News and updates from BCSDN and the region
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
Read more →USAID published the 21st edition of their Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index (CSOSI) for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, covering developments in 24 countries in the region during 2017. Half of the countries covered reported regression in the legal environments governing their CSO sectors, though the level of CSO sustainability continues to vary widely
Read more →Foreign Policy Initiative BH, in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung BiH and BiH Foreign Trade Chamber, presented the policy analysis “European (Re)Connection of the Balkans – the Search for new Modalities of Cooperation” by Igor Kosić. The aim of the analysis was to highlight the importance of the regional cooperation of six Western Balkans countries, on the
Read more →The lack of media freedom and the pressures and threats have made it more and more difficult for journalists in the Western Balkans to work. The fall of communist Yugoslavia and the end of the one-party system was followed by a brief period of increasing freedom and the development of the media system. However, the
Read more →A new discussion paper by Ivan Nikolovski from IDSCS aims to incite a discussion between the Macedonian government and civil society over the model of inclusion of civil society in the accession talks. It elaborates the models of inclusion of CSOs in the accession negotiations of Serbia and Montenegro – two Western Balkan countries currently
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