The Working Group EPAN (Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood) met at the beginning of October under the auspices of TRIALOG. The Working Group Meeting gathered representatives of the three subgroups and of TRIALOG (South, East and Pre-Accession partnerships) and discussed the progress undertaken so far, the following steps and the possible challenges in 2011. A focal point of the discussion was the link between EPAN activities and next year’s Hungarian and Polish Presidency of the EU. The Pre-Accession subgroup outlined the progress made in 2010 with regard to the information sharing process between the members of the subgroup. Next year, it…
Author: anja
For the first time, the database provides complete information on the state of civil dialogue in the Balkan countries in one place. The data include information on the legal framework, current situation, history and concrete mechanisms and structures that exist in each country. The database gathers date for 10 countries, both 7 EU pre- and accession countries and 3 Balkan EU Member States (Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia). The data were gathered through a unified questionnaire by BCSDN members and its partners, primarily from secondary sources or research conducted for their own needs, which makes this database a collaboration of local…
On 5th June, 2009 (i.e. over one year ago), our network approached the Commission on the need to better include local CSOs in the programming and implementation of the IPA Civil Society Facility with the letter “The Chance for a Real Partnership: Civil Society Facility as a Motor for Support to Grounded Democratic Reforms in the Western Balkans”. The letter turned into a process of exchange of views and dialogue through series of meetings, workshops, conferences and input of the network experience through the participation in the TACSO Steering/Programming Committee. As of 2nd June, 2010, the Commission announced (through the…
As of 2nd June, 2010, the Commission announced (through the TACSO website) that there will be no external evaluation to the project. It is not clear whether or when there would be an evaluation of the other two components of the Facility, i.e. P2P and Partnership Action. On 5th June, 2009 (i.e. over one year ago), our network approached the Commission on the need to better include local CSOs in the programming and implementation of the IPA Civil Society Facility with the letter “The Chance for a Real Partnership: Civil Society Facility as a Motor for Support to Grounded Democratic Reforms in…
From 27th to 30th June, two BCSDN members, MCIC from Macedonia and Civic Initiatives from Serbia organized a study visit in Belgrade for representatives of institutions and CSOs from Macedonia and Serbia to exchange experience in relation to the new laws on associations (and foundations, in the case of Macedonia) adopted in 2009 and 2010 in both countries, respectively. The study visit was attended by nine representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Cooperation with NGOs in the General Secretariat of Government, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Central Registry from Macedonia and representatives of MCIC. The…
This policy paper is continuation of the BCSDN effort to offer both local and international stakeholders, especially the EU institutions, analysis and recommendations related to development of civil society in the Balkans with a focus on its role in the EU accession process. While drawing from findings and recommendations from the Balkan Civic Practices 6 – “The Successes and Failures of EU Pre-Accession Policy in the Balkans: Support to Civil Society” on support to development of civil society in the Western Balkan countries, the present paper focuses on analyzing the current situation in development and functioning of civil dialogue in…
On 18th and 19th June 2010 in Novi Sad, Serbia a regional conference on “Civil Bridge Building – The Hungarian 2011 EU-Presidency and the Western Balkans” was held. The conference was attended by representatives of 63 CSOs from Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, among them also several BCSDN members. Miljenko Dereta, the Executive Director of Civic Initiatives, Serbia and Chair of the BCSDN Board gave introductory remarks on the state of the civil society in the Balkans and its needs. The aim of the conference was to enable both partnership between CSOs from Hungary and…
On 16th and 17th June, the National Council of Women of the Republic of Macedonia (UWOM) in cooperation with CONCORD held a national consultation in Skopje, Macedonia on “The Effectiveness of CSOs”. The consultation is part of the global process on aid and development effectiveness. Franz Josef Berger, representative of CONCORD in charge of consultations held in Europe, spoke of the global process and the effectiveness debate so far. Tanja Hafner Ademi, the BCSDN Executive Director spoke about the development effectiveness in the Balkans. Saso Klekovski, the First Executive Director of MCIC spoke about the role of CSOs in the…
On 20th May 2010, the BCSDN held its 2nd EU policy workshop in Brussels. This year’s event was devoted to assessing the state of affairs in development and functioning of civil dialogue, i.e. structures and mechanisms for dialogue between public institutions and civil society, in the countries of the Western Balkans. The workshop brought together 54 representatives of local CSOs, networks and institutions from the region and representatives of EU institutions, esp. the Commissions’ Directorate General for Enlargement, responsible for monitoring the progress of (pre-) accession countries and management of IPA assistance. The workshop participants were welcomed by the hosts…
The event, which was organized by the DG Enlargement (TAIEX) and the Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Serbia under the IPA Civil Society Facility People 2 People action, featured presentation of both European networks (ECAS, Euclid), EU institutions, cases of networks from New EU Member States such as Poland and Estonia and cases of national networking such as Federation of NGOs in Serbia and Coalition against Discrimination. In her presentation, Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN, stressed the important difference between project partnership and networking and the need for balance in openness, response to local civil…