The results of a research conducted by the Center for Development of NGOs (CRNVO) have shown that the public has high level of trust in the civil society organizations: 13 percent of respondents stated they highly trust CSOs, while 47 percent stated they believe that CSOs are useful for the public. The study, commissioned by TACSO office in Montenegro, was conducted in September 2012, on a sample of 851 respondents. According to the survey results, 6 percent of the respondents believe that they are fully informed about the activities of CSOs, 22 are well-informed, 40 partially and 18 percent of…
Author: anja
On 7th and 8th November, a TACSO-organized regional conference bringing together over 100 representatives of CSOs, public institutions, media and donors from Western Balkan countries and Turkey took place in Skopje to discuss the state of affairs and future commitments to improve cooperation between Gov2CSO relationship. The conference was organized around a Keeping the momentum report prepared by European Center for Non-profit Law (ECNL). Several representatives of BCSDN members and Executive office have attended the conference and presented the monitoring matrix on enabling environment for CSDev. The main part of the conference was devoted to development of concrete national-level actions…
BCSDN is glad to present the latest Newsletter edition, this time in an electronic version that we hope will be easier to read and more user friendly. You can find here an overview of BCSDN activities from August till October as well as other initiatives and announcements related to civil society development on regional and European level. Please come back to us for with your comments on the new format as well as the content.
The European Parliament in Brussels and the Proinfo Foundation, in partnership with the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), on 7 November 2012 organized a conference under the auspices of Mr Gerald Häfner, member of the European Parliament Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, entitled “Not-for-Profit Resource Centers in Europe: Creating Synergies to Better Serve the Citizens of Europe”. The Conference brought together representatives of more than 30 organizations from 26 European countries to discuss and focus on the creation of the European Civil Society House (ECSH). The ECSH will work according to the directions of the 3 “C”s – Civil…
Civic Initiatives has submitted the amendments to the Draft Law on Accounting, on October 23, 2012. Together with the European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law and the Balkan Fund for Local Initiatives, Civic Initiatives proposed amendments requesting foundations and endowments to be included in the Draft Law. Non-profit organizations ought to be treated differently than profitable legal entities in accounting, bookkeeping and in the chart of accounts implementation. Furthermore, equal treatment of churches and religious communities with other private non-profit legal entities was requested, as well as a non-exclusion from the obligations defined by the Draft Law. Simple bookkeeping for so-called…
Cenzura Plus produced a new TV show in October dealing with the civil society in the region with regards to the newly published EC Progress Reports. Also topics tackeled in the interview were media and their role in the civil society development and the current situation of media in the region. Selen Yilmaz, TUSEV Turkey, Tony Venables, ECAS Belgium and Ljiljana Zurovac, Press Council, Bosnia and Herzegovina talk about the status of civil society. The video is available here.
However, the most crucial areas for consolidating the enabling environment for CSDev in the mid-term such as tax regime, state support and human resources issues are insufficiently addressed. The greatest novelty this year is a recognition that “more enabling environment and the conditions for improved policy dialogue [need to be] put in place”, steaming from the Commission Communication “The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with Civil Society in external relations” published on 12th September, which for the first time since the Enlargement Strategy 2007 recognizes the need to combine both financial (IPA CSF) and political means (monitoring…
For the 4th consecutive year, BCSDN prepared background analysis on how civil society development (CSDev) in treated and what progress (or lack thereof) has been noted form the past year in Enlargement countries. The Analysis notes that overall, the Commission has maintained its focus on the issues pertinent to involvement of civil society in policy and decision making, administrative capacity of state institutions to draft and adopt quality legislation through an inclusive process and on the mechanisms that stimulate funding of CSOs. However, the most crucial areas for consolidating the enabling environment for CSDev in the mid-term such as tax…
In March, our network has started development of the 1st monitoring matrix on enabling environment for civil society development (CSDev) with the aim to provide for CSOs with an effective monitoring and advocacy tool for consolidating the legislative and especially the implementation of the enabling environment to be in place for a vibrant, effective and developed civil society sector. The groundbreaking work has been undertaken by 10 CSO practitioners/experts from the Balkans in partnership and support by European Center for Non-profit Law (ECNL). The development of this monitoring tool has provoked great interest among civil society and stakeholders and before…
Between the 25th and 27th of October, a monitoring visit at the end of the 14 month pilot phase concluded that the Slovak-Balkan Public Policy Fund (the Fund) has proved to be a successful support model for boosting the advocacy skills of the organizations in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. The monitoring visit included meetings of representatives from Pontis and BCSDN with state officials and other stakeholders targeted with the policy work of the grantees as well as the informal meeting with Macedonian grantees. The meetings showed tangible results from the policy work, such as: The Macedonian Energy Regulatory Commission presented…