+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| # ![](med       |                                                    |
| ia/image1.jpeg) |                                                    |
| {width="4.17986 |                                                    |
| 1111111111in" h |                                                    |
| eight="0.5in"}  |                                                    |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| eDigest         | [APRIL 2008]{.smallcaps}                           |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| In This Issue   | # From the Mission Director                        |
|                 |                                                    |
| -   [From the   | USAID shares the deep disappointment of the        |
|     Mission     | Macedonian public over the lack of invitation to   |
|     Directo     | NATO. As the Government assesses the impact of the |
| r](#from-the-mi | decision on the country's stability and prepares   |
| ssion-director) | for the upcoming early elections, USAID is pushing |
|                 | forward with its programs aimed at helping         |
| -   [           | Macedonia to achieve its long-term development     |
| USAID/Macedonia | goals. In this month's newsletter, we are          |
|     in          | highlighting our accomplishments in modernizing    |
|     Acti        | Macedonian education, expanding export             |
| on](#usaidmaced | opportunities, and promoting philanthropy. Our     |
| onia-in-action) | programs received broad coverage in the Macedonian |
|                 | media this month, underscoring the excellent       |
| -   [Special    | efforts of our implementing partners in raising    |
|     Announce    | awareness about USAID initiatives. Please read     |
| ments](#special | about these and other developments below.          |
| -announcements) |                                                    |
|                 | ## USAID/Macedonia in Action                       |
| -   [USAID in   |                                                    |
|     the         |   ---                                              |
|     News](#usa  | -------------------------------------------------- |
| id-in-the-news) |                                                    |
|                 | ![](media/image2.png){width="2.5097222222222224in" |
| Things to Know  |                                                    |
|                 | height="2.1625in"}[**Education** -]{.smallcaps} In |
| USAID           |   mod                                              |
| Administrator   | ern society, computer technology goes hand-in-hand |
| Henrietta Fore  |                                                    |
| launches the    |  with education and child development. Interactive |
| new Global      |   educational software, online libraries, virtual  |
| Development     |   c                                                |
| Commons         | hat-rooms where teachers and students can exchange |
| Initiative:     |                                                    |
|                 | ideas and methodologies -- all these are effective |
| [Global         |                                                    |
| Development     | tools that help our children learn better, faster. |
| Co              |   T                                                |
| mmons](http://w | he USAID e-Schools Project -- which came to an end |
| ww.usaid.gov/ab |                                                    |
| out_usaid/gdc/) |  on March 31st - helped Macedonia to make the leap |
|                 |   int                                              |
| USAID Announces | o the 21^st^ century by installing 6,000 computers |
| New Bureaus for |   a                                                |
| Asia and the    | nd 430 servers in all of its primary and secondary |
| Middle East:    |   s                                                |
|                 | chools. (The computers were donated by the Chinese |
| [USAID\'s New   |                                                    |
| Bureaus         |  Government.) The project also trained over 10,000 |
| ](http://www.us |   teachers in Information Technology and helped to |
| aid.gov/press/r |   in                                               |
| eleases/2008/pr | tegrate IT into their curriculum. For the youngest |
| 080229_1r.html) |   students, e-Schools developed the very first     |
|                 |   educational software "ToolKID" in Macedonian and |
| Featured        |   Albanian, now used by over 2,000 K-4 teachers.   |
| project         |   Another one of the project's innovations was the |
| website:        |   first educational web portal in Macedonia where  |
|                 |   teachers can access supplemental online teaching |
| [Secondary      |   mat                                              |
| Education       | erials. Most importantly, the project has promoted |
| Act             |   a b                                              |
| ivity](http://w | etter understanding of the importance of IT by the |
| ww.sea.org.mk/) |   Government, which is now committed to continue   |
|                 |   modernizing education in this country. *Photo by |
| USAID in        |                                                    |
| Numbers         | e-Schools: Primary school children enjoy their new |
|                 |   computer lab.*                                   |
| -   Nearly      |                                                    |
|     3,000 court |   !                                                |
|     employees   | [](media/image3.jpeg){width="1.5520833333333333in" |
|     trained     |   h                                                |
|                 | eight="1.875in"}**[Civil Society]{.smallcaps}** -- |
| -   \$25.2      |                                                    |
|     million     | The Center for Institutional Development (CIRa) -- |
