On 27-28 April, 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, and representatives of state institutions and CSOs from the Western Balkans and Turkey, among which BCSDN EO representatives along with colleagues from BCSDN’s members PA, KCSF, MCIC, CRNVO, Civic Initiatives and TUSEV. The aim of the conference was to serve as a platform for collecting input from all stakeholders for the 2016 Progress…
Author: anja
On 19th April in Skopje, MCIC organized a thematic debate entitled “Setting the Records Straight: Availability of Public Funding for Civil Society in the Western Balkans and Turkey (WBT) Region”, gathering civil society and state institution representatives. Speakers at the event were: Stefania Andersen (Foundation for Development of Civil Society in Romania) presenting the best practices of state funding of CSOs in Romania, Tanja Hafner Ademi (BCSDN) providing a regional overview of the state at play in the Western Balkans and Turkey, and Simona Ognenovska (MCIC) presenting a policy document on public financing of CSOs in Macedonia. Upon providing a…
On 22nd April 2016, while the Council for Development of Civil Society of the Government of Croatia held its session discussing the Regulation on the Criteria for Determining Beneficiaries and Methods for Allocation of the Revenue from Games of Chance for 2016, the Government adopted that very same Regulation through an extraordinary telephone session. In protest over this action of the Government, the President of the Council and five other members who cover the areas of social welfare, youth activities, protection and promotion of human rights, culture, environmental protection and sustainable development, democratization, rule of law and the development of…
For two consecutive weeks in April, mass protests have spread across Macedonian capital and towns lead by civil society #Protestiram (#IProtest) movement, which has facilitated the mobilization of citizens and various groups demonstrating their discontent with the pardon of 56 high-ranking officials by the President and the lack of reforms that were defined in the Przhino Agreement signed by the main political parties in summer 2015, including cleaning of Voter’s List, freedom of the media and end to party pressure and misuse of public administration. The protests that have evolved under the slogan od “Colorful Revolution” and “No Justice, No…
On 11th April, 2016 in Ljubljana, CNVOS and the Ministry of Public Administration held a national conference for CSOs entitled Final Steps towards the Strategy for development of CSOs and Volunteering. At the conference, representatives of civil society and relevant ministries exchanged views on the direction of development of CSOs and volunteering in Slovenia and made comments on the proposed measures in the draft strategy. The proposals and comments made by the participants at the conference are available here. The revised draft strategy will be presented in the coming months on the regional consultations. Information on the regional events will be…
Civil Society Europe (CSE) has prepared a survey to collect NGOs views on the review of the financial regulations and rules of application of the European Commission. The questions are based on the EC public consultations on the revision of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union. The objectives of this revision are a simpler regulatory and financial set up, additional synergies and flexibility for budget implementation and a clear accountability framework. Input is particularly sought from recipients and beneficiaries of EU funding, and the entrusted entities and partners with whom the Commission works through the…
The Global Standard is an initiative of well-established civil society networks from around the world. The overarching aim of this initiative is to strengthen the effectiveness of CSOs worldwide by devising a collective accountability standard. The networks will over three years cooperate to learn from each other, gain a truly global view on CSO accountability, improve their codes and reduce transaction cost. The project is a bottom-up process, carving out the significant existing overlap on core parameter for CSO accountability in all participating codes. The Global Standard will be used as a key reference standard for the nine networks and…
On the margins of the BCSDN 8th Annual Council Meeting, a public event was organized on the 19th of April in Skopje – a thematic debate entitled “Setting the Records Straight: Availability of Public Funding for Civil Society in the Western Balkans and Turkey (WBT) Region”. Gathering circa 30 representatives of CSOs as well as state institutions, the event aimed at informing the interested stakeholders on the issues of public funding and thereafter opening a floor for a lively and constructive discussion. Speakers at the event were Stefania Andersen, Managing Director of the Foundation for Development of Civil Society in…
BCSDN’s 8th Annual Council Meeting took place on 19th April, 2016 in Skopje, with Macedonian Center for Internation Cooperation (MCIC) being the host. Representatives of 12 member organizations joined together to discuss the activities of the network in the past year, approving the Annual and Audit Report 2015, and to discuss the activities planned for the upcoming period, adoping the Annual Plan for 2016. The ACM welcomed in the network a new member from Romania – Civil Society Development Foundation (FDSC). The main aim of the ACM was to discuss and adopt the BCSDN Strategy for 2017-2020. The content and…
The European Commission and the Council of Europe announced on 11th April the launching of a joint initiative – EU/CoE Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey – to assist partners in the Western Balkans and Turkey in addressing challenges in the areas of rule of law and human rights. The initiative will support reforms of the judiciary, fight against corruption and organised crime, protection of the rights of vulnerable groups and the promotion of anti-discrimination policies. The European Commission will provide €20 million and the Council of Europe €5 million to support the initiative for the period of three…