The intercultural legacy of privatisation and decentralisation in post-socialist community buildings and civil society institutions in Struga and southwest Macedonia

The political crisis in Macedonia (FYROM) has led to increasingly fractured ethnic relations, notably between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, where mutual distrust is the norm. Young people fail to learn each others’ languages, and study in different shifts, meaning they do not meet. The Civil Society Organisation (CSO) sector in the southwest region of Macedonia is weak and also divided by ethnic lines. The Struga-based NGO Creative & Active (C&A) has set up a programme Decade of Belonging to contribute to the improvement of the intercommunity relations in southwest region, by enhancing the cooperation between CSOs, interethnic councils, decision makers and the private sector. One specific deficit identified by C&A has been a disconnect between a changing community reality and state mechanisms. In response, C&A set up an innovative programme of open-ended residencies involving outside experts. This presentation includes a summary of the programme from C&A, and a summary of one of the reports produced by an expert-in-residence in September 2017. The report is based around in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in southwest Macedonia, and includes findings and recommendations based on empirical research into historical and political changes in the country. It begins by examining how CSOs changed and responded to socio-political transformations in Macedonia since independence in 1991 in ways which have contributed to or mitigated the ethnic and national cohesion. The report concludes by reflecting on the potential for the perspective of urbanism to deal with problems of inter-ethnic cohesion in Macedonia and in Europe more widely.