Macedonia 2070

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4 Publisher: GLOBAL SHAPERS Skopje HUB Editors-co-visionaries: Stefan Ivanovski – President and Curator (2016 – 2017) Miroslav Draganov – President and Curator (2020 – 2021) Designer-visionary: Bojan Kitanovikj Co-visionaries: Stefan Ivanovski Miroslav Draganov Ana Alibegova Stefan Angelovski Marija Vasilevska Simona Chaminska Bojan Kitanovikj Joana Madzoska Evgenija Krstevska Martin Jankoski Veronika Tomova Dimche Micevski Olga Rajchikj Kristina Mitrovska Simona Josifovska Guxim Nuhiu Tea Cvetanovska Ana Jovanovska External collaborators-co-visionaries: Nikola Zdravkovikj – investigative journalist and sports show host Dr. Haris Babachikj – Doctor of Medicine Dr. Petar Markov – Doctor of Medicine / Resident in Abdominal Surgery Besnik Rexhipi – photograph contribution on page 54 Sashko Janakiev – photograph contribution on page 71 Edition: First edition Copyright © December 2020, GLOBAL SHAPERS Skopje HUB All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, and storage in information retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the publisher.

5 OUR 16 CATEGORIES COMPRISING 176 VISIONS FOR MACEDONIA IN 2070 11 WELL-BEING AND STANDARD OF LIVING 13 ENVIRONMENTAL WELL-BEING 19 LAW, REGULATION, AND INSTITUTIONS 27 SPATIAL PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE 38 HEALTH 58 SOCIAL CARE 67 EDUCATION, SCIENCE, RESEARCH, AND INNOVATION 76 ENTREPRENEURSHIP, BUSINESS, AND EMPLOYMENT 86 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, SECURITY, AND TRADE 96 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS 107 DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE 113 FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 120 COEXISTENCE, TOLERANCE, AND ACTIVISM 128 CULTURE, ART, AND IDENTITY 134 SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, AND RECREATION 145 TOURISM 155 MACEDONIA IS OUR COUNTRY! 163 CONTENTS

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7 FOREWORD Dear fellow citizens, friends, present and future visitors, and all who love Macedonia, Welcome to our shared journey toward 2070. Welcome to the initiative to shape Macedonia over the next 50 years into a country for each and every one of us. In this year of 2020, at a time of sudden upheaval on both a personal and a wider societal level, we, the young shapers of change of the Global Shapers Skopje Hub, decided to think and act proactively, visionarily, strategically, and comprehensively by cre ating this guide, “VISIONS – Macedonia 2070.” Before you is a document that sets a fifty-year direction and a foundation for action for all stakeholders in our society, through 176 visions distributed across 16 categories (from well-being and standard of living to tourism). Each vision rests on specific values that form the basis of all activities undertaken by any stakeholder (whether an individual or a legal entity from the public, private, or civil society sector). To encourage, monitor, and evaluate the quality of future activities for Macedonia and their contribution to the visions, we defined general indicators suited to each category. How did we arrive at the idea for this guide? In April 2020, some of us experienced quarantine for the first time, introduced in response to the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. Because of the state of emergency, the scheduled parliamentary elections in our country were postponed, and the peak of the pandemic was expected toward the end of that month. Meanwhile, the world was already signaling that the crisis would be long-lasting, anticipating major economic consequences and a second wave in autumn 2020. As “global shapers of change,” we had to adapt quickly to a new way of life, and instead of meeting face to face, as had been our practice, we began holding our network’s meetings online. Working exclusively “online” was unusual for us, but the pandemic fo rced us to adapt. We kept meeting, but at a safe physical distance, through our computer screens. Through these conversations, which often lasted several hours and sometimes ran past midnight, Stefan Ivanovski, one of the first and most experienced members of the Global Shapers Skopje Hub, launched an initiative to create a long-term vision for the country. The main catalyst for the initiative was the fact that for almost 30 years, from our country’s independence until 2020, we as a society have failed to engage seriously with the challenges that lie ahead of us over the next 50 years. From our perspective, initiatives for the future of our country and our city rest on short-term plans and ideas. We say short-term because, as a society, we have had no vision longer than the average working life of one person: 40 years. If a person can imagine and plan their life over the next 20, 30, and 40 years, why do we as a society not plan for 50 or 100 years? If we see that world-renowned institutions, influential states, and prosperous communities, such as Harvard University, the United States of America, and the European Union, began as visions on an empty field or a sheet of paper, as a longing for a better future, then why can we not also long for, and achieve, a better future in our city and our country? Over the years, as our young minds, brothers and sisters, and friends have emigrated for good (and, at the time this guide is published, continue to emigrate) from our city and our country, we, as