|     invested in |   one of the key implementing partners of the      |
|     community   |   U                                                |
|     projects    | SAID-funded Civil Society Strengthening Project -- |
|                 |   undertook a ground breaking program to encourage |
| -   2,300       |                                                    |
|     teachers    | philanthropic activities from Macedonian companies |
|     trained in  |   an                                               |
|     ToolKID     | d individuals. CIRa matched 1 denar for each denar |
|     educational |                                                    |
|     software    |  donated to the 13 participating NGOs ranging from |
|                 |                                                    |
| Who's Who at    | youth organizations to humanitarian assistance and |
| USAID/Macedonia |                                                    |
|                 | environmental protection institutions. The results |
| Patricia Rader, |                                                    |
| Mission         | were unprecedented -- in just six months, over 300 |
| Director        |   c                                                |
|                 | itizens and companies throughout Macedonia donated |
| <pr             |   ove                                              |
| ader@usaid.gov> | r 2 million denars (approximately 38,000 euros) to |
|                 |   NGO                                              |
| Timothy Donnay, | s in support of community projects, and almost 150 |
| Program Officer |                                                    |
|                 | citizens volunteered their time. These initiatives |
| <tdo            |   improved facilities of children's hospitals and  |
| nnay@usaid.gov> |   pla                                              |
|                 | yrooms, allowed Roma children to enroll in primary |
| Marcia Wong,    |                                                    |
| Economic Growth |  schools, provided business training to unemployed |
| Director        |   yo                                               |
|                 | uth, installed waste processing systems in primary |
| <m              |                                                    |
| wong@usaid.gov> | schools, and provided computer training to persons |
|                 |   with disabilities. These impressive results once |
| Michael Eddy,   |   aga                                              |
| Democracy &     | in demonstrated that Macedonian public is eager to |
| Governance      |   c                                                |
| Director        | ontribute their time and resources to NGOs as long |
|                 |   as                                               |
| <m              | they understand the needs and see the results. The |
| eddy@usaid.gov> |   overall goal of the Civil Society Strengthening  |
|                 |   p                                                |
| Dwaine Lee,     | roject is to make Macedonia's civil society a more |
| Education       |   effective, influential and permanent partner     |
| Director        |   alongside Government and the business sector.    |
|                 |                                                    |
| <               |   !                                                |
| dlee@usaid.gov> | [](media/image4.jpeg){width="2.7847222222222223in" |
|                 |   height="2.098611111111111in"}**[Export           |
| Olya Catto,     |   Promotion]{.smallcaps}** -- With financial and   |
| Communications  |   technical support from the USAID Agribusiness    |
| Director        |   Pr                                               |
|                 | oject, representatives of Macedonia's five leading |
| <oc             |   table grape businesses visited Cape Town, South  |
| atto@usaid.gov> |                                                    |
|                 |  Africa to learn from the owners of the best table |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | grape vineyards in the world. South Africa exports |
|                 |   mor                                              |
|                 | e than 200 million kilos of table grapes per year, |
|                 |   mak                                              |
|                 | ing it the fourth largest exporter of table grapes |
|                 |   in the world and the largest exporter to the EU  |
|                 |   markets. During the visit, Macedonian winemakers |
|                 |   learned about the latest pre- and post-harvest   |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | practices and studied modern technologies that can |
|                 |   help their fresh grapes to meet EU supermarket   |
|                 |   standards. As a result, these industry leaders   |
|                 |   de                                               |
|                 | veloped a comprehensive action plan to enhance the |
|                 |   com                                              |
|                 | petitiveness of Macedonian table grapes, including |
|                 |   implementing a "drop by drop" irrigation system, |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | establishing modern packing centers, and forming a |
|                 |   Tab                                              |
|                 | le Grape Association to represent the interests of |
|                 |   producers and marketers. The USAID Agribusiness  |
|                 |   pr                                               |
|                 | oject will work with these businesses to implement |
|                 |   the                                              |
|                 | ir strategy. *Photo by the AgBiz project: Owner of |
|                 |   the Turan winery Ivan Turanov explores new South |
|                 |   African table grapes.*                           |
|                 |   ---                                              |
