What's New

News and updates from BCSDN and the region

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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VAT Refund for CSO in Albania is Finally Happening

Partners Albania for Change and Development, our member organization from Albania, that has been one of the key actors advocating and leading the process for regulations of the VAT refund for CSOs in the country, has announced that the reimbursement has officially started. Namely, the General Directorate of Taxes has reimbursed four projects that have

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Advocacy Handbook by The European Youth Forum

In this handbook, published by the European Youth Forum, CSO representatives can find the keys to engaging in meaningful advocacy action: core concepts to be mastered, practical frameworks to be followed to plan actions, do’s and don’ts to avoid the most common mistakes and inspiring examples from the CSO sector. Read more here. Source: YFJ

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Guidelines: How to Organize Virtual and Hybrid Event?

USAID has supported the publication of a guideline manual for organizing virtual and hybrid events, aiming to help a wide range of entities to maintain a presence? and relevance in their field while adapting to the “new normal” brought by the COVID-19 pandemics. The guidelines offer practical tools and useful tips and tricks which will

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Policy Document: Fostering sustainable civil society cooperation for better governance in southeast Europe: What’s Next?

The South Eastern Leadership for Development Initiative (SELDI) has published a policy document that estimates the state of civil society cooperation for good governance and explores the mechanism for a more effective mechanism for CSO cooperation in the good governance area. The document notes a key conclusion that funding needs to be complemented by indigenous,

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