SECOND SPRAYING AGAINST ADULT MOSQUITOES POSTPONED DUE TO ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

The citizens of the municipalities in the South-East region are informed that the second spraying against adult mosquitoes, which was scheduled to be carried out on July 25 and 26, 2022, is POSTPONED.

Spraying is postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions, occurrence of precipitation in the planned period, therefore it is planned to be carried out during the week.

Citizens from the South-East region will be further notified of the exact date for the implementation of the planned spraying against adult mosquitoes.

CDSEPR HOLDS CLUSTER WORKSHOP

On June 21, 2022, in the premises of the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region, within the project “Support to Social Enterprises”, the Regional Office for Social Entrepreneurship from the South-East Planning Region, organized a workshop for clusters. This workshop was attended by farmers from the South-East region, who are engaged in growing early vegetable products and fruits, as well as organic production.
The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the participants to the benefits of associating farmers in clusters and organizing them, as well as networking with institutions to achieve their goals.
The cluster workshop was led by Nevin Baran, a renowned trainer from Turkey who assisted over 300 small and medium enterprises, 9 existing clusters and numerous new clusters not only in Turkey but also in Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Georgia, Mongolia and in the least developed regions.

THE FIRST SPRAYING AGAINST ADULT MOSQUITOES IS POSTPONED DUE TO UNFAVORABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS

The citizens from the municipalities in the South-East planning region are informed that the first spraying against adult mosquitoes, which was scheduled to take place on June 14, 2022, is POSTPONED.

The spraying is postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions, i.e. occurrence of precipitation in the forecast period, so it is planned to be carried out during the next week, when they will improve.

The citizens of the South-East planning region will be additionally informed about the exact date for the implementation of the planned spraying against adult mosquitoes.

112 firefighters from the region dressed their personal protective equipment for extinguishing forest fires

On the day of the firefighters, May 20, Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region took part in the event and contributes this year. The celebration of the firefighters’ day this year will be remembered by the firefighters from the South-East for a long time in their memories. 112 firefighters from the region today for the first time wore their personal protective equipment for extinguishing forest fires, which includes a protective suit (pants and jacket), boots, gloves, helmet (with goggles and lantern), masks with filters and mask – balaclava .

On the faces of the firefighters, the satisfaction was visible. They pointed out that in their work as firefighters for the first time they receive personal protective equipment that is of such quality and with which they can get closer to the standards of European firefighters. Acknowledgement for successful cooperation and support of the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region was awarded by TFFU Strumica.

The Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region provided personal protective equipment for extinguishing forest fires to 50 firefighters from the municipality of Strumica, 27 firefighters from the municipality of Gevgelija, 22 firefighters from the municipality of Radovish and 13 firefighters from the municipality of Valandovo. For the day of the firefighters, the director of the Centre Ms. Zhulieta Gjurkova, together with the mayors of the municipalities of Strumica, Gevgelija, Radovish and Valandovo signed a protocol for handing over the equipment and wished them to use their suits as little as possible, but in case of need to extinguish forest fires, they are fully equipped to intervene in the field.

The next step that will raise them on the ladder to achieve European readiness in firefighting will be the training conducted by internationally certified trainers, which is expected to begin in early autumn after reducing the fire risk season.

The implemented and provided activities are part of the implementation of the project for “Cross-Border Cooperation in Forest Fire Fighting” funded by EU through the Interreg-IPA CBC Republic of Bulgaria – Republic of North Macedonia Programme.

 

 

 

Promoting volunteerism from young ages

The CDSEPR as part of the activities from the project “Cross-Border Cooperation in Forest Firefighting”, together with the partners from Bulgaria, has carried out an information campaign to promote firefighting. Being a volunteer firefighter is an honor, a selfless commitment to saving human life, nature, and homes. The love for voluntary firefighting should be instilled from a very young age.

 

On the day of the firefighters, when the professional firefighters officially received their personal protective equipment for protection from forest fires, children from the primary school from Valandovo visited the Territorial Firefighting Unit in their municipality. The children together with the Mayor of Valandovo, Mr. Pero Kostadinov, and the Director of the Center, Ms. Julieta Gjurkova had the opportunity to see and try the new equipment for extinguishing forest fires, to learn what it means to be a firefighter, how to extinguish fire, what should be done when the phone rings for a fire alarm, etc. The event was a great opportunity to promote how from an early age children are encouraged to become heroes – volunteer firefighters in the community. The possibility of extinguishing the simulated fire, as well as driving with the vehicles of the fire brigade was a special pleasure and great joy for the children, but also for the firefighters who received very sincere children’s smiles in return. Volunteering is the moment of raising of civic awareness for wider social engagement for the benefit of the community in which we live, one of the most essential and most useful activities that we as human beings can undertake from a very young age.

