The European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) is seeking government officials from the Western Balkans to spend a three-month fellowship in EU government institutions in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. Fellowship Programme for Government Officials is EFB’s flagship intervention focused on EU integration-driven reforms of the Western Balkans’ administrations by educating and motivating public officials to practice and advocate European principles of public administration. More information is available here. Source: European Fund for the Balkans
Author: anja
The CSF Skopje titled “Reclaiming Democracy, Europe, and Social Justice”, will take place from 24-26 November 2016 in Skopje, Macedonia gathering over 100 civil society members (activists, analysts, advocates) from across the region to discuss the relevant issues: What kind of re-claiming of hijacked terms (Democracy, Europe, Social Justice) do we need and how can we achieve it? Do the alternatives exist only in theory or they can become vital sources of change in the societies in the region? The Civil Society Forum Skopje is organized under the umbrella of the “Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans Summit Series”…
The overall objective of this Call for Proposals is: the sustainable development in the cross-border area between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro is promoted by the implementation of common actions based on an efficient use of the comparative advantages of the programme area. The specific objectives of this projects are: 1. Employment opportunities and social inclusion of vulnerable groups are enhanced, and 2. : The quality and diversification of the tourism offer building on natural and cultural heritage is improved. The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 3,240,000.00. Any grant requested under this call…
The main objectives of the support for transnational cultural cooperation projects are to support the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and internationally and to promote the transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and transnational mobility of cultural and creative players, in particular artists. The total appropriations for 2017 for this call will be around EUR 35.500.000. The deadline for submission of European cooperation projects is 23 November 2016. More information is available here. Source: ALDA Europe
BCSDN organized the first national consultation meetings of The Global Standard for CSO Accountability that took place in Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Serbia from the 17th till the 21st of October hosted by BCSDN members and partners in those countries. The Standard has been created by nine CSO accountability initiatives from across the world including the Balkan Civil Society Development Network. It aims to connect CSOs with people, partners, supporters and donors in order to build trust and to leverage impact in times of shrinking civic space. It is a strong commitment to the public and an invitation to hold CSOs to account…
The Civic Charter was developed in collaboration with civil society actors from different continents and countries through extensive consultation and advisory processes. The Charter was launched in different locations around the world in October 2016. The charter aims to support civil society organizations as activists throughout the world, to advocate for their rights and freedom of action, and to demand government guarantees. The Civic Charter is available in many different languages and can be signed by organizations and individuals through this platform. Source: Civic Charter
On 20 October 2016 in New York, United Nations’ first-ever Special Rapporteur Maina Khai had his final presentation to the General Assembly, reflecting on his time in mandate. The special rapporteur on the rights of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association warned that the environment for exercising civic freedoms remains hazardous worldwide. Kiai noted that his mandate was created at a time that covered a period during which the world faced a series of severe crises. Despite many challenges, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that he was optimistic about the prospects for the global renewal of civic freedoms.…
MEPs have called upon EU Commission to set up a binding, instead of the current “crisis-driven” EU mechanism, to monitor and report annually on the records in the field of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights (DRF) in EU member states. The aim of the Parliament’s proposal is to (1) incorporate existing DRF tools in a single instrument and ensure that they are used to the full, (2) to bridge the apparent gap between DRF monitoring in EU candidate countries and the lack of effective tools vis-à-vis those that are already EU member states; and (3) to secure regular…
ECNL extracted key issues from each of the comprehensive country reports that monitor legal developments and practical implementation of freedom of assembly in Western Balkans countries into five user-friendly flashcards. The flashcards were designed to be useful tools for local partners to engage in in-country advocacy and reform. The brief publications (1) feature up to five issues per country, (2) provide a summary of the problematic issues, and (3) describe relevant international standards and offer recommendations on how they should be implemented. The flashcards are available both in English and all the local languages here. Source: ECNL
This year’s edition of Global Perspectives, which took place in Berlin between 26th and 28th October, brought together around 150 key leaders and experts from civil society around the world to discuss “The Future of Civic Space”. Organized by the International Civil Society Center, included addresses by Thomas Carothers from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chris Stone from the Open Society Foundations and Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. The event also included the launch of the Civic Charter – the global framework for citizen participation. Developed through international…