The mission of the Civil Society Strengthening Project (CSSP), implemented from July 2005 to March 2008 was to increase citizen participation in political and social decision-making through broadening and deepening the impact of civil society.

CSSP's goal was to make Macedonia’s civil society a more effective, influential, and permanent partner alongside government and businesses in shaping the country's present and future. By partnering with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the project will help Macedonian citizens to effectively voice their priorities, constructively address them, and hold the government accountable for the resulting decisions.

CSSP was managed by a consortium led by the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and includes the Center for Institutional Development (CIRa), the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) and the Macedonian Institute for Media (MIM). Through the provision of training, technical assistance, networking, mentoring and a flexible range of grants, the three-year project aimed to accomplish the following objectives:

Strengthen civil society infrastructure through:

• Support for a group of leader organizations capable of serving as mentors and resources to other NGOs and raising the entire sector to a new level.
• Strengthened capacity of Macedonian trainers available to offer training for informal citizens’ initiatives and local NGOs.
• Support for a group of leader organizations capable of serving as mentors and resources to other NGOs and raising the entire sector to a new level.
• Strengthened capacity of Macedonian trainers available to offer training for informal citizens’ initiatives and local NGOs.
• Support for activities that lead to improvements in the policy framework for NGOs.

Support NGOs to achieve concrete results on issues that matter to citizens through:

• Dynamic and meaningful service delivery, advocacy and public monitoring projects.
• Grassroots citizen initiatives that address local community needs, promote citizen participation and foster more meaningful relationships with local governments and other stakeholders.

Improve the image and understanding of Macedonian civil society through:

• Strong public outreach and strategic use of the media in order to increase public support and understanding.
• Introduction and dissemination of different models for generating resources and increasing philanthropic support for NGOs.

CIRa was responsible for responsible for implementation of 2 components within this program:

• Capacity Building Program for Leader CSOs aimed to Strengthen the Civil Society Infrastructure and
• Philanthropy Development Program

CIRa supported 13 leader NGOs from Macedonia and their grantees in the period January - December 2006, within CSSP, USAID. Visible results have been accomplished in the organizations' work through the support provided for their activities, training and technical assistance. The leader organizations have acquired capacity building plans as well as a tool for their organizational development, through this support. During 2007 CIRa developed Institutional Development plans for 18 NGOs, as tool for organizational development and total of 27 grants were assigned for institutional development of 17 leader NGOs and by the end of December 2007, 14 projects were completed.

Starting from July 2007, as part of the Philanthropy Program within the CSSP (Civil Society Strengthening Project), CIRa started with the implementation of the Philanthropy Development Grant component. During the course of eight months, CIRa provided challenge grants to support 11 civic organizations in mobilization of local resources and promoting various philanthropic practices in the local communities.

With purpose to encourage the pioneering efforts of the NGOs as well as the local donors, CIRa through the Civil Society Strengthening Project matched 1 denar for each denar donated to the NGOs by the local individuals and companies. More than 300 citizens and enterprises from all over Macedonia donated approximately 2,100,000 MKD (around 34 000 EUR) to address different community problems, and in addition 147 citizens gave their support as volunteers. Moreover, almost all of the implemented initiatives received donations from local public institutions.