еMacedonia

INFORMATION
On the activities implemented until June 2006 by the ten NGOs that obtained support by the
e-Macedonia Foundation

Interactive Network for Education and Resources IMOR
Implemented activities:

The work on the project was initiated at the beginning of February with the preparation of the interactive web site which will be used throughout the project as means of web-based learning and preparation of training materials for work on on-line projects (www.imor.org.mk/programmes/lokalnasamouprava). The project participants were introduced by sending messages on forums and photographs of the working meetings of the individual groups participating in the project.
The project work is carried out in learning cycles and six of them have been completed so far.

Future activities:

A seminar in Ohrid by the end of 2006
Shooting a documentary for the work on the project and its delivery to the local TV stations

A promotional flier with the e-Macedonia Foundation logo was printed for the project publication.
The work on the project and the support of the e-Macedonia Foundation was announced in the public media continuously throughout the whole working period.

Blesok Cultural Institution – Skopje
Implemented activities:

Throughout the January – June period Blesok published three editions of the e-magazine Blesok – Literature and Other Arts.
Edition 46 was published on 22 February 2006, presenting 19 authors
Edition 47 was published on 21 April 2006, presenting 16 authors
Edition 48 was published on 12 June 2006, presenting 16 authors

Future activities:
The following three editions of the Blesok – Literature and Other Arts e-magazine will continue to publish quality home and foreign authors, whereas one of the editions will be dedicated to the Ljubljana literature magazine Apokalipsa where we will present Slovenian authors in Macedonian and English.
All editions of the e-magazine were accompanied by press releases which were conveyed by the media. The single readership number was increased to approximately 1000 readers a day. The contents of the Blesok – Literature and Other Arts e-magazine is available free of charge at the www.blesok.com.mk

Junona Citizens’ Association, www.culture.in.mk
Implemented activities:

The web-content management application is reprogrammed to cover the following: adding a new category of news referring to the funding opportunities of Macedonian projects directly from the European funds, as well as announcing news in Macedonian. Throughout the programming, the web site was updated via the old application. The first news in the Macedonian part of the site were updated on 19.04.2006, and 254 news events were posted by 09.06.2006. Ten to fifteen news events are being updated on a daily basis both in English and Macedonian. Simultaneously, an internal browser was introduced in the application, rendering the large archives of news events covering the area of culture available much more easily reachable at www.culture.in.mk.
The contacts were logged on the MT Net servers and were indirectly delivered to us.
Future activities:
One more mini workshop will be organized in cooperation with some of the larger cultural institutions presenting the new function which will enable access to the web-content management application and to the cultural institutions. The media and people in charge of marketing from the institutions will be informed of this function.
This will be another opportunity to promote the project funded by the e-Macedonia Foundation. We are prepared to hold the press conference by the end of June. In the meantime the reporters covering cultural events have already been contacted and informed.

Roma Humanitarian and Voluntary Association KHAM – Delcevo
Project: Electronic connection of the non-governmental organizations in the Eastern region of the Republic of Macedonia.

Implemented activities:
A joint meeting was held with the presidents of the branch offices at which the schedule of the trainings was defined. The trainings were held by a professional – a graduate IT expert; a basic computer course was carried out. The course was in duration of 24 hours and was intended for learning WS WORD, MS EXCEL, WIDOWS 2000, and six hours of Internet. The training was attended by 25 participants from the RHVA KHAM and its branches. This was used for capacity building and conditions for the operation of the branch offices were set, as well as their electronic connection and the opportunity for their registration as individual NGOs.

We organized a press conference in the Municipality of Delcevo. The press conference promoted the targets and objectives of the project, the time frame of the activities, the rationale for this type of grants and the contribution of the IT society for the development of the provinces in the country, as well as the donor e-Macedonia.

Future activities:
The branch offices – partners in the project will be registered by the end of June. Their registration will create conditions for their existence as independent NGOs and we will be able to distribute the computers which are intended for them.
The overall event will be covered by the media and the donor is expected to be presented, as well as the results of the project implementation.