|                 | -------------------------------------------------- |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | ## Special Announcements                           |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | **[Capacity Building]{.smallcaps}** -- USAID       |
|                 | congratulates one of its sponsored students,       |
|                 | Nikola Gjeorgjiev, on the acceptance to the Oxford |
|                 | Business School's One-year MBA program. Nikola was |
|                 | one of six candidates selected by USAID through a  |
|                 | competitive process to receive business education  |
|                 | at top U.S. or European universities. Mr.          |
|                 | Gjeorgjev is already advocating for his country by |
|                 | facilitating a lecture this month by Investment    |
|                 | Promoter Vele Samak on doing business in           |
|                 | Macedonia.                                         |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | **[Education]{.smallcaps}** -- The recently        |
|                 | completed USAID e-Schools project has donated one  |
|                 | vehicle and other office equipment to the State    |
|                 | Education Inspectorate. The Inspectorate will use  |
|                 | the vehicle to perform much-needed field visits to |
|                 | schools nationwide, which will contribute to the   |
|                 | improvement of education quality assurance in      |
|                 | Macedonia.                                         |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Contact Us:     | ## USAID in the News                               |
|                 |                                                    |
| <oc             | ![](media/image5.jpeg){width="2.15625in"           |
| atto@usaid.gov> | height="2.0625in"}**[Primary Education             |
|                 | Project]{.smallcaps} -** Primary school "Zivko     |
| <bvelicko       | Brajkovski" in Skopje is one of the 14 schools     |
| vska@usaid.gov> | where the USAID Primary Education Project is       |
|                 | piloting new Information Technology (IT) products  |
| [http://mace    | for schools. On March 5^th^, the school was        |
| donia.usaid.gov | featured in the A1 television station's famous     |
| ](http://macedo | show for teenagers "Golem Odmor." Among other      |
| nia.usaid.gov/) | things, the kids demonstrated a robot -- donated   |
|                 | by the project - which they programmed to write    |
|                 | the name of the show.                              |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | **[Business Environment Activity]{.smallcaps} --** |
|                 | On March 24^th^, the leader of the project's Labor |
|                 | Market and Pension Reform component Kiril Minoski  |
|                 | was interviewed by Macedonian Television on the    |
|                 | implementation of the pension reform, and          |
|                 | specifically the introduction of the voluntary     |
|                 | pension component. During the interview, Mr.       |
|                 | Minoski provided expert opinion on the state of    |
|                 | the reform and the role of the project in it, as   |
|                 | well as the importance of personal savings.        |
|                 |                                                    |
|                 | **[USAID Youth Initiatives --]{.smallcaps}** As    |
|                 | part of its "Be Proactive -- Not Reactive" public  |
|                 | awareness campaign, on March 29^th^ Channel 5      |
|                 | interviewed USAID Education Director Dwaine Lee    |
|                 | and Communications Director Olya Catto. The        |
|                 | program highlighted USAID initiatives aimed at     |
|                 | involving youth in public life, providing links    |
|                 | between students and businesses to reduce youth    |
|                 | unemployment, and promoting multi-ethnic dialogue  |
|                 | between young people.                              |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| **The American  |                                                    |
| people, through |                                                    |
| USAID, have     |                                                    |
| invested nearly |                                                    |
| \$500 million   |                                                    |
| in Macedonia    |                                                    |
| since 1993.     |                                                    |
| USAID is        |                                                    |
| implementing    |                                                    |
| projects that   |                                                    |
| create jobs,    |                                                    |
| reduce          |                                                    |
| corruption and  |                                                    |
| improve the     |                                                    |
| quality of      |                                                    |
| education. For  |                                                    |
| more            |                                                    |
| information     |                                                    |
| please visit    |                                                    |
| [http://macedon |                                                    |
| ia.usaid.gov](h |                                                    |
| ttp://macedonia |                                                    |
| .usaid.gov/).** |                                                    |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------+