The work of the Center for the Promotion of the Code of Standards in the region continues as a self-regulatory mechanism for increasing the transparency, accountability and good governance of the non-profit sector in order to increase the effectiveness of CSOs activities and the trust of stakeholders. Under the coordination of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation – MCIC, a peer to peer virtual event was held on May 20 with the participation of 30 organizations from Northern Macedonia, part of the informal platform for transparency and accountability.

The purpose of the meeting was to share the Albanian experience in drafting the Code of Standards for CSOs, and to learn lessons in the framework of collecting suggestions and recommendations for drafting a document on the regulatory standards of CSO activities part of the platform informal. The National Resource Centre for Civil Society in Albania was represented by Ms. Arjola Agolli, Program Director at Partners Albania and Manager of the Center, who shared and informed the participants on the stages of the process of drafting and developing the Code of Standards, cooperation within the sector to establish a self-regulatory mechanism, selected forms for its implementation, structures as well as the tool designed to assess compliance with sector standards such as the Self-Assessment Questionnaire Framework of the Code of Standards. She also brought to the attention of the participants that the Code of Standards for CSOs in Albania is a good governance practice based on global and regional experience on best practices of social standards such as the Global Accountability Standard and the Balkan Civil Society Development Network.

During her speech Ms. Ariola Agolli, Manager at NRC highlighted the need for inclusiveness and cooperation within the sector to establish such self-regulatory mechanisms, and briefly presented the structure and content of the Code and the Self-Assessment Framework which contains a set of verifiable indicators for compliance with each of the standards.

Other meetings will be organized in order to strengthen regional cooperation in promoting self-regulatory and accountable mechanisms for the non-profit sector in both countries.