With two years of living in a pandemic behind us, it is still important to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on civil society in our region, as means for identifying both the challenges and lessons learnt.
With the support of the Balkan Trust of Democracy, as part of our project Improved CSOs responses to pandemic and post-pandemic challenges in the Western Balkans, and the efforts of our members, BCSDN continued to collect data on the effects of the crisis and the related CSO efforts. By monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the civil society operating environment and the civic space violations in the Balkans, as well as gathering information on the changing role of civil society and ways of working, and on the CSOs actions in response to the pandemic, we aim to provide a regional overview of the state of the play in the Western Balkans.
Latest information, covering country developments during 2021 on issues such as: legal changes or measures affecting, restricting or violating civic freedoms or CSO operations; state support to CSOs; CSO involvement in decision-making and service provision; changes in donor responses etc. are now available on the Balkan Civic Practices platform. The platform can be used by CSOs or other stakeholders as a resource or reference for evidence-based advocacy on national or international level.
In the following period, we will showcase evidence on innovative approaches, best practices and lessons learnt from successful and innovative CSOs actions in response to the COVID-19 challenges, serving as inspiration to other CSO. The overall objective of the project is to contribute towards enhanced civil society resilience in facing COVID-19 and post-pandemic challenges through regional cooperation. More information about the project is available here.
Follow this link to explore the regional platform, or click here to read a short regional overview with the latest updates.
