Projects

The PSP will support the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia (the Assembly) independence efforts through consensus-building, structural reform, and capacity building in the Assembly’s institutional development; its legislative and oversight roles; and its institutional transparency and accountability.

The PSP will be implemented by the National Democratic Institute, Center for Change Management and the Institute for Democracy Societas Civilis Skopje to support the Assembly’s strategic planning; human resources management reforms; improved regulatory impact assessment and procurement processes; commitment to open data, and, by gauging public opinion and monitoring reform efforts, including greater civic engagement in policy-making processes.

Corruption and patronage in North Macedonia persist, eroding citizen and investor trust in institutions, diminishing accountability and transparency, hindering economic growth, and contributing to political fragility and instability. Corruption reduces economic opportunities for citizens and is the primary driver of nation-wide out-migration. Corruption prevails because authorities do not act to implement reforms or address corruption when it occurs, and institutions struggle with ineffective processes and insufficient resources. According to reports on public perception, the justice system does not treat everyone equally before the law and undue political influence prevents justice in corruption cases. Further, citizens and businesses believe corruption is an ingrained part of life and do not do enough to demand more.

This activity supports the government and other anti-corruption entities to take action in addressing corruption when it occurs. The activity works in equal partnership with the government and independent state entities to detect, mitigate, and prevent corruption of all forms, and hold state actors accountable. Programming engages independent state entities to improve government functioning, cooperation, and coordination; increase transparency in ways that decrease opportunities for corruption; and support accountability mechanisms within the purview of the government and independent state accountability mechanisms. The activity also creates opportunities by diversifying anticorruption partnerships, exploring innovative approaches, tools, and technologies.

In the second phase in the period from 2024 to 2026, the project aims to improve gender equality and gender responsive budgeting (GRB) in North Macedonia through continuous support and development of the Resource Center for Gender Responsive Policymaking and Budgeting. This initiative, led by UN Women and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP), and implemented by the Center for Change Management (CCM), aims to improve the capacity of civil servants in integrating gender perspectives in policy-making processes. and budgeting. The main objective is to ensure that government policies and budgets reflect and respond to the needs of both women and men, particularly focusing on the most vulnerable groups.

The project aims to maintain good governance at the top of the political agenda. The project interventions are designed to analyze current state of affairs in several areas related to the accountability as one of the top priorities in the PAR agenda, such as: improving transparency and accountability of public institutions; responsibility for delivery of results and improving the supervision of the public in the implementation of the recommendations by the key institutions and greater efficiency, effectiveness and functionality of the institutions. As accountability in modern government is a key component of democracy, the continuation of the project will keep the focus on the principles of good governance ensuring that elected officials are held responsible for their actions, especially undertaking structural reforms and building a strong and effective public administration.

This project strives to enhance the accountability of the institutions by improving the coordination and implementation of Government policies will ensure overall effective functioning of the Government. This can be achieved through solid mechanisms in place for development of evidence-based policies, defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be monitored under CoG coordination, improved internal communication protocols within the designated administrative network and effective system of delegation and responsibilities. Most important, better understanding and awareness of citizens, media and civil society organizations about the principles of good governance will increase the pressure on the government to deliver more effective policies with better results for citizens.

Finally, improved governance will increase accountability and transparency of the institutions and politicians towards citizens in the long term, thus limiting possibilities for corruption, political influencing and clientelism.

Therefore, the overall goal of the project is to create effective governance standards and to facilitate the process of synchronised evidence-based policy planning and implementation process. 

The UNICEF country programme 2020-2025 focuses on policies relevant to children, primarily health, social protection and education, and the proposed collaboration falls within the expected outcomes related to health and social care. UNICEF detected that "Vaccination services in North Macedonia register inadequate disposition of the network of vaccination centers and poor staffing, especially in regions with a larger population”. Some of the reasons include lack of funds for staff for immunization and the lack of opportunities for career advancement.

