Author: anja

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL)’s goal is the governments in Serbia, Kosovo, BiH, North Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro through continued democracy and the rule of law reform processes to show improved respect for human rights. The program will address the following objectives: strengthening CSOs’ abilities to collaborate across borders on key issues related to transparency and accountability that affect the Balkan countries; developing CSOs’ skills and knowledge to utilize international fora as a tool for government accountability; and supporting CSOs to develop and implement campaigns that work with citizens to peacefully pressure their governments for desired…

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The Consultancy’s objective is to provide expert support to Balkan Network for Local Democracy – BNLD and its members in implementing the project “CSOs Networking for Better Local Democracy in the Balkans”. The project’s main objective is to contribute to a conducive environment for civil society development that enables them to become influential actors in society. The applicant should provide a framework overview in the form of comparative analyses of the present state of legal framework for citizens’ participation in policy and decision making on local level in 6 WB countries; and provide a collection of replicable best practices of…

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The Swedish Institute Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP) is a training programme designed to build new networks, knowledge, and practices for increased transparency, efficiency, and public administration resilience. It aims to strengthen applicants’ capabilities to meet the requirements of a modern governance structure. The modules are composed of modern teaching methods linked with interactivity, collaboration, and problem-based learning. The thematic modules within SAYP for this year are: Collaborative Governance in a Digital Era; Innovation Ecosystems & Entrepreneurship; Migration and Integration in the WB: International Perspectives on Policy and Administrative Challenges for the Development of Inclusive Societies; Sustainable e-Government for Resilient…

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The objectives of the European Civic Academy are: mapping civil society needs in terms of research priorities; enable civic actors to gain knowledge about existing research, methodology, and approaches to inspire a strengthening and a renewal action framework; increase awareness among academic researchers about civil society needs and priorities and identify collaborative opportunities for future research. The fourth edition of the European Civic Academy will bring together leading academics and civic actors to discuss obstacles and ways forward for civic organizations and social movements in the current context, characterized by growing distrust in democracy and divisions inside the societies. Read…

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CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) welcomes civil society and people’s organizations, policymakers, academics, press members, and other stakeholders to a global webinar on effectiveness in the pandemic response. At the event, CPDE will present its recent study, “World in Lockdown, Development on Hold: A special report on the (in)effectiveness of COVID-19 response,” to show the data delivered by its members and partners across the world. The event will be held via Zoom on 31 March and streamed on Facebook Live. Read more here and sign up here. Source: CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness

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The Dynamic Accountability Community of Practice (DACoP) invites CSO representatives to join their latest network and workshop session titled “Sharing Practices of Resilience” on Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 13.00 PM CET. The 90-minute session will allow like-minded practitioners to meet, share, and exchange experiences on how they have adapted to the crisis, discussing the lessons learnt, how they have reprogrammed activities, and incorporated dynamic accountability practices closing the feedback loop in these challenging times. Click here to RSVP and join the conversation! Source: Dynamic Accountability of Practice

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On 3 March 2021, BCSDN Executive Director Biljana Spasovska participated in the EESC Section for External Relations meeting “Western Balkans, in the contest of the EU-Western Balkans relations and the Covid-19 pandemic”. The meeting brought prominent speakers from the EU institutions to provide their views and debate on EU’s commitment to enhance the accession process ahead of the preparation of the EESC Opinion REX/533 – “Enhancing the accession process – A credible EU perspective for the Western Balkans” that should be adopted at the EESC plenary on 24-25 March. The meeting hosted an online discussion in two sessions: The first…

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As part of the Regional Civil Society Development Hub activities, BCSDN is proud to announce the 10 successful grantees awarded under the first Call for proposals for regional multi-country action grants. The aim of the Hub is strengthened regional cooperation in promoting the civic space in the Western Balkan region, by supporting activities that will contribute towards more effective, transparent and accountable work of the CSOs. With the funding of this Call, provided by Sida, the following networks are supported: Western Balkans Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety, TEN, ARYSEN, ERA, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, ConWeb,…

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As a network of organizations committed to empowering civil society and promoting the civic space in our region, we have achieved a lot by working jointly to facilitate a common understanding and promote a more enabling civil society environment. Building on our experience, in 2017 we started the development of a Regional Hub with the main aim to bring more actors on board and to support knowledge, innovation, and regional collaboration to advance the civic space in our region. With the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), in 2019 our Regional Civil Society Development Hub was launched…

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On 11 February 2021, EU TACSO 3 organized an online event to present the findings of the “Mapping and Needs Assessment of the Regional Networks and Regional CSF Projects” report. Panelists from four regional networks from the Balkans exchanged success stories of operating in a network. Tina Divjak, from CNVOS, as a chair of the BCSDN Board, indicated that a successful network should be mission-driven and have dedicated members and well-prepared EO staff. The participants provided recommendations for the EU, EU TACSO 3, CSOs, and networks, recalling that besides the EU financial support, political support is also essential for the…

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