On the 26th of March, the Croatian Country Monitoring Matrix Report outlining key findings and recommendation on the enabling environment for CSDev was presented in Zagreb in front of 28 participants. The presentation, led by BCSDN member CenzuraPlus and their Croatian in-country partner, pointed to the main problems such as the discrepancy between the number of registered organizations and those registered at the Ministry of Finance coupled with a stereotype presentation of public funds disbursed to CSOs. These issues has led to misconceptions by the public about the real status and size of civil society and the problems related to…
Author: anja
On 27 March, the BiH Country Monitoring Matrix Report was presented to 50 participants at the Parliamentary Assembly in Sarajevo. In the opening sessions, both Martin Schieder (EUD) and Dana Beegan (USAID) stressed that the Monitoring Matrix and the BiH Country Report can be credited for being a locally-driven initiative supported by both donors and a tool which needs to be recognized and taken on board by public institutions. The Report presented by Center for Promotion of Civil Society (CPCS), BCSDN member and BiH in-country partner, has highlighted a lacking institutional framework (Strategy, government coordinative mechanism) and a need for…
On the 26th of March 2014, the Institute for Environmental Policy (Albania) presented their policy paper on the Implementation of Aarhus Convention in Albania: Struggle and Policy Implementation in Grand Hotel, Tirana, elaborated within the framework of the Slovak and Balkan Public Policy Fund. Representatives of the local and central government, NGOs, universities, the media, and the general public attended the presentation The project analyzed the policy-making and policy implementation, corruption, access to public information, administration capacity and transparency of public institutions regarding the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Albania, in the 13 years-period after its ratification by the…
On 25 March 2014 in Sarajevo, within the framework of a conference on Migration and Policy Developments in B&H, and in cooperation with the Center for Economic Development and Research (CEDAR) and the CESI Center, Ms Emina Cosic and Mr Adnan Ovicna, grantees of the SBPPPF, presented the findings of their research on “Foreign Earned Diploma Holders in Public Administration in B&H”, in front of many relevant national stakeholders (representatives of public institutions, NGOs, the academic community, researchers and media representatives). The paper provides a review on merit based employment in the civil service, specifically in achieving professional public administration…
On March 14th, CRNVO held a presentation of the monitoring of civil society development in Montenegro. The report presented was drawn up as part of the project ” Balkan Civil Society Acquis” funded by the European Union and the Balkan Trust for Democracy. The Report, prepared within the framework of the BCSDN Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development, presents the findings of the monitoring of the enabling legal and practical environment for the development of civil society in Montenegro, using this tool which was designed by the BCSDN and ECNL. The preliminary regional findings and recommendations from…
On the 11th of March, 2014 in Prishtina, KCSF organized a round table to present its first Country Report aimed at monitoring the enabling environment for civil society development in Kosovo. The Report, prepared within the framework of the BCSDN Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development, presents the findings of the forgoing monitoring of the enabling legal and practical environment for the development of civil society in Kosovo. The roundtable was attended by 40 representatives from civil society, government institutions, and donors in Kosovo. During his presentation of the report’s findings Taulant Hoxna, Program Director at KCSF,…
CPCD has launched a call for proposals for the development and delivery of training programs under the Civil Society Sustainability Project (CSSP) in BiH. The main goal of the CSSP in BiH is to strengthen and sustain the capacity of civil society in BiH to influence and oversee the development and implementation of government policy-making processes, with the broader goal of increasing its long-term sustainability. The CSSP will assist selected 10-12 core CSO partners to: 1) partner with a wide array of stakeholders from business, government, media sectors; 2) strengthen their internal capacities and organizational structures to ensure sustainability and…
On the 5th of March 2014, at the EU Information and Cultural Center, Pristina, the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies ( KCSS ) organized a Conference where the analysis entitled: ” Inclusion or exclusion ? Minorities in the security sector in post – independent Kosovo”, funded by the Slovak and Balkan Public Policy Fund was presented to all relevant national stakeholders in Kosovo. The conference presented the preliminary findings on the role and participation of ethnic minority groups in Kosovo Security Sector, namely in the security institutions. A brief analysis on the current situation of ethnic non-majority group’s participation in…
A recent OSCE/ODIHR Regional Report on Housing Legalization, Settlement Upgrading and Social Housing for Roma in the Western Balkans have mentioned that “EHO’s (Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization) Dweller Driven Upgrading of Roma Settlement Model (developed in partnership with Swiss partners HEKS-EPER and SKAT) appears to be one of the most promising initiatives in the field of Roma housing upgrading in the region.” The report is part of the OSCE/ODIHR’s Best Practices for Roma Integration (BPRI) project which presents examples of good practices in improving the housing situation for Roma in the Western Balkans. The report was launched at a two-day regional…
On the 27th – 28th of February Biljana Stojanoska, Policy and Advocacy Officer at BCSDN, attended the workshop “Participation of the civil society in the programming of IPA 2014-2020” in Ohrid, Macedonia. The workshop was organized by EKO–Svest in partnership with several other leading Macedonian CSOs and was attended by around 140 civil society representatives. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen the capacities of the civil society sector for participating in the programming and planning of the upcoming IPA and, through working groups, give concrete recommendations for the improvement of the national IPA Country Strategy Paper. An additional…