What problem are you solving?:

Transparency, easy of access to public information, structured ways of
presenting information and publishing, intruding open standards and
free software to present government and public data and information.
Basically the standard Application Interface part of TheyWorkForYou to
various important governmental institutions, ministries and agencies,
that have online presence and offer some kind of electronic way of
publishing information on their web sites, web services and structured
data.

Describe your idea:

Make a central API that will be similar to the API of the
TheyWokrForYou project, we will need to parse and scrape the
government website, the assembly website ( the project for Podobro
sobranie will provide the content), ministries and governmental
agencies, courts and public institutions.

We will design, develop and host the interface, that will expose
standard function calls that will have implementations in Python,
Ruby, Java that will allow third party web services, web sites and
applications to use this data.

Primarily the focus will be to proved the information on our site, and
the API so they will be used by news agencies, journalists and
citizens to query and gather the data in JSON, HTML, REST, TXT etc.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Free Software Macedonia is a non-profit organization that works with Free Software as in freedom in the Republic of Macedonia. FSM is dedicated to promotion of Free Software, creating awareness of both the economic and socio-ethical context of Free software especially for a developing country such as Macedonia.

FSM was established in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in 2002. It is the only NGO in the country that deals with the issues of Free Software. Also, Free Software Macedonia works on issues related to Open Standards and Free Culture.

We are running the KIKA hacklab in Skopje, we are looking for interesting public projects that we can deliver to the citizens and that will help us to pay the rent for our hacklab.

We would like to use our technical skills and expertise to help free the information and data to be accessible to the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.

http://slobodensoftver.org.mk/about_free_software_macedonia

http://slobodensoftver.org.mk/chlenovi

What problem are you solving?:

All of the laws, declarations, laws all of the transcripts, everything the Macedonian assembly and its committees have ever done is published as a word document.

We are solving the problem of transparency and freedom of information as well as vendor locking using a proprietary format to store publicly accessible information.

Describe your idea:

We are going to scrape the documents from the sobranie.mk website, we are going to use openoffice server side to convert the documents into Open Document text and we are going to save it as txt and html so it can be published at sobr.anie.mk. This will provide the citizens with the ability ti search these materials online and they will be indexed and cached by Google, yahoo and Bing.

As long as we have these materials it will also be a challenge and an adventure to see how much work they do, how much documents they publish and it will provide a certain metrics to be publicly available about the Macedonian assembly.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Free Software Macedonia is a non-profit organization that works with Free Software as in freedom in the Republic of Macedonia. FSM is dedicated to promotion of Free Software, creating awareness of both the economic and socio-ethical context of Free software especially for a developing country such as Macedonia.

FSM was established in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in 2002. It is the only NGO in the country that deals with the issues of Free Software. Also, Free Software Macedonia works on issues related to Open Standards and Free Culture.

We are running the KIKA hacklab in Skopje, we are looking for interesting public projects that we can deliver to the citizens and that will help us to pay the rent for our hacklab.

We would like to use our technical skills and expertise to help free the information and data to be accessible to the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.

http://slobodensoftver.org.mk/about_free_software_macedonia

http://slobodensoftver.org.mk/chlenovi

What problem are you solving?:

Our organization is student organization and the main idea is to make exchange between student of different counties. With this we are making positive impact of the society because with this exchange process the student are bringing new ideas and new experience in their countries. Also we are having projects in which are given chance to students to be a leader and to lead a team.With this project we are making positive impact of the society, because with this projects we are solving some problems of the society.

Describe your idea:

Our idea is to design web page for our Local Committee Prilep of AIESEC, because we need to promote our work and opportunities that we offer. Also this page will be used for recruiting new members and also for communication and collaboration with others local Committees from other countries. This page is very important for our organization because now Internet is most used place for communication and marketing.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

This is one international organization for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. It exist in 108 countries, and it have around 50 000 members. Our local Committee is in Macedonia in city Prilep. The idea of this organization is to create new leaders and change agents that in the future can make some positive changes in the world.

What problem are you solving?:

After three years of the application of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Character in the Republic of Macedonia, the majority of the citizens are not aware of the Law and the possibilities stemming from it, as it was shown by a survey conducted by FOSIM in the beginning of 2009. This project is therefore aimed at raising the awareness amongst individuals on the Law by using Internet, social media and available technologies. So far, there is no information about the application of the right to submit electronic requests and this segment of the implementation of the right to access to information has not been monitored yet. Thus, another aim is to monitor the implementation of the Law in regard to the obligation of information holders to answer to electronically submitted information requests. Moreover, the project is expected to raise the awareness of the citizens about the potentials of new technologies for effective democratic participation.

