What's New

News and updates from BCSDN and the region

CSO Representatives in North Macedonia Dissatisfied with the Government’s Draft-Program for Financing CSOs and Foundations

The Council for Cooperation between the Government and the Civil Society in North Macedonia does not agree with the suspension of the procedure for adoption of the General Secretariat’s Draft-Program for financing the program activities of the associations and foundations for 2022. With this decision, the Government has abandoned the current good practice for consultations

Read more →

COVID-19 Pandemic Influence on Civil Society in BiH

Centre for the Promotion of Civil Society has published and promoted the research on the state of Civil Society under the CVID-19 circumstances, for 2020. The main goal of the research is to show the consequences of civil society organizations in BiH due to reduced public funding by all levels of government in order to

Read more →

Civil Society’s Shrinking Space

Civil society needs a safe and enabling environment. That civic space has been shrinking in parts of Europe was widely documented even before the pandemic hit. The adoption this month by the European Parliament of the report on this theme is crucial in the current political environment that emphasizes the need for CSOs to act,

Read more →

State of Youth Civil Society

Youth civil society’s lack of confidence in formal power and rejection of traditional hierarchies has led it to rely on its own creativity and embeddedness within communities to be a powerful force for good. Without youth civil society, communities’ recovery from the pandemic to date would have undoubtedly been held back. Youth civil society has

Read more →

Serbian CSOs Raising Concerns About Double Standards in Institutional Responses

Organizations gathered around the “Three Freedoms” Platform have expressed their concerns over the criminal prosecution of Youth Student Action`s activists and the “double standards” in the reaction of the authorities, while also noting that their protest is a direct consequence of deafening the institutions to the problems of citizens and preventing them from influencing decisions

Read more →

Report – Civil Society in 2021: Under Pressure

Liberties have published its third report on the state of rule of law in the European Union. Comprised of an overview of trends and 17 individual country reports written by Liberties’ member and partner organizations, this comprehensive report vets how well member states are faring at protecting democracy, justice, and the rule of law. One

Read more →

First Handbook on Prevention of the Exposure of the Non-Profit Sector to Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in North Macedonia

Supported through the USAID Civic Engagement Project, the first handbook on prevention of exposure of money laundering and financing terrorism was prepared by Konekt in cooperation with the European Centre for Not for profit Law and the RSM Financial Intelligence Unit. The handbook identifies potential risks for non-profits, which is the first step towards taking

Read more →

Civil Sector Reacts: Adopted Government Strategy in the Service of its image, Not Civil Society

Reaction published on the official website of BCSDN member organization Civic Initiatives strongly opposes the new strategy for civil society development, adopted by the Serbian government. The reaction states how the strategy, that foresees implementation until 2030 serves only to improve the government’s reputation before the international community, and not to substantially improve conditions for

Read more →

eCrowd: Crowdfunding Platform for CSOs

Within the Make, it Easy project they are implementing, the Association for digital transformation Hub has launched eCrowd.mk – an online service that enables the collection of donations by non-profit legal entities registered under the Law on Citizens’ Associations and Foundations in North Macedonia. The main idea of the service is to improve the culture

Read more →

Serbian Civil Society for Fair Elections

The Civil society in Serbia has informed the domestic and international public that, due to the increasing frequency of human rights violations, CSOs will regularly monitor the election campaign in order to assess whether the upcoming elections are fulfilling the conditions to be called free, fair, and democratic. Three Freedoms platform announced consistent and regular

Read more →

International Standards for Protecting the Climate and Its Defenders

International Centre for Not for Profit Law has published a guide aiming to map out the scope of standards that protect the environmental activists’ rights to association, peaceful assembly, expression, and participation in decision-making, the type of restrictions that affect the space for environmental defenders and the mechanisms that they can use to enforce their

Read more →