The project for “Cross-Border Cooperation in Forest Fire Fighting” is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Program between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia 2014-2020 and is implemented by the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region, in partnership with the Association of Southwest Municipalities, Blagoevgrad, Republic of Bulgaria.

Alone we can’t do as much as we can do together!

The citizens of the South-East Planning Region have ranked the priority projects for 2022

On April 22, 2022 in Hotel Sirius in Strumica the Centre for development of the South-East planning region organized the Second Forum Session from the Regional Community Forumsthat are realized within the project “Sustainable and inclusive balanced regional development – phase 2”, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Government of the Republic of N. Macedonia, represented by the Ministry of Local Self-Government.

Representatives from the municipalities, members and presidents of the Municipal Councils of the South-East Planning Region, councilors from the Units of the local self-government, representatives of the business community, civil society organizations, urban / local communities and other stakeholders from the region were present on the Second forum session.

The participants had the opportunity to rank the proposed concepts for both Programs: Grant Scheme Program for projects with mandatory digital component and Ministry of self-government / Bureau for regional development Program for balanced regional development for 2022 with indicatively planned funds for 2023, which were proposed by the participants during the First Forum Sessionand are aimed at improving life in the wider community and the region.

Еach working table had to evaluate the proposed concepts, giving the most points to the one who considers it to be with the highest priority, less to the others who consider it to be of medium or low priority. The given points from each table were entered publicly, after which the total number of points gave the final ranking list of the proposed concepts.

The project concepts under the Grant Scheme Program for projects with a mandatory digital component were ranked as follows:

1. Smart cycling region

2. Energy efficient region

3. Dojran regional eco-oasis

The project concepts under the Ministry of self-government / Bureu for regional development Program for balanced regional development for 2022 with indicatively planned funds for 2023:

1. Tourism – the future of the region

2. Cultural wealth – a legacy for future generations

3. Reconstruction of the local road v. Stojakovo – v. Gjavoto

4. Preparation of technical documentation for construction of bicycle paths in the municipalities of Konche, Radovish and Vasilevo

The next steps include preparation of project applications and submission to the evaluation committee for the concept proposals from the Grant Scheme, while the draft concepts from the Ministry of self-government / Bureu for regional developmentProgram will be presented to the Council for development of the South-East planning region. The Council will decide on the final list of regional project proposals for 2022 taking into consideration the voting from the Second Forum Session.

Agreements signed for national co-financing of two projects through the Cross-Border Cooperation Program with Greece

On 04.05.2022, in the premises of the Officers’ Home in Bitola, the Director of the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region Ms. Zhulieta Gjurkova and the Minister of Local Self-Government Mr. Goran Milevski signed Agreements for national co-financing for two projects that the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region is implementing through the Second Call within the Interreg IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme between Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia.

The co-financing is provided from the national budget of the Ministry of Local Self-Government in the amount of 15% of the funds approved for the Centre as a partner in the two projects that are implemented in two priority axis: development of local economy and prevention and protection against natural disasters.
Through the implementation of the first project for which a National Co-financing Agreement was signed, “Business Ecosystem as Integrated System – Be In”,
measures for reducing the gap between supply and demand in the labor market will be implemented, as well as activities to encourage innovation and capacity development and networking. The total budget of the
Centre for realization of the project is 152,482.50 euros, with a duration of 18 months.

While within the project “Early FIre Detection And Ranging for disaster prevention and management – eFIDAR”, with a duration of 24 months and a
budget for the Centre of 267,939.50 euros, two
firefighting vehicles with firefighting equipment will be procured and activities for efficient detection and management of forest fires in the cross-border area will be carry out.

Through the First call of the Programming period 2014-2020 from the IPA Interreg Programme for cross-border cooperation with Greece, the Centre completed the implementation of two projects at the end of 2021, and so far has concluded agreements for a total of seven cross-border projects with Greece.

VII (SEVENTH) SESSION OF THE COUNCIL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTH-EAST PLANNING REGION WAS HELD

In the premises of the Municipality of Radovish, on April 14, 2022, the VII (seventh) Session of the Council for development of the South-East planning region was held.

