As of May 30, 2017 year. until now, the “National Rural Parliament as a voice of Rural Citizens – NRP” project, organized 4 meetings with CSOs in four planning regions: Southeast, East, Southwest and Polog region, in order to encourage them to discuss the possibilities for their greater involvement in creation of policies related to rural development and to identify CSOs that work actively in the field of rural development. A total of 70 representatives of CSOs attended the meetings organized in: Pehchevo, Strumica, Struga and Tetovo.
By the end of June, the project will organize 4 more meetings with civil society organizations, to present the future planned activities and to encourage more active participation of the organizations in the process of capacity building for networking and advocacy. In this way, the project aims at strengthening the influence of civil society through its involvement in the development of public policies, civil dialogue and decision making to improve the living conditions in rural areas.
The implementation of the “National Rural Parliament as a Voice of Rural Citizens – NRP”, funded by the European Union, started in March 2017, by the three partner organizations: Connecting Natural Values and People Foundation (CNVP), the Rural Development Network of the Republic of Macedonia (RDN of RM) and Action for Rural Development (ARD). It is anticipated the project activities to include 40 local organizations in rural areas, approximately 5 CSOs in each of the 8 regions in Macedonia, including minorities and different ethnic groups. The main method of work will be training, coaching and practical learning, which will encourage greater participation by the rural CSOs in the decision-making processes and creating strategic partnerships with local and national authorities.