SPOTLIGHT
In this section:
Macedonia Calms Ethnic Rift with U.S. Aid
New Packages Make a Difference for Macedonian
Firm
Bosnian Refugees Helped to Expand Wrought Iron
Exports
Macedonia Calms Ethnic Rift with U.S. Aid
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A girl dances in traditional Macedonian dress at the
opening of the visitor center to Stobi, the second largest
ancient archaeological site in the country. USAID funded
the building of the center.
Kristina Stefanova, USAID |
Macedonia, one of five republics that became independent
when Yugoslavia disintegrated after 1991, is successfully
dealing with conflict between ethnic Albanian and ethnic Macedonian
groups, assisted by the USAID mission in Skopje.
The conflict erupted into violence in early 2001 and the
mission’s U.S. staff was evacuated for six months. When
peace was restored, the staff returned and the mission resumed
activities full steam.
“We have moved from being concerned about security
to focusing on things like decentralization, court reform,
and economic development,” said Mission Director Dick
Goldman.
The 12-year-old mission’s budget last year was $35
million. The largest programs are in economic growth and in
democracy and governance. One third of the budget goes to
education, local economic development, and training.
A program Goldman takes special pride in is outfitting all
of Macedonia’s primary and secondary schools with computers
and broadband internet access.
“Connectivity gives them the tools they need to participate
in the global economy,” he said.
The mission has a staff of 44.
New Packages Make a Difference for Macedonian Firm
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Worker pours milk at a Macedonian dairy.
Lynn Abbott, USAID |
KUMANOVO, Macedonia—In mid-2003, the Buchen Kozyak
dairy sold most of its cheese to restaurants and sold its
milk and yogurt in plain, unmarked packaging. Now the dairy
makes several types of new cheeses, and its products are easily
recognized by their colorful new packaging. The dairy has
new equipment, and sales have risen by 40 percent.
None of it would have happened this fast if the dairy had
not joined Macedonia’s lamb and cheese cluster, said
Predrag Cvetkovic, marketing manager of Buchen Kozyak. “We
have so many new plans,” he said. “We want to be
the leader in Macedonia five years from now.”
The cluster is one of five industry groups receiving help
from the Macedonia Competitiveness Activity (MCA), an $11.5
million USAID project that started October 2002 and runs for
four years. The other clusters focus on tourism, wine, apparel,
and information technology.
“Macedonia, like so many other developing countries,
competes on the basis of low wages and cheap products,”
said Suzi Kanyr-Hagen, chief of party of the MCA. “What
we are aiming for is that people identify high-value products
and services that the world wants and that Macedonia can produce.
Then we can see the creation of better jobs here, with higher
wages.”
Clusters were chosen based on their leadership initiatives
and their industry’s potential economic impact. Each
cluster has about 60 members and had to identify 10 expansion
and competitiveness goals, such as promotion and branding.
Members had access to temporary help of volunteer consultants
provided by the MCA.
Buchen Kozyak got a Boston dairy marketing manager for two
months, who taught the company about shrink-wrapping and better
packaging its cheeses.
The dairy joined the lamb and cheese cluster in October
2003. The following summer, it participated in an MCA-organized
wine and cheese festival in Ohrid, a popular resort town.
Some 1,600 bottles of wine were sold during the festival.
And dairies like Buchen Kozyak sold as much as two tons of
cheese; many ran out of products.
“We are steadily heading in the right direction,”
said Stoika Stojkovska, the owner of Buchen Kozyak, referring
to the changes she’s made to her business based on the
recommendations of the cluster advisor.
Before the lamb and cheese cluster started, Macedonia did
not export cheese. Today, about 38 tons of feta and various
types of yellow cheese, including kashkaval, are being exported
to Albania and the United States.
Other industries that have formed clusters are also making
progress.
Last year the tourism cluster, with the help of USAID, hosted
a dozen foreign tour operators for a five-day trip to cultural
and historic sites throughout Macedonia. As a result, a British
tour company is including Macedonia in its 2005 catalogue,
and a Colorado-based biking tour company expressed an interest
in bringing a group in spring.
The biggest challenge to business development is overcoming
a distrust in institutions that permeates Macedonian attitudes,
said Kanyr-Hagen. But as businesses grow and learn from each
other, that attitude will change, she added.
Bosnian Refugees Helped to Expand Wrought Iron Exports
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A Macedonian employee welds iron work at a firm supported
by a U.S.-funded artisans group.
Kristina Stefanova, USAID |
VELES, Macedonia—A couple who fled here from
Bosnia’s civil wars found U.S. help in marketing their
wrought iron fences, doors, and carvings.
Anka and Milan Perisic migrated to this central Macedonian
town a decade ago and built a house with a large wrought iron
workshop downstairs. Milan assembled some machinery and hired
four workers to help produce the artisanry he designed.
“With this work we can have success,” said his
wife Anka, who is Croatian. “We work very hard all day,
almost 24 hours.”
Milan, a Serb, was jailed when the war in Bosnia started.
When he was released, the couple fled. Now in the middle of
the slow-paced naturalization process, it’s a challenge
for the Perisics to expand their company, Hammer Inc.
“When we want to export, we can’t go looking for
potential clients,” Anka said. “We have to use representatives.”
Hammer products already sell in Croatia and Germany. But
the couple, hoping to expand their business, recently joined
the USAID-supported Macedonian Artisans Developing Enterprise
(MADE), a program carried out by Aid to Artisans (ATA).
Program participants are assigned a consultant—be it
a marketing manager or a designer from Europe or the United
States—who examines the way an artisan works and creates
some designs to be produced. Those products then go to ATA’s
headquarters in Hartford, Conn., from where they are shipped
to artisan fairs around the world several times a year.
“We also do trainings, teaching [artisans] how to register
their business if they haven’t, about pricing and costing,
and how to do local fairs,” said Marija Dimitrijevic
from ATA, which works with some 250 artisans.
MADE, a three-year program in which USAID has invested $2.7
million, runs four retail stores throughout Macedonia where
artisans can sell their products. It also organizes fairs
and festivals.
Last year, artisans through ATA developed a logo for the
United Nations Capital Development Fund’s campaign to
promote the International Year of Microcredit, 2005. The spiral
logo was reproduced on cast sterling and gold pins, scarves,
copper bookmarks, and glass coasters.
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