Culture Meets Technology: Final Forum for Bitola’s First Digital Cultural Calendar
As part of the “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to the Citizens” project, the final Forum event was held yesterday in Bitola, bringing together local cultural institutions, civil society organizations, the University, and citizens to present and officially launch the city’s first Digital Cultural Calendar.
The event marked the culmination of months of collaboration, testing, and open dialogue among cultural stakeholders and the community, who share a common vision: to make Bitola’s rich cultural and sports offer more accessible, visible, and user-friendly through one unified digital tool, now available at event.bitola.gov.mk.
Importantly, this initiative did not come from institutions alone — it was inspired and shaped by the citizens of Bitola themselves, with the strongest push coming from the city’s young people. Through previous public consultations, young citizens repeatedly emphasized the need for a single, clear, and practical source of information for everything happening in the city, so they can plan ahead and stay connected to cultural life more easily.
The new Digital Cultural Calendar, piloted by the Municipality of Bitola with the support of Pro Local, the European Union, and the Austrian Development Agency, directly responds to this need by solving the challenge of fragmented event promotion spread across multiple uncoordinated platforms and channels. For the first time, citizens can find all cultural and sports events in one place, filter them by category, date, organizer, or location, and subscribe for timely updates — all from any device.
A key milestone of the Forum was the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Municipality of Bitola and 26 cultural providers from the city. This agreement grants each institution access to the back office of the platform, enabling them to publish and update event content directly. This ensures that citizens will always have accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information about what’s happening in the city — and what’s coming next — with programming visible and searchable several months in advance.
How does it work?
- The Calendar is a fully interactive web module integrated into the official municipal website: event.bitola.gov.mk
- Events are listed by category: music, theatre, sports, exhibitions, and more
- Users can filter by date, organizer, or location, and sign up for monthly bulletins
- Cultural institutions, NGOs, universities, and informal groups can submit their events through a secure form, with moderation for accuracy and quality
- The system is mobile-friendly and easily integrates with social media and partner websites
An important aspect of this new digital tool is its sustainability. The Digital Cultural Calendar is not a stand-alone platform — it is designed as an official municipal web application, hosted and maintained alongside the Municipality of Bitola’s official website. This guarantees that the Calendar will remain functional, regularly updated, and institutionally anchored for years to come.
The development and coordination of the Calendar is led by the Cultural Information Centre – Bitola, in close cooperation with the Municipality of Bitola. With this new step, Bitola is merging culture and technology to meet the real needs of its citizens — especially its youth — and to make the city’s diverse cultural life more visible, connected, and accessible for everyone.
The project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to the Citizens” is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Agency, under the “Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform in the Western Balkans – WeBER 3.0” program. The grant is administered by the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje.
July, 2025
Culture Meets Technology: Bitola Pilots Its New Digital Cultural Calendar
As part of the EU-supported initiative “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to Citizens”, Pro Local hosted a collaborative and forward-looking meeting on [insert date] at the Cultural Information Center in Bitola. The session gathered representatives from cultural institutions, local festivals, and organizations that shape and support the city’s vibrant cultural scene.
The focus of the meeting was the first public testing of Bitola’s new Digital Cultural Calendar – an innovative platform designed to bring together all cultural events in the city in one central, user-friendly digital space.
From exhibitions and concerts to theatre performances and creative workshops, this tool aims to simplify how citizens access information about cultural happenings—eliminating the need to search across multiple websites or social media pages. Instead, it offers a unified digital hub for culture in Bitola.
During the event, participants had the opportunity to directly test the platform, offer hands-on feedback, and provide valuable suggestions for both visual and functional improvements before its official launch.
“Culture is a collective effort—and Bitola has once again proven that collaboration is at the heart of cultural progress.”
The Cultural Calendar is set to launch soon, offering a practical solution for visibility, coordination, and community participation in Bitola’s rich cultural life.
The project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to Citizens” is funded by the European Union and co-financed by the Austrian Development Agency, as part of the “Project for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform in the Western Balkans – WeBER 3.0”.
The grant is administered by the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje.
June, 2025
Consultative Meeting with Cultural Stakeholders in Bitola – A Digital Cultural Calendar in the Making!
As part of the project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to the Citizens,” today Pro Local held a consultative meeting with representatives from all relevant cultural institutions in Bitola, local NGOs, and the University, with the aim of co-designing a new digital tool that will bring culture closer to the citizens.The meeting sparked an inspiring discussion on the current cultural offerings in the city and the challenges of effectively communicating them to the public. Participants agreed that there is a notable fragmentation in the way events are shared—across various uncoordinated platforms, apps, and social media—creating an information cacophony and making it difficult for citizens to stay informed in a timely and comprehensive manner.In response, within the project framework, Pro Local is developing a digital cultural calendar that will serve as a central hub for all cultural events in the city—regardless of the organizer. Initiated by the needs and interests of the younger generation, the tool will allow users to browse events by category (film, music, exhibitions, etc.), filter by date, and receive timely notifications, making planning easier and enhancing the visibility of Bitola’s cultural content.
