The Wife of the President, Elizabeta Gjorgievska, addressed the opening of the third edition of the “Civil Society Day” festival, organized by the program of the Swiss Embassy for Civil Society Support, Civica Mobilitas, implemented by NIRAS-Denmark and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC).
At the opening of the Festival, under the patronage of the Wife of the President, in her address to the audience in the city park, Ms. Gjorgievska said that civil society organizations have an important role for our society because they cover issues that would be completed along with the institutions so that certain problems can be solved effectively and expediently..
The Festival is attended by about 80 associations, twenty of which have creative workshops and debates for visitors, as well as activities such as humanitarian actions, education and environmental protection, art therapy for children with disabilities, first aid and HIV testing, art workshops and other activities.
Your Excellency,
Respected Minister Carovska,
Dear friends and
Dear guests,
At the beginning, I would like to express my great pleasure that I have the honor today to be the patron of the Civica Mobilitas Festival “Civil Society Day”. It is a really unusual and original event that unites a large number of civil society organizations from different areas of action and thus is a great opportunity for the public to get acquainted with the work of many of them. Here, even though I am part of those civil society organizations, I met many that I have not seen before, so it is an extremely good opportunity to find out about something that we have not been up to date. I cannot but thank all those behind the Civica Mobilitas program, above all the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, which is the financier and the organizations responsible for its implementation, MCIC and, of course, the partners from Denmark and Sweden.
Given that many of my activities in the last year and a half since my Husband was elected a President of the Republic of North Macedonia, are related to the civil sector and civic initiatives, especially in the field of health, education and especially for people with disabilities, I will be open enough to say and emphasize once again how important the role of these organizations is in a society. I believe that, thanks to them, issues are covered that would be completed along with the institutions so that certain problems can be solved effectively and expediently. They are especially important in the field of education of the citizens, encouraging their pro-activity, promotion of volunteering, which I think is extremely important to promote in the Macedonian society and strives from the first days to work more and more giving a personal example as a Red Cross volunteer, volunteering at the Institute of Public Health and other organizations.
Dear friends,
For almost this year we have been burdened by the threat of KOVID 19. It has changed the world and modeled our daily lives, distancing us from our loved ones and making us more vulnerable. As a doctor, I am part of a profession that, unfortunately, has borne the burden of the pandemic. Some of my colleagues are on the first blows of the pandemic every day and, I must mention, the colleague who died the other day, who was part of the Covid units at the Infectious Diseases Clinic and the Pulmonology Clinic. We are all witnessing the loss of lives, the loss of our loved ones. I must stress the importance of the participation of civil society organizations in dealing with the consequences of the pandemic through their activities and projects. In this context, I welcome the decision that part of the grants of Civica Mobilitas are intended for activities of civil society organizations to deal with the consequences of Covid-19.
I believe that neither the Covid 19pandemic nor anything else should sway us to remain active citizens, to participate in civic initiatives, to be members of non-governmental organizations and to volunteer. Our free time is certainly something we can donate and fill with activities that will benefit the society. I believe that with our proactive attitude we can contribute primarily at the local level, but also at the level of society. Once again, I encourage you to get involved in activities, projects, initiate content yourself and suggest programs. And as I said recently, there is still a lot to be done, but only together can we make changes that will improve our lives, but also raise the quality of life in society as a whole.
In the end, I wish you a successful Festival, and I wish you all to spend quality time looking at the prepared presentations, events and stands.
Thank you
