The damaging trend of violations to civic space worldwide has not surpassed the Balkan region either. Only in 2016 the space for effective civil society development and operation in the Western Balkans and Turkey (WBT) has shaken immensely, with numerous incidents and cases of violation being reported in the countries. In times when the local trends are in fact global ones, across the world CSOs can do a lot to promote the civic space -from exchanging experiences, showing solidarity and building broad coalitions, to using new technologies and using international leverage.
BCSDN developed a paper based on the discussions and the local efforts and experiences in countering/promoting civic space from the region shared at the regional conference “The Role of CSOs in Promoting Civic Space”, organized by BCSDN on 21 June 2017 in Skopje, with the support of Civica Mobilitas.
We hope it will inspire other CSOs, formal or informal civic initiative in the countries, the region or globally, to take affirmative action in promoting civic space where they operate, and for donors to rethink their funding strategies. It is time we reimagined democracy!
The paper is available in English and in Macedonian language.