Tag: TACSO

EU Civil Society Forum 2024

Posted on by Milutin

Registration are now open for the 2024 EU – Civil Society Forum for the Western Balkans and Türkiye!

The Forum will take place from 11 to 13 June 2024 at the Hotel Mona Plaza in Belgrade, Serbia. It will also be accessible online.

This year’s Forum will be on the theme of the new momentum for EU enlargement. It will be an opportunity to connect with colleagues from civil society, the European Union, government officials and international partners, to debate and to be inspired.

The agenda includes the following sessions:

  • The EU and civil society in the Western Balkans – the Growth Plan and new momentum for EU enlargement;
  • Launch of the second Assessment against the DG NEAR Guidelines for EU Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement region, for 2023;
  • A World Café session for topics proposed by conference delegates;

The number of delegates in person is limited to 150, including representatives from civil society, government officials, international partners working with civil society, and European Union institutions.

The EU Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey (TACSO) encourages all delegates to contribute to the discussion, to work together to find common solutions to current and future challenges, and to come with a “mandate” to represent constituencies or members.

If you are interested to participate, please apply online through the following link>>>.

In your application, you will have a chance to propose topics for the Forum agenda – TACSO encourages you to include the topics you think would benefit from discussion at the Forum.

The EU TACSO 3 project is able to financially support the participation of up to 65 representatives who are based in the region but outside of Belgrade. Financial support will be provided on the following basis:

  • Applicants represent a constituency of citizens and/or civil society organisations;
  • Applicants are not in receipt of current EU funding of more than EUR 700,000;
  • Selection of supported applicants will be representative of the geography of the region and of the various communities within the region.

Applicants who are not eligible for financial assistance are nevertheless encouraged to apply to participate.

The closing date for registration is 8 May.

 

Strategy documents commented

Posted on by Milutin

Last two months, the strategy documents, prepared with the support of the TACSO 3 Strategic Mentoring Programme by the external expert Nenad Čelarević, were on consultations at the DPNSEE member organisations.

We shall summarise the comments and proposals to the DPNSEE Strategic Platform and DPNSEE Communication Strategy and prepare final drafts that will be offered for adoption at the DPNSEE General Assembly, planned for March 2020.

The strategy review process was suppoeted by the TACSO 3 Strategic Mentoring Programme, a part of EU TACSO 3 Capacity Development and People to People (P2P) Programme.

 

The Role of the Civil Society in the EU Accession Process

Posted on by Milutin

In the framework of the EU-funded Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in Western Balkans and Turkey (EU TACSO 3) project, we are pleased to invite you to participate in the P2P on-line event under the title: “The Role of the Civil Society in the EU Accession Process” that will take place on 25 and 26 October 2021.

This event is organised in cooperation with the European Policy Institute (EPI) from North Macedonia and the Think for Europe Network (TEN).

Aiming to discuss the needs for improved CSO inclusion in the EU accession process and IPA programming and particularly to share the current practices, a regional P2P event will be organised. The purpose of the event is threefold:

  • To discuss the importance of CSOs involvement in the EU accession process and IPA (III) programming;
  • To share challenges and to learn about upcoming potential changes in the EU accession process;
  • To learn from best practice examples.

The four main topics of discussion will include:

  • General overview of the mechanisms for CSOs involvement in the EU accession process
  • Mechanisms for CSO involvement in the IPA programming structures
  • Key challenges for meaningful CSO engagement in the EU accession process
  • Challenges posed by the new methodology for accession in terms of the role of CSOs in EU accession

The on-line event will gather up to 60 CSOs, public institutions representatives and experts, mainly those who are members of various platforms for CSO inclusion in the EU accession process in the enlargement region.

If you are interested in attending the P2P event, please register at the following link>>> until Thursday, 21 October till 15:00 hrs CET.

The event’s official language is English, with simultaneous translation provided in Albanian, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Turkish.

The Zoom link to join the event, along with the agenda and other details, will be sent to all registered participants prior to the event.

 

Strategy Framework document drafted

Posted on by Milutin

At its meeting held from 16 to 18 September 2021, the DPNSEE Board had a very interesting and fruitful session with TACSO consultant Nenad Čelarević on Strategy review. Basis for the discussion was the draft strategic framework document prepared by the Working Group on Strategy Review.

The outcome of the session is the document that will be shared with the DPNSEE member organisations for consultations and proposals. In addition, severfal ideas for the draft DPNSEE Communications Strategy were generated. The consultant will process them and prepare the draft that will also be shared with the member organisations for consultations.

