Annual address of the Secretary General of the Red Cross of RNM, PhD. Sait Saiti

Dear,

The end of the year is the time when we look back on the achieved results, on our achievements and how much they meant for meeting the expectations of our beneficiaries of services. We are reminding ourselves of the biggest challenges, the activities to which we paid the most attention in order to ensure a better and more dignified life for many of our fellow citizens. We are making a retrospective of the overall work, of our performance, of our effectiveness and accountability in order to be even better and more responsible in the year ahead.

To our great satisfaction, with the support of our volunteers and staff and in cooperation with our partners, we implemented many programs, projects, campaigns and activities in the spirit of the principles and humanitarian values of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The achievements are very important as an incentive for even greater successes in the future.

We are especially proud that in 2023 we implemented the large national campaign for the population affected by the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria, during which we mobilized 63,000,000 denars as humanitarian support for the two countries affected by the disaster. We are also proud of the organization of the large simulation exercise “Humanitarian Response 2023” with which we showed that the Red Cross can make a great contribution to the improvement of the overall crisis management system in the country, confirming the reputation and trust enjoyed by the Red Cross in the social environment.

In the past year, we conducted a large national first aid campaign for the young people in primary and secondary schools, we provided 58,000 units of blood for the needs of health institutions, we worked actively to raise the awareness of young people on health prevention from infectious and non-infectious diseases. We provided social services to provide assistance to over 1,100 elderly and disabled persons as well as a series of other activities to provide humanitarian support to persons exposed to social risks.

We contributed to raising awareness on the importance of climate change and helped in dealing with the consequences of natural disasters that were fortunately not so great in the past year. We supported 19,320 people on the move (migrants and irregular migrants and refugees). We have been active in the field of dissemination and promotion of international humanitarian law, providing training and services for psychological support, restoring family links and many other activities. All this was possible thanks to the support of our partners, as well as 19,000 members of our organization and 4,000 active volunteers who made an exceptional contribution to the implementation of our services and activities.

We are especially pleased with our process called “Transformation-28”, which we officially launched this year, which should open new vistas in our development by implementing changes in 24 areas of our operations. These transformations should make a special contribution to the improvement of the overall cultural, organizational, programme and digital aspects in our work in order to help us keep up with new trends and social flows. This process is expected to enable many new partnerships and joint initiatives in the years ahead.

Everything we do, we do it from the heart and with lots of love, hoping to provide a more dignified life for people who have found themselves in trouble. We hope that all of us in the period ahead will find strength and motivation that will bring us together to be even more efficient and responsible in the spirit of the fundamental principles and values of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and we will continue to bring smiles and hope for better tomorrow for our fellow citizens in response to the challenges of the new era.

With a special honor and pleasure, I want to thank you once again for your cooperation and support in the past year, to wish you Merry Christmas and New Year holidays and to wish you good health, happiness, love and professional success.

Yours sincerely,

PhD. Sait Saiti

Secretary General

Red Cross of the Republic of North Macedonia