Two years after the development and implementation of the EU Roadmaps for engagement with civil society, Capitalization report was prepared by the Roadmap Support Facility with the goal to assist EU Delegations in developing their first Roadmap reviews. The Report is based on a stocktaking and learning exercise for the first generation of Roadmaps both from a process and content perspective. The findings are presented with a three-fold approach focusing on: (1) the context for EU engagement with CSOs; (2) the Roadmap process so far; and (3) the content for EU engagement as put forward by the Roadmap documents. As a…
Author: anja
In April last year, 70 CSOs, in an open letter to the Government, urged that a new director should be appointed as soon as possible in order for the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society in Serbia to continue its work regularly. After almost a year since the resignation of Ivana Ćirković, on 17th February 2016, the Government of the Republic of Serbia appointed Žarko Stepanović as the new director of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society. Civic Initiatives have expressed their support to the Government for this decision. In the past period, the committed staff of the Office…
At the conference “Bell of change”, held in Sarajevo on 2nd February, the Center for Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) called on the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to urgently establish functional mechanisms for dialogue with the citizens, stressing the importance of mobilization of all capacities in BiH for speeding up the EU accession process by increasing the participation of the civil society and interested public. The conference was held in the premises of the Parliamentary Assembly of BIH, with the aim for CSOs to put organized and articulated pressure on the Council of Ministers to take the…
As part of the Balkan Public Policy Fund, Centre for Civic Education (CCE) presented the analysis “Facts and prejudice – financing of CSOs and political parties in Montenegro from public funds” on 19th February 2016 in Podgorica. The conference gathered 40 representatives of civil society, political parties and state institutions which invested efforts through constructive discussion in order to provide contribution and create a better ambient for the work of CSOs in Montenegro. The publication provides an overview of legislative and institutional system of financing of CSOs from public funds, along with the recommendations which should be taken into account…
The ability to assemble and act collectively is vital to democratic, economic, social and personal development, to the expression of ideas and to fostering engaged citizenry. Assemblies can make a positive contribution to the development of democratic systems and, alongside elections, play a fundamental role in public participation, holding governments accountable and expressing the will of the people as part of the democratic processes. Yet despite the increasingly prominent role that assemblies play in today’s world, there remains a lack of clear understanding of the applicable international human rights law and standards. This compilation of practical recommendations for the proper…
Fostering cooperation between local authorities and civil society has been proven to be an efficient tool to create the necessary conditions for political and social development of communities all across the European Union and its Neighbourhood. Local authorities are called to increase their transparency and accountability as well as to develop mechanisms effectively involving citizens in the decision-making process. This toolkit, published by ALDA, aims at providing local authorities and CSOs with a set of tested practices promoting the participation of citizens in the public and political life of their community. The Toolkit is available for download here. Source: ALDA
The UK government is receiving widespread condemnation for a new clause in grant agreements that will place restrictions on civil society organisations lobbying the government. Last week, 140 UK charities signed a joint letter to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron expressing their deep concern over the proposed clause, and the move has been strongly condemned by the global alliance of CSOs – CIVICUS. The new clause would be attached to all grants for UK charities, and would prevent charities from using these funds to enter into any dialogue with parliament, government or political parties as funds could only be spent…
A new report by Brana (Dam), a coalition of 23 CSOs formed at the end of 2014 to monitor the transparency of recovery projects and international donations used in Bosnia after the floods, highlights the lack of transparency on use of reconstruction money. During 2015, Brana monitored the use of 380,320,238.29 KM (approx. EUR 194 mil), provided by donor organisations and Bosnian institutions for reconstruction. Out of this sum, 195 million KM (approx. EUR 99 mil) was allocated directly through government institutions, whose transparency Brana has especially criticised. According to the report, there is not enough information on around 46% of…
Charities have lost more than EUR 4.87bn in grants from government over the last decade and, at the continued rate of decline, there will no government grant money for charities by the next general election. This could destroy families and communities across the UK. From a height of EUR 7.7bn in 2003, the total value of public sector grant-making to the voluntary sector had plummeted to just EUR 2.82bn by 2013. There is little to suggest that this trajectory is going to change – austerity looks set to continue and local councils, one of the sector’s biggest funders, are staring…
Around 150 participants from civil society, European and national institutions from the Western Balkans and Turkey were brought together for the conference “Civil Society & Beyond: A Joint Dialogue on the European Path” that took place in Belgrade, 25th-26th February 2016. The Conference was organized by the European Movement International and European Movement in Serbia, in partnership with TACSO and the Serbian European Integration Office. From BCSDN participated our Policy and Advocacy Officer, Ms. Biljana Spasovska. The two-day conference was opened by Serbian high level political representatives including the Speaker of the National Assembly – Ms. Maja Gojković and the…