The general goal of the action is to analyze and monitor budget spending for anti-crisis measures, at the national and local level, and to propose modification and/or new measures in conditions of an emphasized need for rationalization of public money spending.
Employment diagnostics in the municipalities in North Macedonia
The aim of the project is to diagnose the labor market in nine municipalities in North Macedonia.
Duration: November 2020 – January 2021
Client: International Labor Organization
Gender equality in the workplace: Monitoring at the local level
The main objective of the project is to promote and encourage gender equality and non-discrimination in hiring and in the workplace.
The short-term goals of the project include: 1) assessing employers’ attitudes to gender inequality and discrimination in hiring and tin the workplace and the mechanisms for their prevention and protection; 2) to examine the experiences of workers in relation to gender inequality and discrimination and to assess whether they are reduced to isolated cases or systematically occurring; 3) to help policymakers make informed decisions based on evidence, data and recommendations; 4) to encourage social dialogue between key stakeholders (workers, employers and policymakers); 5) to raise public awareness of the regulatory framework for protection against gender inequality and discrimination in hiring and in the workplace.
Donor: Foundation Open Society
Duration: November 2019 – May 2020
Assessment of the needs of social services at the municipal level
The aim of the project is to assess the needs of social services in all 80 municipalities on the territory of Northern Macedonia.
Client: Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (Social Services Improvement Project)
Duration: August – November 2019
360o monitoring of the provision of social services at the local level: Experiences from the municipalities of Prilep and Dolneni
The overall goal of the project is to improve the delivery of social services at the local level by increasing the capacities of local stakeholders and involving citizens in this process in the municipalities of Prilep and Dolneni.
The short-term objectives of the project are:
- To analyze and monitor the provision of social services from local public institutions in all aspects (hence, 360 degrees monitoring), with a key emphasis on the PI Inter-municipal Center for Social Work – Prilep.
- To understand the extent to which the provision of public services is assisted by the private and civil sector.
- To assess the level of cooperation of local stakeholders and public institutions in delivering social services.
- To understand the perceptions and experiences of the local population regarding the delivery of social services.
- To encourage local policy-makers to make informed decisions based on evidence.
- To strengthen the capacities of all stakeholders for better delivery of social services.
- To increase public awareness about the impact of social services on personal and social well-being.
Duration: November 2018 – March 2019
Donor: European Union through the Foundation Open Society Macedonia and Eurothink
Migration as social protection: Analysis of Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian remittance-receiving households
The objective of the research is to investigate if remittances sent to Macedonia, Albania and Serbia serve social protection for household members left behind.
In particular, we will analyse if and how remittances determine/influence social condition (stability or vulnerability) of the household, the latter being described through an index composition of the income level, employment status, nourishment, health and housing conditions. For the purpose of the study, we aim at defining social stability/vulnerability not in traditional terms – only as “dollar a day” – but rather in terms of household’s ability to meet their basic needs aside income: nutrition, health services, housing, leisure and the like. This touches upon Green’s (2014) recent note that “being poor and sick is very different from being poor and healthy” and defines social stability in this multidimensional framework.
The key tasks include:
- developing a literature overview linking remittances to social protection and social vulnerability;
- devising an indicator of social vulnerability;
- econometric investigation of the causal links between remittances and social vulnerability;
- deeper qualitative investigation through interviews of the linkages between and contexts of the two phenomena (remittances and social vulnerability);
- devising policy proposals;
- wide communication with the policymakers and the public.
Donor: Regional Research Promotion Program
Duration: 2 years (2014-2016)
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Project meeting, Rome 2-5 April 2015 – Agenda – Gallery
Media appearance – Ekonomski horizonti – RevolucionerMK
RRPP Annual conference presentation, Ohrid 28-29 May 2015 – Resources
Round table, 10 June 2015 – Invitation – Agenda – Gallery – Presentation
International Conference on Eurasian Economies, 9-11 September 2015, Kazan Russia – Presentation – Proceedings
Training & Project meeting, Amsterdam 16-20 March 2016 – Agenda – Gallery 1 2
Workshop “Migration and its Consequences for Albanian Households”, Elbasan, Albania, 8 September 2016 – Agenda
EBES International Conference, Vienna, Austria, 28-30 September 2016 – Picture
Economic forum, Skopje, 22 September 2016 – Agenda – Gallery
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Policy briefs – Macedonia – Albania – Serbia
International book “Migration as social protection”
Journal article in International Migration
Simulation of a voucher policy for improving the social condition of individual remittance receivers in Macedonia
The purpose of the study is to develop a simulation of potential voucher system for social protection of individual members of the households receiving remittances in Macedonia.
Specific objectives:
– To conduct analysis for Macedonia at the individual level (using the DotM Remittance Survey 2008)
– To develop an econometric model;
– To simulate the effects of potential voucher for protection of socially vulnerable individual recipients of remittances by simulating the effects on the health indicator of the recipient.
Donor: Partnership for Economic Policies
Duration: 2014-2015 (1 year)
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Working paper
Policy conference – Invitation – Gallery
Journal paper
Empowering women in Krushevo through mini clastering for sales and promotion of traditional products
Тhe objective of the project is to improve the living standards and social inclusion, and to reduce poverty in Krusevo, through association (mini-clustering) of women for production and sale of local, domestic, traditional and ecological, home-made products.
The short-term goals include:
Prompting social inclusion and interaction through association of individual producers, unemployed housewives;
Promoting awareness for investing in their skills to pull out of poverty and improve their lives;
Establishing system for production and promotion of local home-made products, in order to encourage and increase production, sales and promotion;
Strengthening the awareness among policy makers for the need of mini-clustering of individual producers of traditional food, as a tool to promote local economic growth and improve socio-economic conditions.
Donor: The Embassy of USA in Skopje
Duration: 2014-2015 (12 months)
Training for production, marketing and sales skills – Gallery 1 – Gallery 2 – Gallery 3
New Year Bazaar “Craft Art Fest” Participation – Gallery
Fair “It’s homemade, it’s from Krushevo…” – Gallery
Youth self-employment in households receiving remittances in Macedonia
This project aims to explore if remittances may be used to support the entrepreneurial activities of unemployed youth in households receiving remittances, in an environment of global economic crisis, tightened credit conditions, lack of venture capital financing and the malfunctioning labor market.
Low job creation and high unemployment are the most important problems of Macedonia. The youth unemployment rate of 55% remains persistently high. On the other hand, Macedonia receives remittances of outward migration in the amount of above 20% of GDP annually. Their usage, however, remains largely unknown. This proposed research aims to explore if remittances may be used to support the entrepreneurial activities of unemployed youth in households receiving remittances, in an environment of global economic crisis, tightened credit conditions, lack of venture capital financing and the malfunctioning labor market. We will use the Remittances Survey conducted in September/October 2012 to explore the probability that a young person will enter self-employment if his/her household receives remittance. We propose two techniques: i) propensity score matching, so as to find similar, in characteristics, non-receiving households, as those receiving remittance; and ii) instrumental variables approach, so as to account for the potential endogeneity of remittances with respect to the decision to establish own firm. We expect that our findings would enable us to propose policy recommendations in the fiscal, social, and labor-market sphere, aimed at channeling the large amount of remittances in Macedonia into generating jobs for youth.
Provider: International Development Research Center
Duration: 2013-2014 (1 year)