CNVP has been awarded a grant from Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT) for a project concerning sustainable cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants in the Wider Prespa Area to serve as a model of decoupling local economic development from harvesting of wild resources in the protected areas. The CNVP offices in North Macedonia and Albania will help local producers, mainly women, to establish new or build upon existing associations to advance the production and marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants.
The project furthers the achievements of previous initiatives in the Albanian part of the region, in particular, the cultivation and marketing of the endemic mountain tea.
The ongoing Local Economic Development project, supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, will provide co-financing of the activities in the Albanian part, whereas PONT’s contribution will be used to replicate best practices in North Macedonia and to enable cooperation and transboundary exchange of knowledge. 
CNVP will open a local office in Resen to ensure the project is implemented effectively over a period of 15 months, starting from September 2019.