Our News
Visegrad Partners from Poland Consultation Meeting - May 2023
Visegrad partners from the Barka Foundation and the municipalities of Krobia and Rokietnica met to discuss the possibilities of new Visegrad partnerships between Poland, Macedonia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, while Serbia and other Western Balkan countries will also be consulted to join the initiative of promoting social entrepreneurship as a tool for the socio-economic empowerment of marginalized groups. The mayors of Krobia and Rokietnica showed willingness to mutually transfer good practices in this field and to further inspire civic society, companies and other municipalities to support innovation in terms of social entrepreneurship.
Visegrad Fund Visit to Macedonia – 15 May 2023
Visegrad Fund representatives visited Macedonia on the 15th of May 2023, where SIEC representatives attended a useful informative session on new project possibilities, considering that the current partners from Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia plan to continue spreading the word on social entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans region, with Serbia joining the initiative in 2023/2024.
Macedonian Round of Consultations for Future Cooperation on Social Entrepreneurship – 6 June 2023
Representatives of the Barka Foundation, Poland and ARNO, LJUBEZNOST, MISLA, SOLEM and SIEC met to consult each other on the future development of social entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans region and how to transfer good practices from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary to the region.
In the prior 2 implemented projects focusing on social entrepreneurship, Macedonia was the only Western Balkan partner country, while the Macedonian NGO partner network finds it important to involve Serbia, BiH and Montenegro in the future social entrepreneurship development initiatives, which will support the process of the Open Balkan Initiative, as well as contribute to the socio-economic empowerment of the WB region.
Additionally, such regional projects of exchanging good practices between the EU and the Western Balkans should enable a smoother transition and integration into the EU democratic processes.
2nd Consultative meeting on Visegrad collaboration in Skopje, Macedonia
Macedonian network partners MISLA, SIEC, LJUBEZNOST, ARNO and SOLEM had a series of electronic consultations and a meeting with the Polish Barka Foundation Director, Ms. Barbara Sadowska, in the National Centre on Social Enterprises in order to discuss the details of the new, 3rd follow-up Visegrad project proposal that will focus on the policies regarding social entrepreneurship in Macedonia, Poland,
Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
During the meeting, it was proposed to have new partners from Serbia and Ukraine join this
international cooperation, as we want to make an additional contribution to the socio-economic
integration of various marginalized groups, including Roma and refugees, by using the mechanisms of social entrepreneurship. The meeting was held in August 2023, with regular communication between partners afterwards.
3rd National Fair on Social Entrepreneurship, Macedonia
The National Centre for Social Enterprises from Skopje, Macedonia has organized its 3 rd traditional fair aiming to support the promotion and visibility of social enterprises. The fair was attended by various social enterprises that showcased their products and services, including ARNO, MISLA, SIEC, LJUBEZNOST that are a part of the ISEN network and the Visegrad collaboration projects.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, European Delegation and various Embassies were present during the fair in order to stress the significance of social entrepreneurship and the Law on social enterprises that Macedonia is expecting to adopt by the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024.
The National Fair was organized on the 12 th of September, 2023, in collaboration between the RISE
incubator, National Centre for Social Enterprises and ARNO, within the RISE Regional Fair on social
entrepreneurship.