NGO Humanitarian Coordination no.9

MINUTES

of the 9th meeting
Skopje, 18.09.2001

Present

Savka Todorovska, Svetlana Janeva - SOZM; Evka Topuzovska - OOZM; Dragi Zmijanac - PDAS "Megjasi"; Dilbera Kamberovska - ROZM "Daja"; Ahmet Jasarovski - Drom; Memedali Rahmani - Mesecina; Vegim Etemi - El hilal; Gjuner Nebiu - SAZM; Gazmend Saiti, Kujtim Kjazimi - Natyra; Emina Nuredinovska - MCIC.

Absent

Milosrdie, Klasje na dobrinata

The meeting was chaired by Savka Todorovska, SOZM.
Minutes person: Emina Nuredinovska.

The participants determined the following

AGENDA

1. Reports on humanitarian activities
   a) Report of the meeting of NHC;
   b) Reports of the organisations on the activities carried out in the previous week.
   
   
2. Problems, issues and needs that need to be discussed.
   

Ad.1

The minutes of the 9th meeting of NHC had previously been distributed to the participants.

a) Dragi Zmijanac of Megjasi felt that his request was not properly quoted in the minutes of the 9th meeting of NHC. He also made remarks on the announced distribution of free schoolbooks to the displaced primary school pupils, saying that the whole process was late and very slow.

The other members of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination were consent with his conclusions and appealed once again for provision of free school material, shoes and clothes by the donors.

b) The participants in the meeting submitted short oral reports, as well as written ones, on the activities carried out in the previous week.

Food / non-food products

El hilal distributed food and hygienic products in the villages of Rogle, Cerovo and Selce. Also humanitarian aid was distributed to Radusa and Aracinovo on 18.09.2001.

Natyra, in cooperation with several local organisations, organised a convoy with food and hygienic products in the Lipkovo region.

Mesecina, in cooperation with Inter Ethnic Programme, provided food and hygienic products for 260 families.

Megjasi, in cooperation with Caritas, provided clothes and shoes for the children accommodated in their collective centre.

MCIC distributed 8 tons of food in the villages of Urvic and Jelovjane, Tetovo, and 16 tons of food in the villages of Vratnica, Slatina, Lesok and Neprosteno.

Education

Activities continue concerning enrolment of displaced children in schools, as well as provision of basic school material and clothes for the pupils.

Coordination

Information on the meeting of the local coordination body in Kumanovo was submitted by Ahmed Jasarovski. The organisations in Kumanovo were facing the problem of accommodating displaced persons who had fled to Kosovo, as well as the fact that the Red Cross in Kumanovo did not register these people. He also informed about the establishment of a coordination body responsible for organising a convoy to visit the homes in Lipkovo and the monastery in Matejce. He especially stressed the appeal to the donors for assisting a 14-year old girl (displaced person) who needed medical treatment in France.

Reconstruction

MCIC, from 19.09.2001 begin with reconstruction of objects with little damages in Aracinovo, Brnjarci and Lopate. MCIC, reconstructed (8-10 September) the school in the village of Brnjarci, Skopje.

Other activities

Mesecina is implementing a project that will result in a codex of interethnic tolerance, which will be prepared by the 20 participating organisations from the Gostivar region. The project is funded by ISC.

ROZM "Daja" and several local organisations from Kumanovo, in cooperation with "European Prospective" from Greece, are conducting an identification process on the needs of the internally displaced persons accommodated with families. The IDPs will be distributed humanitarian aid.


Ad.2

Savka Todorovska, SOZM, stressed the need for establishment of a working group (3-5 members) that should prepare a programme for the work of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination. She also proposed that a meeting should be organised with the heads of the collective centres and the foreign donor agencies, in order to improve the conditions for the internally displaced persons.

Ahmed Jasarovski, Drom, stressed that there was a need for such a group, since there is no joint initiative by the body for some concrete activities.

Dilbera Kamberovska, Daja, also felt that such a working group needed to be established in order to prepare a programme and a plan for joint action.

Memedali Rahmani of Mesecina felt that the work of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination is fruitful and proposed that each organisation proposed additional activities of this body at each meeting in the future. He informed that most of the displaced persons from Tetovo who had been accommodated in Gostivar have returned to their homes. In his opinion, the damage assessment and reconstruction of the objects need to start as soon as possible, to avoid possible re-displacement of the people. He also spoke of the incorrect behaviour of Macedonia's police reservists who were at the police checkpoints.

Dragi Zmijanac of Megjasi, referring to this, suggested that, on behalf of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination, cards (accreditations) needed to be issued, which would enable free movement in all regions of the country, except for the areas accessible with permit of the Government's Coordination Body. He further suggested that members of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination needed to visit the collective centres and possibly the host families, in order to assess the needs of the displaced persons.

Gjuner Nebiu, SAZM, supported the idea of Dragi Zmijanac, stressing that only through direct contacts with the displaced persons, their real needs would be assessed.

Gazmend Saiti, Natyra, asked the NGO Humanitarian Coordination to initiate release of the pay-toll for the vehicles of the humanitarian organisations, and raised the problem of the returnees from Kosovo who were denied registration by the Macedonian Red Cross.

Nora Sabani of the Education Department of UNICEF was present at the meeting and informed the participants that the process of distribution of schoolbooks had been started. She asked the local organisations that had access and contacts in the crises areas to ask the directors of the primary schools in these areas to prepare a list of enrolled students in grades 1-8.

She also explained the decision of UNICEF concerning protection of land mines and said that the entire campaign and all activities were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

After the discussion, the participants reached the following

CONCLUSIONS

1. Accreditations.
   On behalf of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination, accreditations (cards) need to be prepared for all members of this body, which would facilitate movement and would help avoid troubles during travelling.
   
   
2. Plan and programme.
   A group of 3 to 5 members of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination shall prepare a plan and a programme concerning more concrete steps in the realisation of humanitarian activities. The composition of the group will be additionally determined.
   
   
3. Release of pay-toll obligation.
   On behalf of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination, a request to release the official vehicles of humanitarian organisations from the pay-toll duty on the entire territory of RM, shall be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and Communication.
   
   
4. Visits to the collective centres.
   Representatives of NGO Humanitarian Coordination shall visit all collective centres and shall assess the needs of the displaced persons. Contacts shall be established with the heads of the centres.
   
   
5. Lobby group.
   Lobby group shall be established, which would lobby all institutions and organisations that can assist in any way in the work of the humanitarian organisations, or in provision of direct aid to the displaced persons.
   
   
6. Meeting with foreign NGOs and donors.
   In order to enable proper directing and addressing the right needs, contacts shall be established with foreign donor organisations, where all relevant information on IDPs will be presented to them by local organisations.
   
   
7. Additional meeting of the coordination body.
   During the forthcoming week, an additional meeting is to be organised on all additional needs and problems of the organisations and the internally displaced persons.
   
   
8. Joint fieldwork.
   Activities need to be undertaken concerning the aid and the re-building of trust, which would be organised by all members of the NGO Humanitarian Coordination.
   

Previous Coordination Reports

• 8th Coordinative meeting [11 Sep 2001]
• 7th Coordinative meeting [4 Sep 2001]
• 6th Coordinative meeting [28 Aug 2001]
• 5th Coordinative meeting [21 Aug 2001]
• 4th Coordinative meeting [14 Aug 2001]
• 3rd Coordinative meeting [1 Aug 2001]
• 2nd Coordinative meeting [25 Jul 2001]
• 1st Coordinative meeting [18 Jul 2001]