The first national consultation meetings of The Global Standard for CSO Accountability will take place in: Skopje, Macedonia on the 17th of October, Prishtina, Kosovo on the 19th of October, Tirana, Albania on the 20th and Belgrade, Serbia on the 21st of October. BCSDN members and partners will be hosting the events that will organize an internal discussion with the management of the members on BCSDN own Code of Conduct. The Standard to be presented to other CSOs has been created by nine CSO accountability initiatives from across the world including the Balkan Civil Society Development Network. In times of changing role of civil society, active pressure and shrinking civic space, civil society actors need to ensure they retain their core missions, integrity, purposefulness and high levels of trust. Independent organizations are needed to act as watchdogs, ethical guardians and advocates of the marginalized or under-represented. Civil society in all its forms has an important role in holding all stakeholders, including itself, to the highest levels of accountability. The Standard aim is to connect CSOs with people, partners, supporters and donors in order to build trust and to leverage impact in times of shrinking civic space. It is a strong commitment to the public and an invitation to hold CSOs to account and get involved. The aim of these meetings is: to learn about the global CSO accountability initiatives; to participate to consultations and contribute to improving the current DRAFT 1 Standard; and to offer a possibility for CSOs to stay informed on the development of the Standard and engage CSOs in aligning your own accountability policies and codes in line with the Standard.
Source: BCSDN