For the purposes of this project, UNICEF recognizes the essential role of the Vaccination Centers and the need to strengthen their work and importance across the entire territory of North Macedonia in order to serve the citizens more efficiently and optimize their functioning. Therefore, the implementation of this Functional and Financial Analysis by CCM will focus on the organizational set-up, resource allocation and workforce capacity of vaccination centers, the project will build upon the findings of this analysis and provide effective policy recommendations to the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, a cost-benefit analysis and possibilities for financial sustainability will be reviewed, by referencing some innovative options, as providing universal primary healthcare most remain free and accessible for all. By upgrading the internal organization and systematizing the work positions in the Immunization Services, the project will contribute to an overall better governance in the health sector, which will ultimately lead to improvements in the public systems responsible for the survival and development of the population. Additionally, in order to further strengthen the quality and coverage of the services, the project will also conduct a functional assessment of CSW in both rural and urban areas in North Macedonia.

The project aims to contribute to the improvement of the business climate in the rural areas of the North-Eastern planning region by improving the public services of the local community, strengthening the entrepreneurial skills of young women and creating new businesses. The project will further consider the possible problems and limitations faced by young women in rural areas in order to join the labor market and achieve greater participation in the creation of local policies. In this context, an analysis and recommendations with appropriate proposed measures will be made and we will submit them to the local governments in the North-Eastern planning region. The goal is to contribute to the creation of a favorable business climate in rural areas, which will stimulate the development of women's social entrepreneurship, through greater participation of young women in the formulation of policies.

The project's activities are focused on Developing and implementing a capacity building program for anti-discrimination and equality in the public sector for approximately100 representatives from local level administration, with adequate representation of women and men.

Project activities include:

• Developing a capacity building program for training on anti-discrimination and equality duty in the public sector,

• Prepare a manual with training modules

• Implementation of a series of trainings on anti-discrimination and duty of equality in the public sector for approximately100 representatives from local level administration, as well as preparation of future trainers for conducting trainings.

The project "Governance Reforms for Satisfied Citizens" aims to put good governance at the top of the political agenda by including good governance measures in all strategic policies of the Government. The intervention is designed to analyze existing problems related to the efficiency of public administration, in order to develop recommendations and new measures to improve management in institutions. The proposed actions support consultation with wider groups in society to design well-thought-out structural reforms and a strong national vision for a democratic society. The project monitors the reforms of the public administration in accordance with the standards for good governance, as well as the quality of the work of the institutions. The goal is, through the implementation of the project activities, to encourage an active public debate and cause pressure for better management and leadership in the administration and the creation of more functional public institutions that will meet the needs of citizens.

The main goal of the project will be to strengthen the capacities of the civil servants for including gender perspective in creating policies and budgets by using the Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) tools. More specifically, the goal of this set of services will be to train key civil servants in applying GRB tools through specific sectoral analysis of programs and budgets, developing gender indicators and monitoring and assessing the effects of the gender responsive policies and budgets in the overall social context.  The main project approach is transformative policy making and financing as an enabling factor for implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Building a strong and professional Commission, which will be supported by a strong and professional expert service. Namely, a precondition for the effective action of the CPPD is not only the Law on prevention and protection against discrimination, but also the functioning of the service that provides the basic support for the work of the commissioners. The activities envisaged in the first year of the project will contribute to the establishment of an appropriate organizational structure based on functional analysis, development of detailed job descriptions with clearly defined goals and objectives, but also necessary core and specific competencies, development of clear, precise and efficient work procedures in relation to cases of discrimination, building a system for collecting and analyzing data in the field of discrimination, as well as determining the tools and mechanisms through which information will be shared with the public and public awareness in the area will be strengthened. The activities related to building and strengthening the capacities of the members of CPPD and the employees in the professional service, which are foreseen in the second year of the project implementation, will enable independent work of the institution in order to protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens and will actively contributes to building equal opportunities and access to resources for all.

