dokovska

dokovska's picture
Natasha Dokovska
Job Title: 
Ms.
Organization: 
Journalists for children and women rights and protection of environment in Macedonia - JCWE

 

I am one of the founders of the Journalist Environment Center in 1997 and Journalists for children and women rights and protection of environment in Macedonia , where I’m currently president. In addition, I serve as Chief and Editor in PIAR and Chief and editor in weekly JOURNAL.

Journalists for children and women rights and protection of environment in Macedonia first used the tactic "Sending out an SMS" at the time of the presidential election when Macedonia's ex president died in a plane crash (2004). It was a sensitive time for all macedonian citizens and sending out an SMS message campaign wasn’t accepted well.

However, for our members it was most intersting and something new and we decided to repeat it for the national election last year. In this period we worked on the project to gain the biggest involvement of women in political life in Macedonia.
We used the New Tactics examples and did something similar with the Macedonian mobile operator. We prepared two messages which we sent to women via mobile phone to highlight women and encourage women to vote for women. The project was a great success because Macedonia now has 29 percent women in parliament. Macedonia is now a leader in the region.

As a journalist I have served in many capacities and covered many issues, including my experience as a war correspondant in Vukovar, the war in ex-Yugoslavia (1995); in Valona-Saranda, the civil war in Albania (1997); Kooks, Tropoja, Urosevac – visiting illegal arms camp in Albania and Kosovo (2001); and Reporting from the Macedonian arm conflict. Currently, I'm correspondent for ENS (Environmental News Service) from Macedonia; Leader in BANSA (Balkan Action Network for Small Arms - this is a network for exchange between journalists from the Balkan area who work on this issue); Coordinator on Informative and press center on NGOs who work on the disarmament process; Coordinator on campaign FOR LIFE WITHOUT WEAPONS; Trainer for journalists for sensitizing the public on small arms and the need for disarmament in the Balkan countries; and National Coordinator for Macedonia for the international campaign on CONTROL ARMS which is organized by IANSA, Amnesty International and OXFAM.

Conversations I have led