Macedonian NGOs Face Mass Cull

Skopje | Photo by: Balkan Insight

Macedonian NGOs face a radical cut in numbers after only 3,500 of some 11,700 NGOs existing in 2010 re-registered, meaning that the rest will cease to exist at the year’s end.

Insiders say donors have tightened donations to the civil society sector as global financial difficulties force constraints.

Some say the process could be beneficial as smaller NGOs disappear, making space for more capable and energetic groups to flourish.

“We may have thousands of NGO’s but what is good of that if they are uninfluential and largely inactive?” Zoran Stojkovski, head of the Centre for Institutional Development, asked.

He says that many of the NGOs that did not re-register are very small organizations with few members and no impact on the community.

“What’s important is the survival of those organizations that have produced results from their work,” Stojkovski said.

Macedonia this year made it obligatory for NGOs as well as companies to register again with the Central Registry. This move was designed to get rid of inactive legal entities that have served as a mere blip on the statistics.

Gordan Kalajdziev, head of the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, says that funds for many NGOs have shrunk this year compared to previous years. Many large donors, such as once generous governments of Scandinavian countries, are cutting funds.

“Scandinavian countries are traditional sponsors of the civil sector when it comes to human rights protection but at the moment their focus is outside the [Balkan] region,” he said.

He also argues that the quality of the civil sector is more important than the quantity of organisations.

According to the latest statistics from the National Statistical Office for 2009, 92 million euros poured into the non-governmental sector that year, which experts say is enough for a country of 2.1 million people.

Fresh data for 2010 and 2011 are not yet available, but insiders say the money this year is significantly down, with a prospect of even less money in future.

The Norwegian embassy in Macedonia, a significant NGO donor, recently announced the closure of its premises in Skopje.

Observers also expect the retreat from the country of the Swedish Agency for International Development. Many projects funded by the US, British and Swiss donors are being cut.

The hope is that some of the funds will be replaced by the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance funds.

However, some NGOs fear this might lead to a tighter government control over the civil sector as this money will be entrusted to the state to re-distribute.