The program for strengthening the capacities of public sector officials is supported by the OSCE Mission in Skopje within the project "Strengthening the rule of law and human rights in North Macedonia II". The program is created with the aim of building capacities for non-discrimination and the duty to promote equality in the public sector for 200 representatives from the state administration, with adequate representation of women and men and communities.

The administration's capacity building program supports the work of the Department for Equal Opportunities in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy for building the culture and capacities of the administration to promote the principles of equality, non-discrimination and acceptance of diversity in the public sector and society more broadly. The program is financially supported by the OSCE Mission in Skopje, and developed and implemented by the Center for Change Management. The program aims to raise awareness and build the capacities of public sector employees to deal with discrimination and achieve a higher level of equality.

This project will address the challenges and the future development for 9 women owned businesses, affected by the Covid-19 economic downfall. They will go through a process of structuring and restructuring their business model, some of them (informal businesses) formalizing activities especially those in the field of the agricultural sector. Not only that, know-how techniques that will be developed and knowledge and skills improved but also woman will be encourage to modify and introduce innovate products and services. Furthermore, innovative manufacturing and selling techniques will be introduced, with the sole purpose of strengthening, improving the sustainability and profitability of the businesses.  Also, progress in digital skills will be introduced, especially since the coronavirus crisis has shown that adequate digital skills are crucial for the business to be able to connect and adapt to the new digital economy.

Furthermore, the project will be focused on creating policies and measures for alleviation of the economic consequences arisen form the COVID-19 crisis specifically considering women owned businesses and women entrepreneurs, as one of the most vulnerable group to the health crisis. By the end of the project, it is expected measures and different policy changes to be proposed to the local and central governmental bodies with all the activities to be undertaken in the next 12 months

The project Youth involvement in a constructive dialogue: Communist Past in Contemporary Western Balkan (YOU-WB) is a project funded by Europe for Citizens Program, European Remembrance. 

It involves students, practitioners, and academicians from Albania, Macedonia, France, and Italy and aims is to foster national and transnational youth activist's dialogue about the reflection of past communist regimes in contemporary Western Balkan (WB). 

The project activities are envisaging different thematic 4 workshops in 4 different countries tackling the topics that reflect the past communist regime (such as rules, norms, rights, practices, and customs); the national Identities and collective memory in an enlarged Europe; political culture and social changes in post-communist transition, finalizing with the conference that will focus on the Post-Communism and Democracy in WB.

The project is a partnership among Center for Comparative and International Study (project leader) CCIS; Mesdheu Center (MC) Qendra SHKENCE DHE INOVACION PER ZHVILLIM (SCiDEV) (from Albania); Center for Change Management (from North Macedonia); Patrimoine sans Frontières (PSF) (France) and PERIPLI - Culture e Società Euromediterranee (Italy)

The institutional grant is awarded by the Civica Mobilitas programme financed by the Swiss agency for development and cooperation (SDC) represented by the Swiss embassy in the Republic of North Macedonia. The grant is intended to support CCM in conducting activities for institutional development and organizational strengthening.

The UNICEF country programme 2020-2025 focuses on policies relevant to children, primarily health, social protection and education, and the porposed collaboration falls within the expected outcomes related to health. UNICEF detected that "in the health sector, there has been insufficient emphasis on preventative and primary care, and the government has mainly focused on building hospitals, buying expensive equipment, and benefiting from fraudulent procurements. The input by CCM will cover aspects related to institutional organisation and development, human capital development, more specifically systematization of working positions, job descriptions and competences (general and professional), as well as performance management and appraisal. Improved functioning of the Patronage Service as part of the health sector will significantly indirectly contribute to the wellbeing of children in the country.