The coordination of cultural institutions in the city will be led by the municipal public institution Cultural Information Centre – Bitola, in close cooperation with the Municipality of Bitola.
The project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to the Citizens” is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Agency, as part of the “Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform in the Western Balkans – WeBER 3.0” initiative. The grant is provided by the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje.
May, 2025
Young People Learn to Advocate: Successful Two-Day Training Held in Struga
From May 9–10, 2025, a two-day capacity-building training on advocacy and active policy engagement took place in Struga. The event aimed to strengthen the capacities of young people and other local stakeholders for meaningful participation in decision-making processes at both local and national levels.
Using an interactive methodology, the training combined theoretical knowledge with practical tools for effective advocacy and civic engagement. Participants became familiar with the legal framework for advocacy and lobbying, the functioning of institutions, and mechanisms for creating public policies.
The training was led by an experienced legal expert in local governance, who used real-life examples and practical exercises to deepen participants’ understanding and provide concrete guidance for engaging within their local communities.
A special focus was placed on youth engagement as drivers of societal change. Through a simulation exercise, participants had the opportunity to develop initiatives, draft proposals, and present their ideas to simulated decision-makers—gaining hands-on experience in advocacy and institutional communication.
Beyond offering knowledge, the training created space for networking, motivation, and future collaboration. It marked an important step toward empowering young people to become active, informed, and influential citizens in their communities.
“The voice of young people must be heard and valued. Only through active participation can we build a more transparent, inclusive, and accountable society,” said Elena Geroska, a certified youth worker from Pro Lokal.
This training is part of the project „Youth Policies Tailored to the Youth“, supported by the Government of Switzerland through the Civica Mobilitas program.
May, 2025
Successfully Held Local Forum: “Active Involvement of Stakeholders in Addressing Local Issues”
On April 3, 2025, at the Officers’ Hall in Bitola, the association Pro Local, with the support of the Municipality of Bitola, successfully organized the Local Forum on the topic “Active Involvement of Stakeholders in Addressing Local Issues”, as part of the project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to Its Citizens.”
The event was opened by Emilia Geroska, President of Pro Local, and Borce Dimitrovski, Secretary of the Municipality of Bitola. They emphasized the importance of building partnerships between citizens and local authorities to more effectively address the challenges related to digitalizing municipal services.
The forum began with a presentation of the results of a citizen satisfaction survey on digital services in the Municipality of Bitola, delivered by Prof. Dr. Ana Sekulovska. This was followed by interactive working sessions, during which participants identified the key issues and challenges that citizens—particularly young people—face in using the municipality’s digital services.
The discussion focused on:
- Challenges in access to and functionality of digital services
- The need for increased awareness and digital literacy among citizens
- Deficiencies in communication between the administration and citizens via digital channels
As a final outcome, participants identified more than 20 concrete proposals for the development of IT tools aimed at accelerating the digitalization of public services in Bitola, in areas such as culture, transport, environment, and education.
The forum concluded with clearly defined next steps for continued collaboration among stakeholders and the development of mechanisms for transparent monitoring of progress.
This forum is part of the project “Bitola 2.0 – A Digital Municipality Closer to Its Citizens,” funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Agency, within the framework of the project “Western Balkan Enablers for Reforming Public Administrations – WeBER 3.0.” This initiative aims to create an enabling environment for civil society monitoring of public administration reform across the Western Balkan countries. The grant provider is the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje.
The forum began with a presentation of the results of a citizen satisfaction survey on digital services in the Municipality of Bitola, delivered by Prof. Dr. Ana Sekulovska. This was followed by interactive working sessions, during which participants identified the key issues and challenges that citizens—particularly young people—face in using the municipality’s digital services.
April, 2025
Young people actively participate in shaping local policies through the regional youth platform
At the third meeting of the Regional Youth Platform, held on February 13, 2025, at the Officer’s House in Bitola, young people from the Pelagonia region actively debated key issues affecting them with the mayors, in the presence of the Ambassador of Switzerland, Mrs. Véronique Ullmann. The meeting was also attended by the Presidents of the Councils and representatives of the Municipal Councils.
The meeting provided an opportunity for exchanging ideas and jointly adopting concrete measures to be implemented in all nine municipalities by the end of the year. Discussions focused on local economic development, environmental protection, and improving health and fire safety.
As a result of the meeting, specific measures were adopted to be implemented across all nine municipalities by the end of the year, including the integration of organic waste into the circular economy, a pilot project for waste management in schools, fire safety education as part of extracurricular activities, organizing a regional youth entrepreneurship competition, and conducting business training for young entrepreneurs.
The Regional Youth Platform represents an innovative mechanism for participatory democracy, aimed at strengthening the participation of young people in local decision-making processes. This mechanism is being piloted within the framework of the project “Youth Policies Tailored to Young People,” implemented by Pro Local in cooperation with eight local civil organizations.
Ambassador Ullmann emphasized that the inclusion of young people in policy-making is essential for the development of local communities, stressing that their voices and ideas must be integrated into decision-making processes.
The project “Youth Policies Tailored to the Youth” is supported by the Government of Switzerland through the Civica Mobilitas program.
February, 2025
