On the 22nd of November, an informal meeting of representatives from State bodies responsible for cooperation with CSOs from Croatia, BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey took place in Zagreb, Croatia. The event hosted by the Croatian Office and MoFA Center of Excellence, was part of the follow-up to similar meetings of State institutions in the region (Zadar, September 2012, Ankara, April 2013) with the aim to exchange information on recent developments in represented countries and draw-up a plan of activities 2014 for joint activities. The discussion was focused around EC/DG Enlargement draft Guidelines for support to civil society in the enlargement countries 2014-2020 and how Governments need to respond to the increased expectations from the EC in this regards. Moreover, a number of activities for enhancing mutual cooperation and support among WBT governments on civil society development issues were proposed such as the establishing of an internet platform for exchange, promotion of EC/DG Guidelines at country level, introductions of Annual Civil Society Enabling Environment Awards, introduction of State-CSOs trainings via ReSPA etc. The meeting also gathered several international CSO experts and representatives of international organizations/donor agencies, including Ms. Tanja Hafner Ademi, BCSDN Executive Director. Ms. Hafner Ademi presented the upcoming activities under the Monitoring Matrix and the proposal for the development of a self-assessment mechanism for State bodies to measure their progress in the civil society development area. A report from the meeting can be viewed here.