The impact of the project will be to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the MoD through functional public procurements’ management. In the mid and long-term, the developed e-system for management of public procurements should enable timely planning and preparation of procurement and successful implementation of tender procedures with standardized documents, while minimising the risk of corruption and conflict of interest. The actual public procurement process is undertaken by the Bureau for Public Procurement, so this project will improve the planning and coordination of procurements.

The focus of this project will be to further digitalise services in the education sector, which are used frequently and can have a larger impact both on the users, and the MES as a service provider. The project will encompass full digitalisation of these services (reaching transactional level according to EU benchmarks), providing support in reorganising the internal processes in the MES for these services, building capacities of the administration in the MES for administering the services, and designing and delivering promotional campaign to motivate the relevant user groups in using the e-services.

The Center for Change Management is supporting SIGMA Mission for annual assessment of public administration in the Republic of North Macedonia for the year 2021, by providing local expertise and logistics of the staff and international experts engaged by SIGMA. The activities inlude support of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration in organization and coordination of meeting with relevant institutions, providing relevant documents, review and assessment of submitted documentation by institutions and support in preparation of the report by SIGMA.

The project will focus on revising the National Strategy for Energy Development 2040 in line with the redefined economic situation as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, and to further develop an Implementation programme which will operationalise the strategy in the initial five-year period. There is specific emphasis on assessing the effects of the strategy as relate to gender equality and social inclusion, related to accessing energy services and technologies.

The strategy aims to align with EU policies and provide the necessary policy platform for government (at national and local level) and regulators to manage the modernization and transformation of the energy sector in line with EU energy trends. This will contribute to increased access, integration and availability of energy services, reduction of local and global pollution and increased participation of the private sector, taking into account the development potential of Northern Macedonia and domestic specifics.

The project will develop a comprehensive communication plan for the Strategy / Green Scenario and a Communication Plan for the five-year implementation program that will convey the country's long-term commitment to energy reform, while building trust between stakeholders and citizens.

With the return of the public administration in their regular offices, protocols will need to be urgently developed that ensure employees’ safety, organisation of the work and continuation of remote execution of selected work processes. Learning the lessons from the pandemic response, further digitalisation will be pursued, supported by amended legal regulations to better prepare the administration in an event of recurring pandemic or future crises. Newly designed digital work procedures will be proposed to selected central institutions and scoping of the needs of these institutions will be conducted to ensure smooth transition to digital work with a list of priorities ad timelines for enabling digital processes. Selected institutions will be supported with proposed structures of shared platforms and assessment of levels of remote access, prior to a wider multiplication of the model in other institutions.

Several important electronic services will be developed within the Project that are often used in a citizen’s lifecycle, such as electronic enrolment in kindergarten, enrolment in primary school, applying for students scholarships and nostrification of foreign diplomas. Тhe development of е-services will contribute for providing better and simpler public services, as well as for the reduction of physical contacts with the administration in times of crisis.

Delivering services to citizens is the essence of the work of most government institutions. Tasks like paying taxes, renewing driving licenses, enrolling in schools and applying for benefits are often the most tangible interactions citizens have with their government. Improving accessibility of public services to all groups of citizens, including vulnerable groups (marginalized groups, ethnic minorities, persons with disability) is critical in building trust in government and delivering necessary structural reforms in line with the EU standards.

The focus of this programme shall be put on these services related to life events, more specifically 118 services relating to various life events, categorized in eight areas:

• Manner and procedure for starting a business (for example, preparing a business plan, gathering information where you can find support for starting a business, registration in competent institutions and funds, registration for a tax number, registering employees);
• Family (for example, obtaining birth certificates, obtaining personal documents, exercising parental rights);
• Employment (for example, exercising unemployment rights, advising on financial borrowing, labor market counseling, job search assistance, counseling for re qualification);
• Learning/studying (for example searching for educational programs, recognition of diplomas, scholarships, financial counseling, career counseling, practical work);
• Initiation of a misdemeanor procedure (for example obtaining accurate information about the procedure, evidences, rights of the party, deadlines, legal remedies);
• General business procedure (for example, obtaining detailed information about tax procedures, payment of contributions, accounting procedures, financial statements);
• Owning a vehicle and driving (for example, buying, importing, registration of a vehicle);
• Moving (for example, changing personal documents, obtaining information about public services at the place of relocation, such as schools, hospitals).

