On 29th and 30th April in Split, Cenzura Plus is organizing an international conference entitled: „Citizen Participation in political processes and decision-making“ – Mechanisms and tools for participation. The Conference will tackle citizens’ participation issues and especially its role in policy development and policy implementation with focus on successful principles, tools, processes, stories etc. of citizens participation at all levels. Target groups of the Conference are civil society (mainly representatives of CSOs and citizens initiatives) and public authorities, as Cenzura Plus will offer them information about the citizens’ participation benefits for the community through concrete examples from EU countries (Austria and Germany), but also from Croatia and Montenegro.…
Author: anja
On the 22nd of April 2015 in Prishtina, Kosovo, the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) presented the Monitoring Matrix 2014 Kosovo Country Report. After KCSF presented the findings from the report, depicting the main changes in the environment that enabled or hindered the development of civil society in Kosovo during 2014, BCSDN’s Programme Manager Ilina Nesik presented the findings for 2014 on a regional level. The MM regional report enforces the findings on a national level and sets them in a regional context, showing the positive and negative trends in the region for the previous year. In the opening remarks,…
The Working Party on the Western Balkans Region responsible for EU relations with the Western Balkans region met several civil society representatives today in Skopje. This working party deals with: general political and economic development, the Stabilisation and Association Process and the financial instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The meeting served as an opportunity to discuss current issues in Macedonian society as well as the role of civil society in it. BCSDN Programme Manager Ilina Nesik participated on the meeting, reflecting the EU Guidelines for Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Countries for the period 2014-2020 and urging the member…
On 17th April, in the framework of the BSCDN Annual meeting, the workshop on “The State of the Enabling Environment for CSDev in Enlargement Countries” was held in Tirana, Albania. The workshop served as a basis for discussing the state of freedom of association, assembly and expression for CSOs in 2014 and the impact of EU and the EU integration process on the civil society development in Enlargement countries. In the opening remarks, Mrs. Venera Harjullahu, BCSDN Board Chair, and Mrs. Romana Vlahutin, Head of EU Delegation to Albania, shared their views on the civil society development in the Western Balkan…
Center for Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO) presented the Report on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development for the year 2014. The report, as in previous year, analyzed the state of the legal, regulatory and financial environment in which CSOs operate. It also monitored practical implementation of the legislative frameworks and the work of competent institutions related to CSOs. The report highlighted unfavorable conditions for CSOs work in Montenegro especially when compared with European and international standards. Special concerns were raised regarding the pressures CSOs activists are exposed to, particularly for expressing critical opinion directed towards the government. The executive…
BCSDN Annual Council Meeting (ACM), hosted by IDM, took place on 17th April in Tirana. The annual gathering brought together representatives of 12 members and several guests to discuss network’s work in the past year by approving the Annual Report 2014 and Audit Report 2014. On the traditional gathering the members adopted the Annual Plan of activities for 2015 and decided to extend the mid-term strategy till the end of 2016 and used the opportunity to discuss the new mid-term strategy 2017-2020. The key substantive debate evolved around enlargement of the network and internal deepening. Also, on the 16th April,…
On Tuesday, 7th of April, The Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) together with the European Policy Institute – Skopje organized the public debate “Rethinking enlargement: The impact of Turkey’s EU integration process on the Western Balkans”. The workshop was part of the FP7 project BCSDN is partner in – “Maximizing the integration capacity of the European Union: Lessons and prospects for enlargement and beyond” (MAXCAP). The workshop was opened by BCSDN’s Executive Director, Ms. Tanja Hafner Ademi who presented the MAXCAP project, its aims and implemented and future activities. Mr. Robert Liddell, Head of Section for Political and Justice…
CNVOS, supported by a number of CSOs in Slovenia, has proposed to the Ministry of Finance amendments on the draft Law on approval of invoices which includes mandatory introduction of the so-called fiscal cash registers, directly associated with the PARS’s proprietary information system, for all legal persons who issue an invoice for the sale of goods and services and receive payment in cash, which also includes civil society organizations. In their proposal, the CSOs demand, firstly, that the use of electronic fiscal cash registers should not be required for CSOs, which had less than 10.000 euros from the sale of…
BCSDN and its members announce the third Call for Proposals for organizations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia to develop policy or advocacy proposals, this time within the scope of the IPA FPA Balkan Civil Society Acquis – Strengthening the Monitoring and Advocacy Capacities and Potential of CSOs. The specific objective is to contribute to the capacity building of CSOs in IPA countries in monitoring and advocating on civil society-related policies covered by the Monitoring Matrix areas or the Guidelines for EU Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Countries, 2014-2020. The selected topics per country…
On 31st March, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) presented the new Monitoring Matrx report on the enabling environment for civil society development (CSDev) in Macedonia, covering the period from January to November 2014. The report covers three areas relevant for CSDev: 1) Basic legal guarantees of freedoms, 2) Financial viability and sustainability of CSOs and 3) The relationship between CSOs and the Government. In the first area, it is noted that the legal framework is solid and that the right and the freedom of public assembly is significantly practiced. However, there were some political abuses and isolated cases of limiting…