgeting processes;
• To increase awareness of local citizens for how spending of municipal money affects their quality of life;
• To increase the credibility and effectiveness of local governments’ decisions related to the spending of public money, as well raise awareness for the (need for) transparency related to it.

For attaining project’s purpose, 6 members of the network (plus Finance Think) will represent the core of the entire network. These were carefully selected from the pool of the FISCAST network, based on two criteria: 1) FISCAST members who have had experience with particular municipalities; and 2) FISCAST members who have had a decent cooperation with Finance Think (and within the network in general) in the past (in terms of quality of deliverables, timeliness, responsiveness and so on. The following FISCAST members provided their written consent and these are the initial municipalities to be covered:

• Kvantum Prima – Kavadarci, to cover: Kavadarci, Negotino
• ZIP Institue – Skopje, to cover: Saraj, Gjorce Petrov
• EGRI Graganski Centar za odrzliv razvoj – Kriva Palanka, to cover two or three of: Kriva Palanka, Kumanovo, Staro Nagoricane
• Inicijativen Glas – Prilep, to cover: Prilep, Krivogastani
• IMPACT Institute – Skopje, to cover: Strumica
• Center for Change Management (CUP) – Skopje, to cover: Centar, Gjorce Petrov (shared with ZIP)
• Finance Think: Krushevo, Centar (shared with CUP)

 

Duration: May 2017 – May 2020

Donor: USAID Civic Engagement Project through the East West Management Institute

 

 

The main objective of the project is to increase the transparency and efficiency of the use of budget funds within municipalities.

Short-term goals include:

• Increasing the awareness of citizens about the budget spending in the municipalities;
• Raising the awareness of citizens about the effectiveness of the spending of the budgetary funds in their municipality, compared to other municipalities;
• Identifying the purpose of the budget spending: development goals or current consumption.

The research covers the 15 largest, according to residents, municipalities in Macedonia.

 

Donor: Metamorphosis Foundation, in partnership with MCET and Reactor, within IPA Civil Society Facility.

Duration: 2014 (5 months)

 

Web tool “Sledi gi parite”

Analysis – Working paper

Policy brief 8: Local development or current consumption: For what purpose are municipal money spent for?