The activities in the work programme on improving public services largely encompass strengthening the capacities of CSOs for safeguarding citizens’ interests and their fundamental rights, thus contributing to one of the pillars of modern democracies – accountable, transparent, participatory, inclusive and effective public administration with high quality of service delivery for citizens. The work programme provides a participatory process, led by CCM in close cooperation with civil society organisations’ networks and competent institutions in order to identify policy measures to ensure access to all citizens to improved, more secure and more efficient services. 

This project is completely focused on the potential and existing women entrepreneurs and will provide the necessary support for them to strengthen their business skills as well as additional technical help and support for the women so that they can develop and expand micro and small businesses in the cross-border region between Polog in Macedonia and Elbasan in Albania.

The necessary plans will be made for building up of the capacities of the women entrepreneurs in three areas:

1. Building up of skills and capabilities of the potential entrepreneurs for starting their own business/

2. Improvement of the production and profit for the existing micro-    enterprises and organizing of the support for building up of the capacities of the companies connected with the production of new products, improvement of the sales and trade, networking and B2B meetings.

3. Revising of the policies for development of the micro-enterprises and support of the women entrepreneurship

The project will target four niche areas that can impact the way the public administration is managed. It will pilot merit based selection and performance management for the senior management of the civil service, establishing criteria and performance standards for the senior political appointees within the Government. The project will also establish clear lines of accountability in four sectors, outlining structures for development and implementation of sectoral strategic goals. In addition, the project will build capacity in four sectors for improved performance and delivery of strategic goals in their respective institutions. Finally, delivery of public services shall be improved based on the information provided to the citizens in the Catalogue of public services and based on the recommendations provided to the institutions regarding the necessary legal, institutional and technical improvements.

The project aims to establish an analytical unit within the Minsitry of Education and Science, and thus develop the analytical function in the Ministry. The project includes definining the organization of the analytical unit, recruitment of personell, improving their capacities and defining work procedures. In addition, the central information systems for education will be analyzed and recommendations for improvement will be provided, including developing procedures for data collection and exchange within the institutions in the education sector.

The overall aim of the project is to enhance local-stakeholders’ practice and participation in the local budgeting process, based on which the effectiveness of the municipal-money spending will be increased and fiscal transparency of the municipality will be improved for the benefit of the citizens. The project is implemented in several municipalities by civil society organizations which are part of the FISCAST network. Center for Change Management is responsible for cooperation with Gjorce Petrov municipality in conducting the planned activities and expected results. 

The Project will in general improve the cooperation, networking and building of value chain and supply system between domestic SMEs and multinational companies (MNCs) matching in line with the key competitiveness reforms in the country. It will operate in four clusters that are specifically targeted as different steps across this road.

The main concept of the project is developing citizen-centric public services, which sets citizens’ interests and needs as the guiding criteria for designing and delivering services rather than those of the service provider. The activities of the project largely encompass strengthening the capacities of CSOs for safeguarding citizens’ interests and their fundamental rights, thus contributing to one of the pillars of modern democracies – accountable, transparent, participatory, inclusive and effective public administration with high quality of service delivery for citizens. Therefore, the project will provide a participatory process, led by civil society working in close collaboration with competent institutions in order to identify measures for streamlining service provision, reduce costs for citizens and the administrative burden, and identify key services which should be improved and ultimately provided electronically.

The project focuses on establishing good governance standards in the local self-government units, by aligning the Principles of Public Administration, developed as benchmarks by SIGMA. Good governance standards are used by local civil society organisations for monitoring the work of local self-governments, drafting policy papers, opiening dialogue for presenting the research findings and proposing recommendations for improving the work of the municipalities.