Association of citizens with diabetes of the Municipality of Prilep
Project: e-participation in the diabetes (EPD)

Implemented activities:
The new equipment was procured (lap-top computers, TV card and LCD projector);
The current programme for record-keeping of the members was updated and the remaining members were included
The current web page was updated with the EPT project.
Lectures were held in the Association where the project was presented to the membership in a modern manner. This was also done in the Red Cross in Prilep where glycaemia and blood pressure was taken free-of-charge by the members of the Association.
At the invitation of the associations from Tetovo and Negotino, twenty of our members went to visit their associations where three lectures were held. They discussed the situation, promoted the project and took the role of a promoter of the e-Macedonia Foundation. The local media were mostly used for the promotion of the Foundation.

Future activities:

Organizing 2-3 lectures by internists in Prilep
Lecture by a professor of the Clinic for Endocrinology
Updating the WEB page
Meeting and materials and the activities via e-bridge are to be announced to all associations in Kavadarci for the project promotion
Printing of new translated editions of the cooperating associations from the country and abroad
Realization of interviews for several local and national television stations and daily and weekly newspapers; at the end we have planned to hold a press conference with your representatives where we will announce the results and benefits of this project.

Centre for Psychosocial Support and Mental Healthcare
Project: Support of a social club

Implemented activities:
The social club within our non-governmental organization Centre for Psychosocial Support and Mental Healthcare is intended for people with constraints to their intellectual development and people using psychiatric services. The computer training is one of the most attractive activities and is the number one priority for young people.
The new computer equipment provides greater opportunities by itself and a positive impact both on the quantity and quality operational plan of the social club. This can be seen in the last three months (March, April and May 2006) when the number of children/youngsters facing intellectual constraints in their development increased for five more, rendering our total target group consisting of 25 beneficiaries. Throughout this period we also increased the number of computer trainings – instead of performing this activity twice a week, we now carry it out three times a week for two hours.

Future activities:
As of September 2006, along with the start of the school year, we are planning to form at least one more group receiving computer training which will acquire new knowledge. We will also continue with our ongoing activities with the existing groups with whom we will work at a higher level and improve their already acquired knowledge.

Open the Windows, Skopje, Macedonia

Implemented activities:

We have purchased an LCD projector which we use for improving the quality of our work (organizing various events, such as press conferences, trainings and presentations of information technology accessible for the disabled).
We also purchased anatomic chairs for the association so that the beneficiaries in our centre can be appropriately positioned in front of the computers.
The Open the WindowsAssociation had its own stand at the twelfth International Fair of Computers, Telecommunications, Office equipment, Audio and Video Equipment and professional literature which was held between 9 and 14 May in Skopje, where they presented software and hardware accessible to people with disabilities.
Two of the four manuals Do It Yourself – an adaptation of accessible computer devices (adapted mouse and joystick) are in their final design phase; a draft thereof has been printed. It is necessary to create a final correction of the design and we are planning to publish them at the end of this month.
Innovation of a new accessible device – Indicator controller with large buttons.
We have organized a press conference in order to present our activities to the public, as well as present the support provided by the e-Macedonia Foundation. As a result from these media activities, the number of the direct visitors to our Centre has increased, as well as the contacts with the potential partners.

Future activities:
A new series of fliers for the activities of our Association will be published at the end of June.
The two last manuals will be published in September (Accessibility options in Windows XP and Indicator controller with large buttons).
We have established contacts with the Institute of Defectology and the Faculty for Electrical Engineering for purposes of presentation of the accessible information technology for the disabled.
Attendance at the NGO Fair in December 2006 for the purpose of presenting the accessible information technology, as well as establishing new contacts.

AgroLink Macedonia

Implemented activities:

Procurement of information communication technology: This activity required the engagement of an ICT expert who prepared a plan (scheme) of an information-technical platform for the needs of the Association and defined a computer configuration according to the technical needs of the project, i.e. for graphical processing, web design, etc.
Identification of stakeholders: A procedure was defined according to which farmers growing early crops will be networked, for the needs of which a Guide for identification meetings was created. After the logistical preparatory activities, one informative meeting was held in the villages of Bansko, Zubovo and Kolesino, selected according to the assessment of the manufacturing capacities and their scope of production in the previous period. After the idea was accepted in all of the three villages, official meetings were continued in the village of Zubovo, at which a local group of farmers was established.
Creation of a database: Within this activity an application software programmer was consulted who, together with the project coordinator, defined a database for every farmer, network member.
Media plan: The Association elaborated a media plan in parallel, according to which the Association will do their media presentation, the project activities and the promotion of the project donor. One press conference in Strumica has been held until the present, at which the project, its expected outcome and the project donor were promoted.

