News and updates from BCSDN and the region
George Soros’s Open Society Foundations group has said it will cease operations in Turkey, days after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused the billionaire philanthropist of trying to divide and destroy nations. The organisation said it had been the target of baseless claims in the Turkish media that made it impossible for it to
Read more →BCSDN as part of AGNA and the Global Standard for CSO Accountability is celebrating the Global Accountability Week from 12-16 November, to promote civil society accountability by showcasing CSO accountability initiatives from the region and around the world and to advance the understanding of the dynamic accountability. Building trust, gaining legitimacy, and ensuring accountability and
Read more →On 11-14 November, the 11th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum, titled “Building a more resilient civil society in the Black Sea region“, was held for a first time in Brussels, organized by the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND). The event served as a platform for gathering input from the participants on the main issues
Read more →A new CIVICUS report sets out the conclusions of a year-long research project led by the global civil society alliance, including the voices of people from around 80 countries. Civil society leaders, activists and stakeholders shared 54 written contributions and provided 97 interviews, while 26 democracy dialogues – informal citizen-led discussions on challenges with and
Read more →Digitalisation comes with great opportunities and challenges ahead of us. A new CONCORD report explains why the key digital trends are deeply worrying and exceptionally promising at the same time for the world at large, especially for developing countries. Key aspect of the report is to outline the main aspects for civil society in the
Read more →This week, more than 100 participants met for the EFC Grantmakers East Forum 2018 in Budapest. In the midst of discussions around shrinking civic space and failures of democracy, this year’s Forum focused on ‘Reframing Civil Society: Actors, Values, Tools’ offering a perspective on the emerging actors of ‘new civil societies’, discovering how philanthropy, social
Read more →The 7th meeting of the EU-Serbia Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) that took place in Belgrade on 23 October gave an opportunity to CSOs from both sides to examine the state of play of Serbia’s accession process. Although welcoming positive economic developments in Serbia, the JCC expressed in the joint declaration its concern about
Read more →Over the past 3 years, IDM Albania in partnership with RiskMonitor Foundation (Bulgaria) has implemented the project CIVILISC – Civil society Instruments against Corruption, funded by the EU Delegation to Albania, aiming to improve the capacities and role of civil society at promoting good governance and the fight against corruption at local level. The fight
Read more →The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs just adopted the resolutions which mark the progress made in five Western Balkan countries on their path towards possible EU accession. The Resolutions highlight three most pressing issues in the region: Visa liberalisation is vital for Kosovo; Macedonian Government is encouraged to honour Prespa name agreement with Greece; and Serbia
Read more →A new book by Natasha Wunsch examines civil society empowerment during the EU enlargement process. Building on extensive fieldwork, it compares mobilisation around rule of law issues in Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Moving beyond the traditional focus on the top-down impact of EU support, it demonstrates NGOs’ agency and analyses their shifting strategies throughout the membership
Read more →The Civil Society Programme for Albania and Kosovo is a three-year (2018-2021) programme funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pristina. The lead implementing organization of the programme is the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) with Partners Albania for Change and Development (PA) as partner organization. The
Read more →According to the report of the Conference of INGOs’ fact-finding visit to Skopje that took place from 26 to 27 March 2018, NGOs are ready to contribute to reinforce the public authorities in order to achieve progress in the democratic reforms. However, NGOs continue to have legitimate expectations towards the Government regarding its accountability, transparency
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