The 12th edition of the Guide for potential domestic and foreign sources of funding, prepared by Civic Initiatives in cooperation with 3 Government bodies (SIPRU, GOfCSO, SEIO), gathers in one place all the information on available calls and funding by international and national donors, as well as state institutions. Users of these funds can be CSOs, municipalities, small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurs and individuals. The intention of the authors of the Guide is creating a comprehensive base of information on funding opportunities for different activities that will contribute to the democratization of society and greater participation of citizens, as well as will…
Author: anja
The UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai’s announced the release of the latest in the factsheet series: An instalment on civil society’s ability to access resources. The factsheet summarizes the legal issues and challenges surrounding civil society’s ability to access resource, presented in an easy-to use “yes/no” format, with hyperlinks to source materials. It draws heavily from the Special Rapporteur’s 2013 report to the UN Human Rights Council and features guidance on: the recognition of the importance of the ability to access resources in international law; the effect of registration on an association’s ability to access resources; permissible and impermissible restrictions…
On 26th May, 2015, European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) organized a working workshop under the title “Culture of Regional Cooperation” in the framework of the newly launched “Civil Society Initiative of the Vienna Western Balkans Summit”. The workshop brought together over 30 representatives of civil society, academia, think-tanks and RCC to discuss concrete practices in several thematic areas. Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN, presented the example of BCSDN network and its work on setting the agenda in the area of civil society development. The main points of the overall discussion included that cooperation by civil society continued…
On 22nd May, 2015, in Skopje, Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) organized presentation of the state of affairs on the Implementation of the Government Strategy for Cooperation between the Government and Civil Society (2012-2017) in Macedonia for the period June 2012 to December 2014. The aim of the event was to present the progress in the realization of the measures from the Strategy implementation and to raise a discussion on the findings and recommendations from the policy document. Half-way through its implementation period, 48% of measured envisaged in the Strategy were started and only 2 have been fully implemented so…
An Istanbul court that acquitted 26 people detained during the Gezi Park protests in the summer of 2013 has stated in its reasoned ruling that people do not have to get official permission for peaceful demonstrations, and demonstrations held without permission are not necessarily violent. Judge Onur Özsaraç referred to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the court’s 17-page reasoning, saying that “all states member of the convention pledges to comply with it, so that the convention becomes part of the domestic law.” The justification also recalled ECHR decisions on Turkey in which it found Turkey guilty over…
TRIALOG hosted the 5th edition of the Partnership Fair between the 4th and 6th of May 2015 in Vienna, Austria. This year’s Fair represented a meeting space for CSOs, an opportunity to exchange information about donors’ plans and priorities and civil society’s views on needs in the local context, as well as a partnership development event. The Fair facilitated partnerships, cooperation, learning and exchange at an international level for joint projects. BCSDN participated an the Fair giving an overview of the Western Balkans civil society development and participated in the creation of future plans for development cooperation initiatives in the…
The regional conference “Monitoring of the EU Guidelines for the Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Countries, 2014-2020-Year 1”, held 27th-30th April 2015 in Belgrade, brought together key stakeholders (representative of the EC, civil society, TACSO, governments, EU Delegations) to contribute to the refinement of the EU Guidelines for Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Countries, 2014-2020 from regional and national perspective. During the conference multiple goals were achieved: firstly, the participants commented and suggested modifications of the indicators, targets, benchmarks of the EU CS Guidelines and its Results Framework, preserving a regional perspective on the document; Secondly,…
There is a serious lack of transparency about the use of various types of equipment during policing of protests according to a report published today by Access Info Europe, following research conducted in 42 countries and territories across Europe by means of access to information requests. The research by the Madrid-based pro-transparency organisation aimed to get a comprehensive picture of the legal framework for, and the actual use of, different types of equipment – including batons, shields, tear gas, and rubber bullets. The troubling findings of this pan-European survey, which has revealed a huge lack of transparency from European police…
In 2014, BCSDN pursued the monitoring of the enabling environment throughout the region. Through working on improved funding policies and establishing structured dialogue between CSOs and Governments in the Balkans, on national and EU level, we continued providing and promoting relevant, high-impact standards for civil society development in areas where it is most needed and can deliver long-lasting change (Monitoring Matrix). We also continued learning among ourselves but also from other networks and partners, and shared our knowledge to advocacy-oriented organizations in the region (read more). Our internal cooperation continued to strengthen in 2014 by enforcing and implementing all the internal…
As part of the MAXCAP project in which BCSDN is partner in, a Young researchers’ and Midterm conference was held from 20th to 24th of April in Istanbul. The conference, hosted by Sabanci University, was aimed for presenting the activities and research conducted so far by the nine-partner consortium of academic and policy excellence, and it also served as an opportunity for peer review and training of the staff of the project teams. The Young researchers’ conference consisted of 3 special training sessions and 5 sessions for presentation, where BCSDN’s Policy and advocacy officer – Ms. Biljana Stojanoska presented the…