What's New

News and updates from BCSDN and the region

CfA: Event Reclaiming Our Wellbeing – Conversations Rooted in Context, Care, and Collective Power (Date: 28 October 2025)

Short Description: In a time when civic action faces growing pressures, this session explores what decolonised wellbeing truly means—moving beyond dominant frameworks to embrace indigenous, spiritual, and collective approaches to healing and resilience. Target Group: Activists, engaged citizens, and civil society participants who are interested in exploring wellbeing, resilience, and decolonised approaches to healing. Countries:

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CfA: Regional Youth Leadership Mobility Programme (RYLMP) 2025–2026 (Deadline: 31 October 2025)

Short Description: The Regional Youth Leadership Mobility Programme invites young professionals, researchers, and activists from Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia to join a year-long programme combining mentorship, training, regional mobility, and cross-border policy advocacy. Target Group: Young professionals, researchers, and activists aged 21–30 with citizenship and residency in Albania, North Macedonia, or Serbia, including Master’s

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CfA: Event Global Perspectives 2025 – Towards a Thriving Civil Society in Times of Uncertainty (Date: 18-20 November 2025)

Short Description: Global Perspectives 2025, the Centre’s annual flagship conference, will bring together civil society leaders, experts, and practitioners from around the world to explore how the sector can remain resilient, collaborative, and innovative in times of crisis. Target Group: Civil society leaders, activists, researchers, donors, and practitioners interested in collaboration, innovation, and civic resilience.

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“Resilient Voices – Western Balkans Civil Society in a Changing World” Conference Concludes in Tirana

The Regional Conference “Resilient Voices: Western Balkans Civil Society in a Changing World”, co-hosted by BCSDN and Partners Albania, concluded successfully on October 1, 2025, in Tirana. The event gathered civil society representatives, policymakers, institutional actors, and donors from across the Western Balkans and the European Union. The conference addressed the sector’s challenges and opportunities,

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New BCSDN Research on Donor Landscape Warns of ‘Critical Juncture’ for Western Balkans CSOs

BCSDN announces the upcoming release of its new policy research, “Donor Support, Civic Space, and the Future of Civil Society in the Western Balkans,” highlighting that independent civil society is both “indispensable and endangered” in the region. The research unpacks shifting priorities, funding modalities, and approaches to strengthening civic space in a time of geopolitical

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Berlin Process Civil Society Forum 2025: Civil Society is Still Here, but Struggling

On September 23, in Podgorica, the Berlin Process’s Civil Society Forum brought together civil society actors from across the Western Balkans ahead of the annual Berlin Proces, aiming to finalize key policy recommendations in the six policy areas: Common Regional Market and Growth; Gender and Diversity; Reconciliation and Dealing with the Past; Environment, Energy and Decarbonisation; Security;

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Serbia: Dangerous Proposal to Amend the Criminal Code

The Serbian government is proposing an amendment to Article 290 of the Criminal Code, which would effectively criminalize road blockades and carry a potential penalty of imprisonment. The change removes the requirement that an obstruction must endanger life or property to be an offense, meaning halting transport services contrary to regulations is now sufficient for prosecution. Civil society

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Serbia’s Student Protests and the Struggle for Democracy

A new article by researchers Gresa Hasa and Lura Pollozhani critically examines Serbia’s ongoing student-led mobilizations, described as the largest since 2000. The authors argue that the movement has exposed systemic corruption and fostered democratic practices and solidarity, yet also faces significant constraints. They point to the regime’s reliance on violence, elite loyalty, and external

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Albania: Legal Analysis of the Draft Penal Code

Criminal defamation and insult provisions in Albania’s draft Penal Code have raised serious concerns over potential threats to freedom of expression and media independence. During the 10th Thematic Working Group on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists, the Center Science and Innovation for Development (SCiDEV) presented its independent legal analysis of the draft code,

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Handbook on EU Enlargement: Legal Basis, Institutional Procedures and Current Dynamics

EU enlargement continues to be one of the European Union’s most powerful instruments for shaping the future of the continent. Rooted in the Treaty on European Union and guided by the Copenhagen Criteria, enlargement is conditional and merit-based, relying on the commitment of candidate countries to implement reforms while navigating a complex institutional framework that

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Overview of Bilateral Research and Innovation Cooperation Between the Western Balkans and EU Member States

International research and innovation cooperation has become a strategic pillar for strengthening research and innovation ecosystems in the Western Balkans, the EU Member States and beyond. By connecting researchers, institutions and governments across borders, this cooperation facilitates knowledge exchange, builds institutional capacity, and fosters scientific progress that no country could achieve alone. Bilateral partnerships in

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