The recreational track is a new opportunity for the residents of the municipality to socialize and for recreation, conditions are created for the development of sports, but also for local development, by enriching the offer for domestic and foreign visitors. The added value of this project is that it was chosen by the citizens of Kriva Palanka, in a consultative process organized by the municipality, said the Minister of Local Self-Government, Risto Penov, who today together with the permanent representative of UNDP, Armen Grigoryan, had a meeting with the mayor of the municipality, Sashko Mitovski.
- To the satisfaction of all of us, and especially the citizens of Kriva Palanka, a beautiful project is coming to an end today, which is the result of the cooperation between the Ministry of Local Self-Government, UNDP, the Swiss Government and the municipality. Both projects are financed with funds from the Ministry of Local Self-Government and the Swiss Government. The implementer is UNDP. The municipality also participates with its own funds, which shows that the local authorities are interested in the development and improvement of the quality of life of their citizens, said the Minister of Local Self - Government. According to Penov, the Ministry of Local Self-Government supports projects that have an impact on local democracy. Without local democracy there is no local self-government and vice versa, without local self-government there is no local democracy.
- The Ministry of Local Self-Government in cooperation with UNDP participates in the implementation of similar projects in 40 municipalities, for which 2 million dollars have been provided for the period from 2022 to 2026, with the support of the Swiss Government. These processes are mutually conditioned, and the most important thing is for citizens to recognize the usefulness of their own participation and to valorize their voice by creating partnerships with local authorities and joint improvement of living conditions in the local community. I also had the opportunity today to see how the Municipality Council Hall is equipped. Through the Strengthening of Municipal Councils project, equipment has been procured for the transmission of Council sessions live. In this way, the transparency and accountability of the local authority’s increases, the minister noted.
Both projects were implemented within the framework of the program „Strengthening of Municipal Councils“, which is financed by the Swiss Government and the Ministry of Local Self-Government, and co-financed and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with national and local partners.
- The Ministry of Local Self-Government supports projects that have an impact on local democracy. Without local democracy there is no local self-government and vice versa, without local self-government there is no local democracy. These processes are mutually conditioned, and the most important thing is for citizens to recognize the usefulness of their own participation and to valorize their voice by creating partnerships with local authorities and joint improvement of living conditions in the local community, concluded the Minister.