9-10 July 2008, Samokov, Macedonia

A communication workshop was successfully completed to instil the basic skills of communication, facilitation and negotiation to nature conservation practitioners in Macedonia. The workshop was part of the third and last phase of the project “Communicating Nature Conservation in South East Europe”, funded by the Norwegian Government and carried out by ECNC in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) (Macedonia) and the State Institute for Nature Protection (Croatia).

The sixteen participants represented various public and private institutions active in the field of nature conservation and management in Macedonia: the MESP, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, National Parks, Local Self Government and nature conservation NGOs, such as the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES).

The workshop was opened by Mr Mile Jakimovski, Director of the Administration of Environment at the MESP. He underlined the importance of developing good communication skills for the nature conservation sector, in a time of increased public participation and advance towards European integration. Mr Mark Snethlage, Project Manager at ECNC, introduced the overall project aims and activities and accompanied the workshop throughout. The workshop was given by four enthusiastic and skilled facilitators: Mrs Robertina Brajanoska (MESP), Mr Dime Melovski (MES), Mr Naumche Noveski and Mr Oliver Avramoski (both from Galicica National Park) who had been trained by ECNC in the earlier phases of this project. The trainers had prepared a comprehensive programme combining short and clear theoretical introductions about the basics of communication, facilitation and conflict resolution with a series of hands-on exercises for the trainees to put the lessons into practice.

After some introductory presentations on the basics of communication, facilitation and negotiation, the participants engaged in exercises aimed at developing practical skills through learning by doing. These resulted in a series of presentations based on examples of challenges which the conservation practitioners face in their day to day professional lives. In this way the workshop ensured a direct link to the reality.

The workshop took place in the remote locality of Samokov, a village surrounded by extensive wooded hills, which are still very rich in biodiversity because until recently they were part of a restricted military area. The local economy is largely dependent on the collection of a wide variety of herbs which are marketed for culinary and medicinal use, an example of direct benefit of biodiversity to local sustainable livelihoods.


For more information, contact Aysegul Cil, Programme Manager Nature and Society cil@ecnc.org.
(Photos: M. Snethlage)