On 23rd March, 2016, Albania officially launched the National OGP Multi-stakeholder Forum “OpenAlb”. Albania is a member of the OGP since 2011 and is currently implementing the 2nd National Action Plan 2014-2016. The Multi-Stakeholder Forum aims at bringing together representatives of government, CSOs and interest groups to enter a dialogue in securing concrete commitments to drive open government reform and innovation at the national level. It will commit to promote the OGP initiative, facilitate the consultation processes and drafting of the national action plans as well as monitor and evaluate the implementation and impact of OGP commitments, in an effort…
Author: anja
The Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Republic of Croatia launched a call for public hearings announcing the beginning of the process for the creation of the National Strategy for Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development 2017-2021. Aiming to create as inclusive process as possible, and simultaneously get feedback from CSOs about the obstacles and challenges of civil society in the upcoming period, the Office organizes public hearings in the 4 largest cities in Croatia: Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb. Due to limited number of participants, all interested CSOs should fill in an online form no later than 3…
CIVICUS spoke to Liana Varon, the Deputy Secretary General of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) – BCSDN member and a network of over 100 foundations and associations in Turkey, on the situation concerning freedom of expression and the environment for CSOs. Liana Varon elaborated the case on the arrest of 27 academics early this year, the oppressive environment for journalists, the main concerns over freedom of expression, as well as the necessity for international support to the Turkish civil society. She provided a brief overview of the environment in which Turkish civil society operate during 2015 highlighting that…
Since 2009, CNVOS has been implementing a project on violations of the resolution on legislative activity which requires a minimum of 30 days public consultation for all new legislation, measuring for how many times has the resolution been violated by the government as well as each of the separate ministries. Strikingly, out of 771 published proposals in total as from 18.09.2014, the resolution fully respected for 291 proposals only. More so, in the period between March 21st and March 29th, 2016, out of 9 published proposals the resolution has been violated for 8 proposals. When it comes to the attitude…
CRNVO has presented a database of CSO representatives in the working groups and other working bodies formed by the state administration in accordance with the Regulation on the procedure for cooperation between the state institutions and CSOs. This database, developed together with the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs in Montenegro, contains all relevant information for the process of selection of CSO representatives in these bodies, as a step towards ensuring full transparency of the process. It aims to encourage communication between CSO representatives organizations who are members of the working groups and other CSOs and citizens who are interested…
Issue No. 19 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, the UN rapporteurs provide a roadmap to avoid human rights violations during protests, whereas UN experts urge Western Australia not to pass anti-protest law. In the light of the fact that this year is marked by the celebration of 50 years of human rights through art and social media, UN Rapporteurs pinpoint that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant…
As part of their ongoing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Project, NonProfit Quarterly and the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network started to publish articles on justice and diversity in US. The first article is dedicated to exclusion of young and emerging movements and organizations that deal with civic engagement and empowerment in underrepresented communities from donors’ lists. The article argues that despite the embodiment of the ideals and practices of democracy in social justice movements’ quest for change, as well as the obvious strategic value in harnessing their energy, the support of movements for strengthened democracy and the supports of movements…
On 23rd and 24th March in Skopje, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration and TACSO Office Macedonia/MCIC organized a 2-day conference devoted to discussing the Open Government Partnership (OGP) achievements in Macedonia and designing a new Government Action Plan 2016-2018. The event brought together over 50 participants from relevant public institutions and CSOs, including Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN, to give their suggestions on measures to be achieved in the new Action Plan. The current Action Plan has had mixed success with many of the measures implemented through activities of CSOs, which have been increasingly involved in…
CIVICUS spoke to Liana Varon, the Deputy Secretary General of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) – BCSDN member and a network of over 100 foundations and associations in Turkey, on the situation concerning freedom of expression and the environment for CSOs. In the interview, Liana spoke about the case surrounding the arrest of 27 academics early 2016, the jailing of journalists, the situation in general concerning freedom of expression and the needed support from the international community amidst the destabilising pressures Turkey has been encountering. She gave an overview of the environment for civil society in 2015, stressing that over the past year…
The 2016 edition of the CSO Forum, taking place in Brussels on 17-18 March, brought together CSOs from both the international development and human rights field from all over the world. The Forum’s purpose was to further the implementation of the EU policy shift towards supporting the enabling environment, participation and capacity of civil society as an actor of governance, as enshrined in its 2012 Communication “The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with Civil Society in external relations” and the strong EU commitment to promote and protect human rights, the rule of law and democracy worldwide, as…