Responding to the political and institutional crisis in the Republic of Macedonia as outlined in the 2016 EU country report, the project “Support to Public Administration Reform Process” strives to strengthen the principles of good governance within the public administration. Project aims to contribute to restoring the trust in institutions through strengthened transparency and accountability and implementing a system of open data; improving the processes of strategic planning and monitoring the Government’s policies, thus promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of policies; strengthening the policies of HR management in administration, based on principles of merit, and inclusive and predictable legislative framework (RIA process). 

Тhe project monitors and follows the implementation of legal provisions for effective and professional  state and public administration. The monitoring in general covers the process and recruitment procedures as well as including selectiveness in approach, political influence, assessment of employees, opportunities for advancement and professional development and many other systems and conditions that are important for the operation of the administration.

At institutional level, the scope and efficiency of state administration are observed and its ultimate goal is to meet the needs of citizens with adequate services.

Solutions and recommendations are offered to problems identified.

Encouragement of the media and civil society organizations as well as enabling environment for exercising the rights of freedom of expression and media integrity as key elements to further support the country's accession process to the EU.

Since 2010, NDI with the financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported the establishment and development of the Parliamentary Institute (PI) as an independent source of Parliament in research and analysis of the legislation - an initiative that ensures the further development of modern legislation better equipped to play its role in the ongoing democratization and Euro-Atlantic integration of the Republic Macedonia.

Within the project "Support for the founding and development of the Parliamentary Institute”, Center for Change Management (CCM) was hired by NDI to conduct training and give advices at the Parliamentary Institute of the Republic of Macedonia. This support will contribute towards strengthening the institutional capacities of the Parliamentary Institute in performing its role as an impartial and professional service for research and information on the National Assembly.

The Center for Change Management is supporting SIGMA Mission for annual assessment of public administration in the Republic of Macedonia for the year 2016, by providing local expertise and logistics of the staff and international experts engaged by SIGMA. The activities inlude support of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration in organization and coordination of meeting with relevant institutions, providing relevant documents, review and assessment of submitted documentation by institutions and support in preparation of the report by SIGMA.

Enhancing capacities of civil society organizations in endorsing open local government policies for effective participation in the development, decision making, creating public opinion and monitoring of the policies at national and local level.

Promotion of the principles of good governance (accountability, transparency, participation, effectiveness and coherence) through increased influence of civil society organizations in the process of assessment (evaluation) of public policies and decision making.

Design of basic and advanced e - modules on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in national planning and budgeting for public administration. The first module focuses on professional and administrative positions in public administration and the second for professional and managerial positions in public administration.

Improving the impact of civil society organizations in the process of EU accession, through active involvement in monitoring and evaluation of public policies and implementation of EU legislation with focus on Chapter 23 - Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.  

The project includes support to the Ministry of Information Society and Administration in the process of reforms in the public administration.

In March 2015, Centre for Change Management (CCM) signed an agreement for facilitating SIGMA mission in Macedonia for an annual assessment of progress on the Macedonian public administration at the request of the European Commission.

The main measurement of public administration includes the following areas: strategic framework for public administration reform, policy development and coordination, public service and human resources, accountability, service delivery and management of public finances, including external audit and public procurement.

Introduction of European standards for quality management in the work of the municipal administration - Common Assessment Framework (CAF).

The project includes support to the Ministry of Information Society and Administration in the process of reforming the public administration.

The process resulted with adoption of the RIA methodology templates and changes in government procedures, analysis of the process (three years later) and simplifying procedures. The process was conducted together with the General Secretariat of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Sector for Economic Policies, Regulatory Reform, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration.

The project includes support to the Secretariat for European Affairs in building administrative capacity for EU integration.

The project includes support to the Secretariat for European Affairs in building administrative capacity for integration into the European Union.