News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The European Civic Days are a unique space for civic actors to share ideas and experiences, to take stock of political, institutional and social challenges facing Europe today and envision ways forward. This year’s forum brought together prominent CSO representatives and activists to discuss examples coming particularly from civic mobilisations from Central and Eastern Europe
Read more →The EU-Western Balkans Civil Society Forum is a biannual event organised in a country of the region and provides a unique opportunity to bring together a broad range of civil society representatives from the two regions. The next Forum will take place on 10 and 11 July 2017 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main
Read more →As part of its better regulation agenda, the European Commission has created a website where citizens and stakeholders can track and give feedback on major Commission initiatives at different stages of the legislative and policy-making process. By registering on the website, interested parties can share their views on: roadmaps and inception impact assessments, which set
Read more →BCSDN members and civil society experts will gather in Skopje on the 21st of June to discuss best practices as well as challenges in the role of CSOs in protecting and promoting of civic space. The aim of the conference is to reaffirm the value of civil society action in Macedonia and the region, and
Read more →The year 2016 is marked by rising deadly terrorist attacks in major cities and elsewhere, making security situation increasingly turbulent throughout Turkey. A state of emergency was declared by the National Parliament on 21 July, 2016, three months following the failed army coup attempt to overthrow the government. This unforeseen incident worsened the relations between
Read more →On 29-31 May, 2017, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation organized the second Research Partners Workshop within the project CIVICUS Monitor: Tracking Civic Space, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gathering representatives of 17 regional civil society networks working on enabling environment for civil society development issues, including Sanja Bogatinovska, BCSDN’s Junior Policy and
Read more →As the UN assesses the implementation of its 2030 Agenda for Development, including its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the estimated funding needs keep skyrocketing—from the initial millions and billions to trillions of dollars annually. According to the President of the General Assembly, SDG financing, including the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, is going
Read more →The new BiEPAG policy study has shown that the state of democracy and freedom has been backsliding or stagnating in the countries of the Western Balkans over the past decade. Through exploring the signs of democratic regression across the region, this document underlines that concepts such as “illiberal democracy” or “competitive authoritarianism” are in the
Read more →The links between measures that fight financing of terrorism and civic space are not known widely. This report examines the impact of international counterterrorism frameworks on the work of CSOs. In particular, it explains the role of the Financial Action Task Force in setting international standards that affect the way in which CSOs are regulated
Read more →Conectas Human Rights and the Fund for Global Human Rights invites contributions in the form of articles, case studies and institutional reflections for the 26th edition of the Sur International Journal on Human Rights, to be published in December 2017. The special edition will focus on the responses to the crackdown on civil society currently
Read more →On the 13th of June, in Belgrade, Serbia, DevelopmentAid will host the International Cooperation and Development Forum 2017. All the main stakeholders involved in the development sphere in Serbia and the region, such as USAID, the UN, Global Compact, EIB, EBRD, JICA and SDC, alongside successful private sector companies, will be joining together to discuss
Read more →The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) is seeking applications for its Development Leaders Scholarship 2017 to build essential infrastructure, strengthen social services delivery and promote productivity, competitiveness and trade. This year OFID will sponsor 16 young leaders (including five Colombian nationals who also reside in Colombia) who are active in international development to participate
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