CRNVO published a Report on Financing CSOs in Montenegro from the Budgets of Local Self-Governments (LSGs) during 2015. The data have been collected through requests for access to information of public interest and manual search of municipalities’ websites. The data show that further improvements on the allocation of resources to CSOs at the local level are necessary since LSGs allocate insufficient funds to CSOs and allocate funds through other mechanisms rather than open calls. During 2015, the LSG s allocated 440.572 EUR, which is 92.428 EUR less than the planned amount with the municipal decisions on their respective budgets. From the total amount…
Author: anja
The Government Office for Cooperation with CSOs in Croatia published a report on the implementation of consultations with the interested public in procedures of adopting laws, other regulations and acts in 2015, which was adopted by the Croatian Government at its 17th session held on 28th April. The report was prepared in accordance with the National OGP Action Plan 2014-2016 and the National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2012 – 2016. In 2015, the state authorities have conducted consultation for 608 laws, regulations and legislation, which is 12% more consultations compared to 2014 and even…
A global threat to civil liberties is unfolding, undermining democracy around the world. As protests multiply worldwide and activists powered by mobile technology and social networks proliferate, a counter-reaction by governments – not only in the Global South (something that does not make news due to their track-record of abuses in the not-so-distant past) but also, alarmingly, in the Global North – is under way. The direct victims are, as always, individual citizens (an increasing number of activists are paying the ultimate price) but also organised civil society, which is struggling to fight back in good shape, with better tools…
One of the oldest paradoxes of development centers on the balance between inputs and outputs, broadly defined, and raise some important issues. This question is all the more poignant as international aid continues to dwindle in an era where nations increasingly resort to austerity. Contrary to popular perceptions, aid is not just money – however, of what does constitute money, not only do significant amounts of aid not leave donor countries, but a comparable amount finds its way back to its source through various means, including expatriate salaries and taxes. Demands for impact have intensified in recent years with the…
Within the framework of the Western Balkans CSOs for Global Development program, Pontis Foundation and Institute for Democracy and Mediation announce a call for research proposals in the area of global development agenda in the context of Albanian policies, in particular development cooperation policy and awareness raising. The main goal of the proposed activities is to stimulate a dialogue amongst Albanian policy analysts, experts, journalists and representatives of the civil society. It also aims to increase their ability and capacities to participate and contribute to policy making process through stimulating discussion on selected topics – in Albania and internationally. Main…
Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS), on 7th of December 2015 in Prishtina, has organized the conference on “Job Security in Civil Society Organizations: Implementation of Labour Legislation”. The aim of this event was to launch the preliminary findings of the research paper that focuses on the treatment of CSOs in the framework of labor legislation and employment programs in Kosovo, prepared in the framework of BCSDN’s Balkan Public Policy Fund (BPPF). This report aims to analyse how the civil society sector works based on the broad human security concept. Respectively, it aims to analyse sustainability of the engagement of civil society…
About 900 civil society leaders and activists from more than 109 countries were in Bogota to discuss active citizenry and how to overcome threats faced by civil society groups during the International Civil Society Week 2016 that started on April 25. This was the largest and most diverse gathering of its kind and the first one held in Latin America. The meeting was a space for leaders, activists, representatives of civil society organizations to join together and give their contribution to ensure the respect of rights of association, participation, expression and access to information, and to remind international actors of…
On April 27 – 28, TACSO held the Regional Conference “Monitoring of the EU Guidelines for the Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Countries, 2014-2020 – Year 2” in Skopje, Macedonia. The conference gathered more than 80 participants among which representatives of EC Brussels, TACSO, SIPU International, media, as well as representatives of state institutions and CSOs from the Western Balkans and Turkey. In addition, BCSDN EO Executive Director Tanja Hafner Ademi and Junior Policy and Advocacy Officer on CSDev Sanja Bogatinovska participated at the conference, together with colleagues from BCSDN’s members Partners Albania for Change and Development (PA),…
the Global Citizenship Commission, convened under the leadership of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to re-examine the spirit and role of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), has launched its landmark report “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century: A Living Document in a Changing World.” The report and appendices offer a 21st-century commentary on the original document, furthering the work of human rights and illuminating the ideal of global citizenship. Bringing together world leaders and thinkers in the fields of politics, ethics, and philosophy, the Commission set out to develop a common understanding of…
The 20th Issue of the Assembly and Association Briefing, the newsletter of Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association has been published. In this issue you can read about: the closing space for civil society in the United Kingdom, as noted by the Special Rapporteur after his official visit; restrictions on foreign funding in India contrary to international law; UN experts call to end impunity for murder of activists in Honduras and to counter smear campaign and support human rights defenders in Mexico; the ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders and…