Describe your idea:

Within this project, a website for electronic submission of requests for information of public character (similar to mySociety’s project WhatDoTheyKnow.com) will be built and maintained by Metamorphosis, with support on the legal aspects by FOSIM Law Program. Electronic requests submitted by the citizens will be received and redirected to the relevant information holders. When answers are received, they will be sent back to the requesters and at the same time disclosed on the website for further promotion of the Law. In addition, there will be activities directed towards raising the awareness about the project and the Law itself, such as announcements on the social networks (Facebook and Twitter). On monthly intervals, direct contacts with citizens will be made, where notebook computers will be taken to the streets and squares and people will be offered to ask for information from state bodies and other information holders instantly, through the established website.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1992 as a representative in the Republic of Macedonia of the Open Society Institute network in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2010 the FOSIM Law Program will be focused on achieving the following goals: (1) ensuring government accountability through supporting strategic litigation and independent NGO monitoring aimed at greater access to public information; (2) facilitating transparent process of legislation approximation towards the EU by informing and supporting civil society participation; and (3) improving the protection of human rights by supporting introduction of a new mechanisms for control of government officials and respect of human rights.
Metamorphosis is an independent, nonpartisan and non-profit foundation based in Skopje, Macedonia. Its main goals are development of democracy and prosperity by promoting knowledge-based economy and information society.

What problem are you solving?:

Macedonia is characterized with very poor road infrastructure, sanitation and water supply system. Besides that, inadequate maintenance of the existing infrastructure is another problem. Another point what we want to stress is that the Government of Macedonia is decreasing the amount of resources in the State Budget for this issues, which automatically means that the LGU are having lower budgets. Next one is that most of the reappearing and building of new water supply system, sanitation and asphalted streets and roads is done during the periods of elections for the Central and Local Government. In order to gain more votes, political party who is on position, for a short period of time without respecting the priorities, strategies, plans are overspending most of the resources planned for this purposes. Municipalities’ public administration is evaluated as inefficient, incompetent etc. Because of that improvements in the infrastructure are happening very slowly.

Describe your idea:

We will create a free web portal that will serve the citizens quickly and easily to solve their daily problems with the municipal authorities and institutions. Citizens will be able to write a description, address, municipality and to attach a photo. The service will have its own separate central database where will gather all the information’s about the problems of citizens and also tracking their status, from where will be made different analysis. Every citizen will be able to monitor the status of settlement and he can evaluate the resolution of the problem. When the problem is reported by the citizen it will be followed to the relevant institution by email. The citizen will be notified by email when some of the authorities will write respond about the problem and also he can discuss about the problem with others. The portal will contribute to better communication between the authorities and citizens and building closer ties with the public administration.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

We are two young people who want to make Macedonia a better place for living.
Hristijan Risteski graduate at 2008 on International economy and business. He had 3 years working experience in Civil Society Organizations. Managing international teams and projects, strategic planning, grant writing and fundraising, delivering skills trainings and career advising sessions, facilitating seminars and workshops, developing and analyzing community needs surveys, broadening human resources and communications methods, performance appraisals, sales and legal representative.
Darko Todoroski is Engineer in information technologies. He had 7 years working experience of programming, designing and maintenance web pages. He participated in the implementation of many non government and government projects related with the internet. He had experience of designing a lot of databases and implementing a lot of web portals.

What problem are you solving?:

MGC is trying to promote the environmental issues, energy efficiency, sustainable development and urban planning as important pillars of the society. These topics are put a side from the daily political agendas in Macedonia and they are not presented in the media.

Describe your idea:

– Create a web portal for environmental DAILLY NEWS. www.zelenivesti.mk (www. greennews.mk)
– Monthly e-newsletters.
– Promote good green practices and good governance examples.
– Weekly surveys
– Green Photo of the day
– Initiate forum and debates
– Promote projects or solutions.
– Address or Ask your MP
– Address or Ask your Mayor
– Introduce environmental information to all Medias.
– MGC already signed agreement with the biggest and most visited news web portal in Macedonia www.kirilica.com.mk and all green news will be published also on this web site so we can attract bigger public and have bigger influence.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Macedonian Green Center is a Center for advocacy, lobbying and research for environmental issues, energy efficiency, sustainable development and urban planning.
MGC is non-governmental and non-partisan organization, established in May 2006 on initiative of several environmental organizations.
t. +389 78 43 11 83