8 members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers initiative, asked ourselves: what can we do for our society? Instead of continuing to live as a society “stuck” in and “obsessed” with the past, investing considerable economic, diplomatic, and intellectual resources and effort in resolving past disputes that we cannot resolve, we decided to focus on something we can influence: shaping our future, starting from the present. The proposed idea and vision, first for Skopje 2070 and now for Macedonia 2070, was embraced by all active shapers of change (members/Shapers) and soon became our concrete course of action, which we strongly believe will benefit present and future generations in our society. As with the creation of the guide “Visions – Skopje 2070,” the process of creating the visions for this guide rested on inclusiveness. We outlined general draft categories, and then each of us individually wrote visions so that we could learn what kind of Macedonia each of us longs for. In the next phase, we worked in teams by category/topic and compiled general indicators against which progress toward achieving the visions can be measured. Throughout the process, we agreed to be guided by seven principles: 1. POSITIVE APPROACH: to create visions and indicators (parameters) in a positive spirit; 2. INCLUSIVENESS: to take every contribution, idea, and proposal into account and to reflect the spirit of each idea appropriately in one of the visions or indicators; 3. INDUCTION (from the individual to the general and from the bottom up): each proposal from each of us starts at the personal level and may contain a solution or a shorter-term goal; the idea is then to distill from these proposals a more comprehensive vision and more general core indicators that serve as the common denominator of all those reflections and ideas; 4. MEASURABILITY: each proposal contains a concrete and measurable parameter. To enable us as a society to measure progress toward achieving the visions, the indicators are both qualitative and quantitative. The aim is to measure the success and quality of the visions’ implementation; 5. ADAPTABILITY: in creating the visions and indicators, we sought to make them general enough to be adapted to other time periods that we cannot foresee from the current time frame. 6. TRANSPARENCY: the entire preparation process was open, so that all members (Shapers) of our Hub (association) could join and contribute; after the publication of the guide “Visions – Skopje 2070,” all stakeholders from every area of society were publicly invited to take part in creating this guide, “Visions – Macedonia 2070,” to jointly define indicators, and to set measurable parameters that draw on these general indicators; 7. LONG-TERM ORIENTATION: in building our society, we aim to look toward the future with vision; to think, plan, and act for the long term and strategically; and to set a course and direction for social development over the next 50 years (because an average working life lasts about 40 years, the vision for a society should be no shorter than a personal plan and vision). The visions for Macedonia over the next 50 years rest on six core values: 1. HUMAN DIGNITY: all visions, values, indicators, and future measures and activities arising from this guide (and this value) strive to meet the needs and desires of each person while respecting the needs, desires, and dignity of others. 2. DEMOCRACY: aims to encourage citizens and the community to practice democracy in everyday life across its different spheres, such as politics, the economy, education, the digital world, the family, the media, physical space, and more. 3. DIVERSITY: we strive for a society that respects diversity in any form and in which different characteristics contribute to an inclusive, equitable, and just society. 4. SOLIDARITY: caring for and helping weaker and vulnerable groups to meet their needs and realize their human dignity, as well as mutual care among citizens within the community.

9 5. AGILITY: the ability to adapt to change, using change skillfully as an opportunity and not as a threat, in order to improve quality of life and the overall progress of society. 6. SELF-SUSTAINABILITY : building a society that manages its resources wisely, values partnership-building and cooperation, and lives in cohesion with the environment. Values are the constant that runs through the years and ensures that the country develops in the right direction while providing a good quality of life for its citizens. What is this guide? The key word is “guide.” This guide provides a direction and framework for the development of our country through the lens of 16