News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The 2016 Open CSO Days in Croatia were held from 23rd to 25th May, and more than 300 associations presented their programmes and activities, bringing them closer to the citizens. With their participation in the CSOs activities, the citizens were able to gain insight in the wide array of activities that the associations are engaged
Read more →In some countries, new laws and government decisions have blocked the ability of CSOs to fully participate in public policy, often through restrictions on access to foreign funding. Human rights defenders have been harassed or arrested, and CSOs closed down. The Conference of INGOs organized a debate on 6th and 7th June in Strasbourg “Only
Read more →Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) published the third edition of the Government Mirror – report based on monitoring the legal framework and public participation in the process of law making in Macedonia. According to the report findings, the openness of the institutions has decreased since the 2014 report, no changes has been noted on
Read more →The Second CPCD Civil Society ARENA was organized on 31st May, with the aim to open a broad public debate on the effectiveness, priorities and the effects of the current system of financing programs and projects of the CSOs from the budget. The experiences of CSOs, recent research and the latest findings of the Office
Read more →Civil Society Europe (CSE) has participated to the European Public Consultation for a Mandatory Transparency Register, opened by the European Commission since March 2016. CSE calls for the Register to become mandatory and to cover all EU institutions and be complemented with further transparency rules and codes as regards meetings of officials involved in policy
Read more →European Stability Initiative analyst Adnan Ćerimagić has reflected on the compliance of BiH statistics with EU standards and the potential benefits from the harmonization of BiH statistics with EU statistics’ standards on BiH public policies. He starts off by saying that any consideration on the importance of timely, reliable and comprehensive statistics for the development
Read more →Civil Society Europe (CSE) and its working group on Civil Society Recognition has prepared a questionnaire on an assessment of civil dialogue mechanisms open for both European and national CSOs. The responses to the questionnaire as well as the results of interviews with CSOs and EU institutions will contribute to the preparation of a report
Read more →Multilateral agencies like the UN, the World Bank and others provide multilateral aid to developing countries. The significance of this type of aid is the very large scale under which it operates and provides support for addressing issues related to poverty, economic development, human rights, healthcare, peace and development and other areas. Although this type
Read more →Fidelity Charitable Funds has just released its latest report on its donors, 2016’s “Giving Report”. Fidelity Charitable is the US second-largest grant-maker behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, propelled by the collective generosity of the more than 132,000 donors who actively use their Giving Accounts to support the charitable causes closest to their hearts.
Read more →With the contribution of IDM Albania, the study “Economic Value of the Non-Profit Sector in the Countries of the Western Balkans & Turkey” prepared by Dubravka Velat and experts from BCSDN member organizations, has been translated in Albanian. This is the first study ever that gives an overview of the current situation with the non–profit
Read more →Over the past three years, MAXCAP has analyzed the internal and external integration capacity of the EU in relation to the 2004 and 2007 enlargements. This policy brief identifies three sets of findings on the state of EU integration capacity and general policy recommendations. First, internal integration capacity has proven strong at the organizational level
Read more →Closing space for civil society is not a short-term phenomenon but instead a much larger tectonic movement, with two large trends that have come together to drive it; namely, a shift in power and relations between “the West and the Rest”, and the recognition of the power of civil society, which has generated fear in
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