Commissions for Interethnic Relations

In our society there is a prevalent negative assumption that threatens the social cohesion, and that is – it is normal to have competition between majority and minority groups (regardless which ethnic group is majority / minority in different municipalities). According to this ‘zero-sum competition belief ’, unemployment, poverty, lack of good facilities for education and health, and other common challenges of social justice happen because minorities absorb resources that would otherwise be accessible to majority groups. The way we suggest dealing with this negative assumption will be to engage members of Interethnic councils (as multiethnic entity) - to create persuasive messages that target these assumptions, question the public opinion through focus groups as a form of qualitative public opinion research and to present the findings on public events that demystify the perception of minorities and stigmatized people as consumers of scarce resources and as a threat to the economy and the welfare system. We had meetings with Interethnic councils from Struga, Debar and Kichevo, but also meetings with representatives from smaller ethnic minorities from civil society sector. We organized joined public cultural events with Interethnic council from Struga and Debar. We also had study visit to Skopje relevant institutions.