Besides the members of the Council, representatives of the SDC / Ministry of Local Self-Government were also present at the Session, as well as Prof. Dr. Boris Cizalj, regional management expert. Also Mr. Tihomir Petreski, external expert for preparation of concept solutions and project proposals was present.

According to the agenda, Prof. Dr. Boris Cizalj from Republic of Slovenia addressed the present, and presented his practices and experiences as a long-term expert in the field of regional development. The purpose of his presentation was through an open discussion with the mayors, to determine which countries, according to the planned Study visit of the members of the Council, can be visited and to exchange good practices that would be applicable in the South-East Planning Region, which activity is planned within the project “Sustainable and inclusive balanced regional development”.

The external expert, Mr. Tihomir Petreski presented the concept solutions for project applications through the Balanced Regional Development Program for 2022 with indicatively planned funds for 2023 of MLS / BRR and Grant Scheme of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which were proposed at the First Forum Session, in order for the members of the Council to get acquainted with the proposed concepts and to give their opinion and recommendations for improvement.

The Code of Ethics and six Policies were adopted at the session, which are of particular importance for the overall work of the staff of the Centre for development of the South-East planning region. The final account reports of the Centre for 2021 were also adopted.

The construction of the access road to the shelter for homeless animals has started

On March 30, 2022, the construction activities for the construction of the access road to the shelter for homeless animals in the Municipality of Strumica has started, a project implemented by the Centre for development of the South-East planning region in partnership with the Municipality of Strumica, funded by the Bureau for Regional Development and the Municipality of Strumica.

The Director of the Centre for development of the South-East planning region, Ms. Zhulieta Gjurkova informed that the needed amount of over 4 million denars for this project are provided by the Program for balanced regional development under which the Centre is currently implementing several other projects that are of great importance for economic development of the South-East region.

– It is important to point out that through this Program the shelter itself was built and 2 vehicles for catching dogs were procured, and with the support of UNDP the entire equipment in the hospital was procured. The realization of this project will enable the shelter for homeless animals to start functioning smoothly, and we are working on providing additional funds to increase the capacity of the shelter, which will provide a cleaner and healthier environment for the Municipality of Strumica and other municipalities in the region as well – said Ms. Gjurkova.

The President of the Council of the Municipality of Strumica, Mr. Marjan Daskalovski, emphasized that with this project it is planned to build a modern infrastructure for easy and fast access to the shelter for homeless animals by arranging the entrance of the shelter with parking space, ground floor and horticultural arrangement, by weeding the space, setting up benches, trash cans and planting trees.

This project has regional significance because although the shelter will be managed and financed by the Municipality of Strumica, in the future, in accordance with the legal regulations, it will be in function of the neighboring municipalities for a minimum fee per captured dog.

The Ambassador of Switzerland Véronique Hulmann Marti has visited the South-East planning region

When local governments, civil society and the private sector work together real changes are made on local and regional level. The Embassy of Switzerland in the Republic of North Macedonia together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation over the past few years is committed to supporting sustainable regional development in the Republic of North Macedonia.

This week, the Ambassador Véronique Hulmann Marti visited the South-East Planning Region where she met the key partners in the region and got acquainted with the concrete results of projects funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation at local and regional level.

The meeting was held in the Municipality of Strumica and was attended by the Director of the Centre for development of the South-East Planning region Zhulieta Gjurkova, the Mayor of Municipality of Strumica Kostadin Kostadinov, the President of the Council Marjan Daskalovski and the Secretary of the Municipality Aleksandar Odzakov where they discussed the current cooperation and the future plans.

In the South-East Planning Region, several projects funded by Swiss funds have been implemented so far, which have a direct impact on improving the quality of life, regional cooperation and promoting an innovative approach in providing services to all stakeholders. One of those projects is the project for restoration of the Strumica river basin, whose activities were aimed at increasing the competitiveness of agricultural production in the region and reducing its impact on the environment, through the introduction of modern, agro-environmental measures.

Also, with the direct participation of the citizens of the South-East region in a participatory way through the project “Sustainable and inclusive balanced regional development”, financially supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, four Day Care Centers for people with special needs were equipped with work equipment, 23 agro meteorological stations were placed, an Academy for reintegration of marginalized people was established and a Common Workplace as a way of strengthening the cooperation with the business sector were established.

The cooperation does not stop here and the Regional Forum sessions of the community are under implementation, whereas priorities for solving this year were the problems in the field of environmental protection and improving the tourist offer in the South-Еast region, which once again confirms the mutual further commitment for realization of new projects which are of interest for the citizens.