News and updates from BCSDN and the region
We are excited to introduce the new BCSDN website — a refreshed, accessible and easy-to-navigate space designed to better reflect who we are today. Explore BCSDN’s work on civic space, EU policies and enlargement, and donor strategies and practices, with research, analyses, projects and resources now easier to find. The website also tells more of
Read more →BCSDN and members are launching a regional campaign against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), drawing attention to how abusive legal action can be used to intimidate, exhaust and silence those speaking in the public interest. Across the Western Balkans, journalists, activists, CSOs, environmental and human rights defenders, and citizens can face legal pressure whose
Read more →The 2026 OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy, taking place on 12–13 October in Paris, will focus on how democratic governments can become more responsive and resilient in a period of rapid change and disruption. Under the theme “Government Unstuck: Resilient Democracies in a Fast-Changing World,” the Forum will address declining public
Read more →International IDEA is inviting organisations to submit panel proposals for the Global Conference on Electoral Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and Democracy, taking place on 3–4 March 2027 in Chișinău, Moldova. The conference will bring together CSOs, researchers, public institutions, regulators and policy actors to exchange evidence, methods and strategies for strengthening democratic resilience
Read more →The Possible Now Summit, taking place in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 2–4 December 2026, will bring together people exploring new approaches to social change, solidarity and collective action. Emerging from the 2023 #ShiftThePower Global Summit in Bogotá, Possible Now seeks to connect innovative but often isolated practices and experiments into a broader ecosystem capable of challenging
Read more →The EU System for an Enabling Environment (EU SEE) analysis of 1,218 recommendations from 54 Country Focus Reports identifies recurring challenges affecting civil society across regions. Access to sustainable resources emerges as the leading concern, driven by declining traditional donor funding, dependence on short-term project support and administrative barriers that particularly affect smaller and local
Read more →A year has passed since Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted its first state-level Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2025–2029, setting out a framework for more transparent public funding, stronger civil society participation in policymaking, improved institutional cooperation and better resource infrastructure for CSOs. BCSDN member Center for Promotion of Civil Society
Read more →In an opinion for Kosovo 2.0, KCSF Executive Director Dren Puka warns that public property and resources can become tools of pressure when access to them depends on an organisation’s relationship with those in power. Referring to the Municipality of Prishtina’s termination of BIRN Kosovo’s agreement for space in the Grand Hotel, alongside previous cases
Read more →In an interview for Radar, Maja Stojanović, Executive Director of BCSDN member Civic Initiatives, describes an increasingly restrictive environment for civil society and critical voices in Serbia. She argues that international expressions of concern have had limited effect as long as attacks and institutional pressure carry no political consequences. Stojanović points to police searches of
Read more →The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Association of Journalists of Albania (AGSH) have raised concerns over a new internal regulation of Albania’s Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO), warning that it introduces significant restrictions on journalists’ access to and reporting from court proceedings. Adopted without prior consultation, the regulation reportedly deviates
Read more →The Council for Cooperation between the Government and Civil Society has launched a public call for civil society representatives to join the Monitoring Committee for the Reform and Growth Facility. The Committee monitors the progress and quality of reforms and investments under North Macedonia’s Reform Agenda 2024–2027, linked to the EU’s Growth Plan for the
Read more →European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has outlined four areas in which the EU should adapt its enlargement process to today’s geopolitical realities. Kos called for internal EU reforms to make decision-making more efficient, including limiting opportunities for individual Member States to block decisions. She also stressed the need for stronger safeguards against democratic and
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