Our Journey

More than two decades of building civil society cooperation across the Balkans

BCSDN's story begins in 2001, in a region emerging from years of conflict and division. As civil society organisations across South-East Europe worked to rebuild connections and strengthen their capacities, regional cooperation offered an important space for exchange, learning and joint action.

Responding to this need for stronger regional connections and cooperation, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) began implementing the Capacity Building Hub Programme in 2001, a pilot initiative developed within the wider World Council of Churches South-East Europe Ecumenical Partnership. Bringing together churches, faith-based and ecumenical organisations, and civil society organisations from across the region, the programme created space for exchange, learning, and cooperation across borders.

"In the years after the end of conflicts and wars in the Balkans, the network demonstrated in practice that there are local capacities, knowledge, and skills that can drive the rebuilding and development of the Balkan region."
Tanja Hafner Ademi, BCSDN's first Executive Director

The relationships established through the programme soon developed into a more permanent regional partnership. Through trainings, exchanges and study visits, organisations facing similar challenges in societies undergoing democratic transition built connections that extended beyond the original programme. In December 2003, BCSDN was launched as an informal regional network.

"We had a mission to establish the network and to identify potential members in each country outside of ecumenical partners. Through that process, we identified the initial members of the network."
Aleksandar Krzhalovski, Executive Director, MCIC

Over the following years, BCSDN evolved from its initial capacity-building focus towards strengthening civil society's collective voice and influencing the policies and conditions affecting its work. In 2009, the network held its Founding Assembly in Skopje and formally established itself, strengthening its regional and EU-level advocacy.

A major step came in 2013 with the development of the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development, establishing a common regional approach to monitoring and strengthening BCSDN's evidence-based advocacy at national, regional and EU levels.

"With BCSDN, we grew and developed together as an organization. The membership brought us an exchange of knowledge and experiences with colleagues from the region, joint work, and advocacy for civil society at the regional and European level, improvement of the environment for CSOs in Montenegro through good comparative practices in legislation and procedures."
Zorana Markovic, Executive Director, CRNVO

As pressures on civic space increased, BCSDN expanded its role from monitoring and advocacy to supporting civil society more directly. In 2019, with support from Sida, it established the Regional Civil Society Development Hub, providing flexible support for CSOs, regional initiatives and rapid responses across the Western Balkans.

"Civil society is national but even more universal. In our joint work, we have come to realize that bad examples in limiting the civic space easily penetrate our borders. Only by standing together, we can generate our alternatives to defend civic space, in our countries and beyond."
Taulant Hoxha, Former Executive Director, KCSF

More than two decades later, BCSDN has grown from a capacity-building initiative into a regional network connecting national expertise, regional cooperation and European and international policy influence. The context, partnerships and tools have evolved, but the principle behind the Network remains closely connected to where it started: working across borders to address challenges that civil society cannot tackle alone.

Our Impact Journey

Key milestones — tap or hover a milestone for the detail.

2001–2003 Building a Regional Civil Society Network Regional cooperation through the Capacity Building Hub laid the foundations for BCSDN, creating a platform for CSOs across the Balkans to learn, cooperate and act together.
2009 BCSDN Formally Established BCSDN became an independent regional network with a stronger role in regional cooperation and joint advocacy on civil society development.
2013 Launching the Monitoring Matrix BCSDN created a common regional framework for monitoring the enabling environment for civil society.
2014 Shaping EU Guidelines for Civil Society Support BCSDN helped develop the EU Guidelines for supporting civil society in enlargement countries, with the framework strongly drawing on the Monitoring Matrix.
2014 Civil Society Gains Dedicated Attention in EC Progress Reports Following sustained advocacy, civil society was for the first time assessed in a dedicated section of the European Commission Progress Reports.
2015–2016 Monitoring Matrix Evidence Used in EU Monitoring and Reporting BCSDN's Monitoring Matrix became a recognised source of evidence for European Commission monitoring of civil society and the enabling environment.
2019 Launching the Regional Civil Society Development Hub BCSDN connected monitoring and advocacy with direct support to civil society across the Western Balkans.
2021 Contributing to the OECD DAC Standard on Enabling Civil Society BCSDN input was integrated into the OECD DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society, bringing experience from the region into a new global policy standard.
2023 Enabling Environment Prioritized in EU Civil Society Funding BCSDN recommendations were reflected in the IPA Civil Society Facility, including dedicated attention and funding for strengthening the civil society enabling environment.
2024 Civic Space Enters EU Rule of Law Monitoring for Enlargement Countries BCSDN brings Monitoring Matrix evidence into the expanded EU Rule of Law process, contributing regional insights on civic space and the enabling environment for civil society.
2024 Opening EU Institutional Processes to Enlargement Civil Society The European Economic and Social Committee launched the Enlargement Candidate Members Initiative, an initiative actively supported by BCSDN, creating a pioneering mechanism for civil society representatives from candidate countries to participate directly in its advisory work.
2025 Kosovo Included in the EESC Enlargement Candidate Members Initiative BCSDN's coordinated advocacy for ECMI's continuation and expansion contributed to Kosovo's inclusion in the initiative.
2026 Enlargement Civil Society Included in the EU Civil Society Strategy BCSDN advocacy contributed to the Strategy's inclusion of enlargement civil society, including participation in the new EU Civil Society Platform.
2026 Moving from Monitoring to (Early) Action BCSDN began developing a regional mechanism to identify civic space risks earlier and support preventive responses.