North Macedonia - CEP

Project on Advancing Nursing and Midwifery Education in North Macedonia continues with a fact-finding visit

25. 9. 2024 | Development (ODA), North Macedonia - Nursing and Midwifery, PR, Regional cooperation

We are continuing the activities in the scope of the project “Advancing nursing and midwifery education and establishing the system for the recognition of professional qualifications in the Republic of North Macedonia (2024–2025),” which aims to support and advance nursing and midwifery education in North Macedonia.

The project, launched in June 2024, continues with a fact-finding visit to Skopje, where from 20 to 22 October, several workshops, presentations by Slovenian experts and group interviews with Macedonian experts will be held. The visit will take a cross-pillar approach, focusing on regulation, legislation and education, and will unite representatives of faculties and schools where nursing and midwifery studies are conducted, WHO Office in Skopje, Institute for Public Health, representatives from the Ministry of Higher Education covering legislation related to higher education, and representatives from the Ministry of Health, as well as representatives from the government recognized the national nursing and midwifery organizations.

Project is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through the International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Programme and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of North Macedonia.

Project to Advance Nursing and Midwifery Education in North Macedonia officially launched today in Ljubljana

3. 6. 2024 | Development (ODA), North Macedonia - Nursing and Midwifery, PR, Regional cooperation

Novico v slovenskem jeziku najdete tu.

Ljubljana, Slovenia, 3 June 2024 – We are proud to announce the official launch of the project “Advancing nursing and midwifery education and establishing the system for the recognition of professional qualifications in the Republic of North Macedonia (2024–2025)”, aimed at supporting and advancing nursing and midwifery education in North Macedonia. The project, supported by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and co-financed by the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia, was succesfully launched today, before the commencement of a three-day study visit in Slovenia.

Distinguished speakers Mr Denis Kordež, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Ms Eva Dajčman Šterk, Head Division for Human Resources in Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr Pia Vračko, representative of the WHO Country Office in North Macedonia, Ms Elena Ristoska, representative of the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia, Ms Monika Ažman, President of the Nurses & Midwives Association of Slovenia and Ms Jelka Klemenc, Head of Development Cooperation at the Centre for European Perspective, contributed to the official launch of the project, which will run until 31 December 2025.

Distinguished speakers opening the event highlighted the importance of cooperation of various stakeholders and thanked representatives from North Macedonia for their engagement, the Centre for European Perspective for the support in officially launching and running the project and the Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia for their expert support. Speakers also highlighted the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia and the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia for the project.

Mr Denis Kordež, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, who welcomed the Macedonian delegation to Slovenia, emphasized the importance of collaboration, stating, “Close and coherent cooperation between the various stakeholders in the health and education system to address nursing and midwifery education and to establish a system of recognizing professional qualifications in North Macedonia is crucial. We hope you will be able to learn from Slovenia and its practices and avoid the mistakes we made.”

“We are happy and proud of the project of international cooperation with the Republic of North Macedonia, within the framework of which we will advise Macedonian professional colleagues in the establishment of vertical education for nurses with an emphasis on the first and second Bologna level and in the preparation of the necessary tools and starting points for independent regulation of professions in nursing and midwifery. The established cooperation proves that the Nurses and Midwives Association, which takes care of the development of the health and midwifery profession and strives for its autonomy, has international recognition and validity. We want recognition of the autonomy of the profession at home as well,” said Monika Ažman, President of the Nurses and Midwives of Slovenia – the Association of Professional Associations of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Technicians of Slovenia.

Ms Elena Ristoska, a Representative from the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia, thanked the initiative of NMA and the work of CEP and acknowledged the urgency of the task ahead for North Macedonia: “A similar path to Slovenian awaits us, but we only have a year to do it.”