What problem are you solving?:

The economic turbulence as a result of global financial crisis has resulted in the lack of demand in the world markets to the Macedonian products and falling sources of finance. Investments, remittances, and employment rates have fallen.
As a response to this new situation, in Macedonia, there is no institution with proper website that would look to the economic turbulences and that would provide continuous response and advice on the economic issues.
The governments of the region of the western Balkans, when the crisis hit in September 2008, argued that they were immune to the crisis. In surveys, the economy has leapt to the top of voters’ concerns. Overall the public is scared and uncertain.
A website, with proper research and advocacy for dealing with the economic turbulences and how they affect the policies and societies in the field, may offset vulnerabilities of the economies. This is what the proposed project aims to do.

Describe your idea:

The idea is to build a website titled: MojaEkonomija (MyEconomy), that will properly disseminate and make the government’s economic policies visible and available to all relevant stakeholders. COFER will use the website to reach to the target groups, increase awareness on the policies and increase the input on non-governmental stakeholders in the adoption and implementation of economic policies. Besides website, there will Email distribution (from info@coferweb.org); Blogs; Picture, audio and video stories, etc.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Established in Skopje as a non-profit organisation, the Council on Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) conducts economic research and advocacy aiming for the development of Macedonia’s and Balkan’s economic, commercial, industrial and financial relations with foreign countries; COFER continuously analyses Macedonia’s and Balkan’s economic relations with other economies; and its advocacy arm makes effort to find new fields of economic cooperation of Macedonia and of Balkans with foreign markets.
The Council on Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) believes that economic integration and economic dialogue are crucial conditions for a prosperous and peaceful community.

What problem are you solving?:

Purpose of the project:

Providing 24/7 on-line assistance and information for citizens and businesses for the best available products and services in the Macedonian financial sector. Www.pari.mk portal will aim to accelerate the development of the financial sector and increase education and information of households and SMEs for the products and services of this sector. At this portal at any time, from anywhere in the country everyone interested quickly and efficiently will have access to obtain the necessary information about the bids of all registered entities in the financial sector, presented in comparative tables toward the most important characteristics.

Target group:

Citizens and small and medium size enterprises.

Describe your idea:

Financial sector in Macedonia is characterized by low growth, closed operations and absence of information, which affect the overall development of the country. The most affected groups from this situation are households and small and medium size enterprises. The global economic crisis has further worsened the situation of the two groups in terms of awareness and availability of financial assets. At this portal at any time, from anywhere in the country everyone interested quickly and efficiently will have access to obtain the necessary information about the bids of all registered entities in the financial sector, presented in comparative tables toward the most important characteristics. Following categories will be present on the portal: loans (consumer, mortgage, car, business and other types of) information on deposits, credit card information, insurance information (car, life, property, etc.) calculators (credit, leasing, deposit etc.) tips, news, analysis and research.

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

CEA’s mission is to continuously research the economic development and economic policy in the Republic of Macedonia and offer policy relevant recommendations and solutions.
CEA members share a common vision of the Republic of Macedonia as a new emerging economy integrated with regional and world markets. They devote their time, efforts and knowledge to help make this vision become a reality.
Goals of CEA:
1. To provide quality policy analyses;
2. To support viable economic policy in Macedonia;
3. To help foster an environment that brings about higher investment, accelerated development and growth of the Macedonian economy, and EU accession;
4. To achieve financial sustainability;
5. To encourage regional cooperation and collaboration in the Balkans;
6. To strengthen civil society, social capital and trust.

Detailed list of all realized project of CEA you can find on our web site: www.cea.org.mk

What problem are you solving?:

*Implementing web portal for democracy
*Bigger transparency from public administration
*Education for democracy and human rights
*Giving more attention on right for citizens participation in politics and Governance projects

Describe your idea:

In Macedonia there are not NGOs working on this issue.
We like to develop a website for showing human rights.
With this web portal we expect easy and quick way to developing human rights, bigger transparency from public administration, participation from citizens in developing Governance projects etc.
With this web portal we like to inform citizens about their rights and we like to give more meaning on democracy in our country. We like to show that on new way, trough a web site which will be available for everybody trough private part (public administration and administrators of web site) and public part available for everyone

What country will this operate in?: Macedonia

Who are you?:

Our organization is considered by young specialists for IT, economy and human rights. We work on implementing websites with educational content for citizens in Macedonia. Also we have experts outside our organization.