ECNL in collaboration with he Center for Institutional Development (CIRa) and the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FIOOM) concluded a report from the assessment of the implementation of the Macedonian Law on Donations and Sponsorships in Public Activities, which highlights the challenges with the implementation of the law and proposes recommendations for improving the legal framework.
This assessment is the result of the monitoring of the implementation of the Law on Donations and Sponsorships for Public Activities, in its first year of implementation (January 1, 2007 – January 1, 2008), carried out in the period from January to March 2008. The assessment included analysis of documents at the Ministry of Justice, interviews with state officials, civil society organizations, and businesses concerning practical challenges with implementation of the law. The general aims of the research were to identify and analyze:
- The problems/omissions in the implementation of the Law;
- How the Law is implemented and interpreted by the responsible authorities;
- The potential impact of the Law on CSOs, businesses and individuals and how much the CSOs could benefit from the implementation of the Law in the first year.
The assessment report generally concluded that as the Macedonian authorities familiarize themselves with the Law, they tend to be more efficient and start to respect the timeframes of the procedure. The businesses are encouraged to use the Law. The fact that most of the companies tend to use benefits of the Law more than once, despite the fact that the procedure is complicated and bureaucratic, indicates that there is a potential for local donations which must be explored more in the future.
Lastly, CSOs must be more proactive in order to solicit donations as not enough efforts have been made on their side. The report also highlights general and specific recommendations for legislative reform in order to improve the implementation of the law and maximize its potential.
The assessment was conducted under the Civil Society Strengthening Project, supported by USAID/Macedonia, and implemented by the Institute for Sustainable Communities, in cooperation with ECNL, CIRa and the Macedonian Institute for Media.