On 30 October, 2013 the first training on Advocacy and Policy Paper Writing for selected grantees within the Slovak and Balkan Public Policy Fund took place at the EU Info Center in Skopje. The training brought together representatives of the 9 selected grantees-organizations from Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia with the aim to provide them with a good basis for their projects on advocacy and theories of public policy. Ms. Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN and Ms. Andrea Cox, Programme Manager of the Pontis Foundation, had the role of trainers during the event. They presented the two organizations, the Cycle of Policy Making and the Advocacy Strategies and Key Points in Public Policy Projects. At the beginning of the training the grantees presented their research projects and had the opportunity to discuss their implementation with the trainers. Representatives of USAID in Macedonia also took part at the opening of the training.
The main objective of this training was to provide guidance and to better prepare the grantees on how to write analytical policy papers and plan a good advocacy strategy. Moreover, the training was a place to discuss any other open issue in this regard. Finally, at the end of the training, the grants contracts were signed with the grantees. The outcome of the selected projects are going to be policy papers which will help bring the EU membership debate into a broader point of view. Later, not only will they be used for communication with the wider public, but they will also be offered to national governments as well as the European Commission.
The training for representatives of 12 selected grantees from Albania, BiH, and Montenegro will be held on 6 November, 2013 in Tirana, Albania. The training is to be organized together with CRNVO and IDM. More information about the Slovak and Balkan Public Policy Fund objectives, selected project information etc. are available here.