Social Entrepreneurship as a Tool of Social Inclusion

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was marked on the 4th of December, in the social enterprise “Countryside Retreat”, in the village Opila, Rankovce, under the motto “We are all equal!”.  At the event, in addition to the music program and socializing, a panel discussion was held on social entrepreneurship as a tool for inclusion, a mini fair of social enterprises, and certificates of appreciation were awarded to stakeholders from all sectors who contribute to the communities with their work.

The attendees had the opportunity to hear the experiences and thoughts of panelists David Nedelkovski from “Goat Milk Mountain” (Goat breeder and producer of goat milk products from the village of Rashtak) and Predrag Stoshikj (Director of the social enterprise Radanska Ruzha from Serbia), as well as to raise questions that would help them strengthen their social enterprises, learn more about the opportunities for product placement, cooperation and sources of financing, or become inspired to initiate new business ideas with social impact.

“What Serbian ajvar and Macedonian cheese have in common is not only that they go best together (just like the cross-border cooperation of our two neighboring countries), but that they are examples of businesses that are local, doing good for people, and they are stories that can be found in European markets and tell about the potential of the solidarity economy. We all need to find ways to support social enterprises, which, in turn, can support different groups of citizens through work inclusion. This is one of the messages of our cross-border project, which we are implementing with Trag Foundation and Optimist from Serbia,” said Jasmina Said, project coordinator at ARNO.

The event was organized by Countryside Retreat, Europe House Kriva Palanka and the association “Handicap Plus” with the support of the Municipality of Kriva Palanka, the municipality of Rankovce, and the cross-border European project “Social Enterprises for Economic Development and Social Inclusion” implemented by the association “ARNO”. The vegetarian snack was provided by the students from the “Mitko Pendjukliski” secondary school ofcatering from Kratovo, the mural with an eco-message (ReUse-Reduce-Recycle) was made by students from the “Lazar Lichenoski” secondary school of art from Skopje, while Natalija Danailova with her band was in charge of the music program.

“I’m still under the impressions from yesterday’s event and all the adrenaline.  I am very grateful to everyone who came and we had a great time. We socialized, and there were ideas for collaborations, acquaintances. I am very grateful to the Minister of Agriculture – Mr. Ljupco Nikolovski, who announced yesterday that he would continue donating the travel expenses from the whole year, and this year those funds will be donated to our ranch, and we will allocate them where it is most needed. I am speechless, thank you for everyone’s trust and respect,” said Maria Duda, the founder of Countryside Retreat.

The event was attended by representatives of the European Union Delegation in Skopje, participants from the Academy for Social Entrepreneurship, representatives of the local government, the donor community, representatives of the civil sector, social enterprises (Kiko from ‘Lice v Lice’ was selling New Year’s cards) and various guests.

The project “Social Enterprises for Economic Development and Social Inclusion” is financially supported by the European Union through the Department for Contracting and Financing of European Union Funded Programs within the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia (IPA 2 program for cross-border cooperation Republic of Serbia-North Macedonia 2016-2020 ), and is implemented by partnership of the associations “ARNO” from North Macedonia, Optimist and Trag Foundation (coordinator) from the Republic of Serbia