Future activities:

In the forthcoming period we will continue to establish local groups in the villages of Kolesino and Bansko and then we will continue by selecting three more villages from the region where local groups will be established.
For each local group, application forms will be completed for the needs of the database. For this activity it is also planned to engage a consultant with a task to create a programme for storing and processing data and their presentation via the Internet network.

Information Technology Development Foundation Youth Information Centre Skopje

Implemented activities:

Throughout the lectures we concluded that our students only have superficial computer skills. We established three groups with 10 attendants in each group. Our classes managed to teach the real usage of computers by assigning and solving problems. Our attendants were at the same time very satisfied from the materials obtained throughout the lectures.

In that direction we delivered promotional material to each faculty (state and private) in Skopje at three occasions.

We distributed more than 3000 fliers and more than 100 posters in A3 format presenting the idea of the project and the conditions for becoming a part thereof. We did the same thing in the Employment Agency as well.

We held a press conference in the NGO INFOCENTRE in Skopje where we presented our project. We received excellent articles in the daily papers and an excellent presentation on the Macedonian Television. In order to inform the representatives of our target groups, we leased advertising space in the most popular daily newspaper, the Dnevnik. For that purpose we have also made announcements in the weekly newspapers, four times in the KAPITAL magazine. Our manager was a guest on Sitel TV where he presented the project.

Future activities:

At the moment we are planning to finish our work with the existing three groups by the beginning of July 2006. After this, we will initiate preparatory activities for the two new groups.
The start of the preparations is projected for the beginning of August 2006.
We will visit all faculties in Skopje (both state and private ones) and the Employment Agency and we will distribute fliers and posters.
So far we have received several applications from our potential visitors and this idea was very well welcomed by the students.

Centre for Institutional Development

Implemented activities:

Creation of a competent and functional team of e-riders.
(Selection of five e-riders and their training)

The CID has established cooperation with the Matamorfozis organization whereas the Metamorfozis experts will carry out part of the training of the e-riders regarding the conducting of an evaluation for the use of information technology and tools in the work of the NGOs and preparation of strategic guidelines for benefiting more effectively.

Selection of 10 non-governmental organizations – participants in the project and identification of competent persons from the organizations. The organizations-participants in the programme are as follows: Hops - Skopje, Doverba - Skopje, Luludi – Skopje, Lil – Skopje, Humanitarian Organization Mir – Skopje, Youth Educational Forum – Skopje, Sonce – Tetovo, Association of people with disabilities Spresa – Skopje, National Roma Centre NRC – Kumanovo and Mensa Macedonia – Skopje.
On 4 May 2006 the CID held a press conference for the representatives of the national and local printed and electronic media at which the project targets and activities were presented, as well as the importance of the information technology for the non-governmental organizations.

The CID also provided all the media with a press release which was appropriately presented.

Future activities:

Throughout the month of June, the CID will organize a common meeting for all ten non-governmental organizations selected to participate in the programme. At this meeting Memorandums of Understanding will be signed and detailed programme activities will be presented.

It is expected to sign contracts for their engagement. Their training is to be completed by the end of June. Two training modules will be delivered.

The training process of the non-governmental organizations will start in July. A common training for all ten non-governmental organizations will be organized at the beginning of the month.

Throughout the month of August we will start by implementing specific interventions from the action plan, especially those which may provide visible results within a short time frame. Some of the possible interventions cover the following: workshops for the usage of Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel and Power Point, at which specific tasks will be performed, such as Excel documents for administration and financial operation, Power Point presentation for a specific NGO programme; creation of a web page of the organization; creation of on-line discussion groups; creation and maintenance of databases for the needs of the NGO; creation of Internet tools for collection of funds for the NGO; creation of Internet activities in programmes/campaigns for advocacy and lobbying; computer processing of newsletters, bulletins and promotional material; creation of electronic bulletins.