Dr Pia Vračko from the WHO Office in North Macedonia stressed the importance of unwavering dedication and teamwork: “Slovenia has always supported EU integration of the Western Balkans, and now we also cooperate in the field of health. We hope there will be more projects like this between North Macedonia and Slovenia, as without collaboration, this project will not be a success. This is why it is crucial to have representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education together here. It is difficult to implement change, and we will have to be one team and act together. Never and never give up – this will bring us to a successful conclusion, and we won’t end until we achieve the goal.” Dr Vračko reiterated the gratitude of all involved stakehoders for the opportunity to bring this project idea to fruition and thanked CEP for responding to the request to take charge of the preparation and to facilitate implementation of this endeavour.

Ms Jelka Klemenc emphasised that CEP is privileged to have a part in this endeavour and will be able to utilise its vas experience both feom working in the same target country and also from implementating complex multi-stakeholder processes.

During the study visit, the Macedonian delegation will gain further insights into the work of the Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia and Slovenian and EU legislation on nursing, as well as the educational frameworks for nurses and midwives and their professional development. The study visit will include visits to the Angela Boškin Faculty of Health Care in Jesenice, where the representatives will learn more about the development process of the Angela Boškin Faculty of Healthcare and the building of quality nursing and midwifery education. Following will be the visit to Jesenice General Hospital, where the delegation will observe the nursing educational process in practice. On Wednesday, the agenda will focus on presenting the roles of nurses and midwives in primary health care at the Health Promotion Center in Ljubljana. The visit will conclude with discussions outlining the next steps and actions to be taken upon return to NMK (led by the Project Secretariat at the Ministry of Health NMK) and group discussions on the potential application of Slovenian models to the NMK primary healthcare context.

Project is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through the International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Programme and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of North Macedonia.

The 4th consultation and 3rd workshop of the project ” Support in Chapter 24 – Financial Investigations” successfully concluded activities in North Macedonia for 2023.

29. 12. 2023 | PR

Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.

Consultations and workshops for Macedonian investigative and prosecution authorities that were implemented in the week between the 18th and 21st of December 2023 in North Macedonia mark the final activities within the scope of the project” Support in Chapter 24 – Financial investigations” for the year 2023.

The implemented activities enabled further possibilities for the exchange of best practices, mutual training and capacity building that contribute to the development of procedures towards the fight against organised crime and corruption, with special attention for financial investigations.

The consultations, which took place at the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office Skopje and were attended by representatives of the Customs Administration, the Ministry of the Interior, the Office for Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism and the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office Skopje, addressed the dilemmas that Macedonian investigators and prosecutors face in real-life cases of ongoing financial investigations. Consultations were provided by a prosecutor from the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Slovenia, an expert in business, tax and public sector crime from the Criminal Police Directorate of the Republic of Slovenia and a Slovenian expert in the valuation and calculation of assets of illicit origin. The consultations were intensive and provided an opportunity for an in-depth joint review of the data and to explore the possibilities for the successful implementation and conclusion of specific financial investigations aiming to confiscate assets of illicit origin and proceeds of crime.

The consultations were followed by a workshop in Dojran, attended by representatives of the Macedonian Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Police, the Customs Administration and the Ministry of the Interior, who have already been involved and trained in the project’s previous activities, and who have been involved in the drafting of the Standard operating procedures for Financial Investigations (SOP), to be adopted by the institutions in the second half of 2022. This time, they discussed with their Slovenian colleagues how they can contribute to the development and improvement of the financial investigation system in North Macedonia through their knowledge and experience, transferring it to their colleagues in their institutions, the use of SOP for financial investigations, continuous improvement, inter-institutional cooperation, and teamwork.

The consultations were also attended by Ljubomir Joveski, who just a few days later – on 25 December 2023 – completed his term of mandate as the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of North Macedonia and who has already participated in the “Support in Chapter 24 – Financial Investigations” project in previous phases, including as a signatory to the Joint Guidelines for the Conduct of Financial Investigations signed by the Macedonian institutions on 7 June 2019 in Ljubljana. At the end of his mandate, he thanked the Republic of Slovenia for its development assistance and assessed the project as very important for the Macedonian prosecutor’s office and the institutions responsible for financial investigations. He said that he expects many positive effects from the project, as since its presence there are already signs of a shift towards faster and more efficient work.

The consultations and workshops in December successfully concluded all planned activities of the two-year program cycle of the “Support in Chapter 24 – Financial Investigations” project for 2023. Further activities are scheduled for 2024.

Further information:
Milanka Ilić

Project Manager

Centre for European Perspective

Activities are funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Republic of Slovenia through its International Development Cooperation Programme and implemented in cooperation with the State Prosecution, Ministry of the Interior, and the Police of the Republic of Slovenia.

Announcing the last consultations and workshops of 2023 in North Macedonia

11. 12. 2023 | Development (ODA), Macedonia - Finance, PR, Regional cooperation

Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.

The fight against organised crime and corruption is one of North Macedonia’s strategic priorities, and progress in this area is also expected from the EU. Macedonian investigative and prosecuting authorities are also committed to making progress in this direction and are actively working to improve their competence and skills in the field of financial investigations. In this respect, they rely, inter alia, on the expertise provided by the Republic of Slovenia under the International Development Cooperation Programme through the project ” Support in Chapter 24 – Financial investigations”.

As part of this project, fourth consultations along with third workshop for representatives of the Macedonian institutions responsible for financial investigations will take place in North Macedonia from 18 to 21 December 2023.

During the consultations and workshops, Slovenian experts will continue the progress already made in developing the capacity of Macedonian investigative and law enforcement authorities to carry out financial investigations and continue their assistance along the way.

Further information:
Milanka Ilić

Project Manager

Centre for European Perspective

Activities are funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Republic of Slovenia through its International Development Cooperation Programme and implemented in cooperation with the State Prosecution, Ministry of the Interior, and the Police of the Republic of Slovenia.

In North Macedonia, another round of this year’s consultations and workshops on conducting financial investigations has been successfully carried out

1. 12. 2023 | Development (ODA), Macedonia - Finance, PR, Regional cooperation

Kliknite tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku.

The fight against organised crime and corruption is one of North Macedonia’s strategic priorities, and progress in this area is also expected from the EU. Macedonian investigative and prosecuting authorities are also committed to making progress in this direction and are actively working to improve their competence and skills in the field of financial investigations. In this respect, they rely, inter alia, on the expertise provided by the Republic of Slovenia under the International Development Cooperation Programme through the project ” Support in Chapter 24 – Financial investigations”.

As part of this project, this year’s third consultation took place in North Macedonia from 27 to 29 November 2023, followed by a second workshop from 29 November to 1 December 2023 for representatives of the Macedonian institutions responsible for financial investigations.

The consultations in Skopje were attended by 19 representatives from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, the Financial Police, the Customs Administration, and the Health Insurance Institute, while 11 representatives from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Financial Police participated in the workshops that followed in Veles. Thematically, the activities addressed topics and dilemmas related to their current cases and were designed according to their real needs in carrying out financial investigations and confiscating assets of illicit origin and proceeds of crime.

During the activities, Slovenian experts in the field of conducting financial investigations shared their experiences with the Macedonian participants from the perspective of the role of the prosecutor’s office, from the perspective of valuing and calculating assets of illicit origin, and from the perspective of implementation and coordination of the criminal investigation of proceeds of crime.

During the consultations and workshops, Slovenian experts acknowledged the progress made in developing the capacity of Macedonian investigative and law enforcement authorities to carry out financial investigations and assured them that they could rely on their continued assistance along the way.

The assistance will be implemented again by the end of this year in the form of a new workshop and consultations. The third workshop of this year will take place in North Macedonia from 11 to 13 December 2023, followed by the fourth consultation of this year on strengthening the capacity of Macedonian institutions to carry out financial investigations from 19 to 21 December.

Further information:
Milanka Ilić

Project Manager

Centre for European Perspective

Activities are funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Republic of Slovenia through its International Development Cooperation Programme and implemented in cooperation with the State Prosecution, Ministry of the Interior, and the Police of the Republic of Slovenia.