 

Working group on Strategy review

Posted on by Milutin

As part of the TACSO 3 supported Strategic Mentoring Programme, a DPNSEE working group on Strategy review, comprised of young people who participated in design of the current Strategy, had a meeting with the external consultant Nenad Čelarević.

DPNSEE is supported by TACSO 3 to review the network’s Strategy and develop the Public Relations and Communication strategy.

Result of the meeting is the draft strategy document that will be discussed at the DPNSEE Board meeting and then circulated to the member organisations for consultations.

 

Grassroots Organisations at the Forefront of Community Solidarity Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Posted on by Milutin

EU TACSO 3 project, in cooperation with Trag Foundation from Serbia, are organising an on-line P2P event under the title “One Year On: Grassroots Organisations at the Forefront of Community Solidarity Response to COVID-19 Pandemic”. The exchange is being organized as a follow-up to the EU TACSO 3 Regional Meet-up on Emergency Response from June 2020. The aim is to complement the discussion on the consequences on civil society and society in general and how to deal with post-crisis patterns in the future. The two-day on-line P2P event will provide space for peer-to-peer learning and joint exploration of local community solutions and common challenges during COVID-19 and other complex crises in reflecting the practical developments and responses by CSOs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specific objectives of the event are to:

  • Summarise and present activities undertaken by EU TACSO 3 and other civil society actors in response to COVID-19 pandemic;
  • Discuss the lessons learned during the first spike of the COVID-19 pandemic to better coordinate and inform the community response and grassroots actions in future situations of crisis;
  • Contribute to building community resilience;
  • Open space for discussing challenges and future CSOs strategies for solidarity response in complex crises.

During the event, Trag foundation evaluation on their small grant support programme to 61 organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia during the COVID-19 pandemic that provides insights on how to support local communities in the post-COVID-19 pandemic circumstances.  Supported CSOs from local communities from the three countries as well as CSOs from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Turkey with similar experience will spotlight their experience on positive examples of grass-root response to COVID-19.

The three main topics of discussion will include:

  • CSOs as essential social service providers during COVID-19: When the global pandemic hit and lockdown measures were introduced, CSOs were crucial in providing support to vulnerable groups when the institutions were either closed or slow to adapt to the ongoing needs of beneficiaries in the system of social care (persons with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, Roma, elderly etc.).
  • Activating community solidarity: grassroots organisations mobilising community resources for immediate relief during the COVID-19 crisis: Many community organisations were very successful in mobilising resources and volunteers to help relief of the direct damaging effects of the COVID-19 crisis. They were quicker to gather and distribute support to those most in need and provide different healthcare resources.
  • Is the future of activism on-line? Discussion of on-line community organising challenges and opportunities: Adopting the new normal has left grassroots organisations with mixed feelings. Some feel that authentic activism and community organising could not be done on-line, while in some cases, on-line events have brought new audiences and more accessibility to high-level speakers/ guests.

The event will take place on-line on Wednesday, 9 and Thursday, 10 June 2021

The event is mainly targeted to the CSOs representative and community-based organisations from the Western Balkan and Turkey.

If you are interested in attending the P2P event, please register until Monday, 7 June till 15:00 hrs CET following this link>>>.

TACSO supports DPNSEE Strategy review

Posted on by Milutin

DPNSEE is among 10 selected civil society organisations (CSOs) from the Western Balkans and Turkey Region for the Strategic Mentoring Programme. The Programme is a part of EU TACSO 3 Capacity Development and People to People (P2P) Programme. It enables interested and qualified organisations to get an in-depth mentoring support to improve areas of their work according to their needs and in line with EU TACSO 3 project priorities.

In total, forty-three (43) requests were received as the response on the EU TACSO 3 open call out of which ten (10) are allocated mentoring support. During the assessment process, the quality of applications, types of organisations as well as geographical and thematical coverage were taken into consideration.

The Strategic mentoring support is composed of targeted hands-on capacity development support to selected CSOs, tailored to individual organisations and pragmatic resulting in concrete outcomes. Support includes assessments, meetings and consultations, workshops and support in development of concrete documents (i.e. plans, strategies, internal procedures and documentation etc.).

DPNSEE have applied for support to review the network’s Strategy and develop the Public Relations and Communication Strategy. The Strategic Mentoring support will be implemented until November 2021.

 

Building Awareness for CSO’s Work

Posted on by Milutin

EU TACSO 3, for the needs and in cooperation with the DG NEAR, would like to hear from civil society and make visible their efforts to the wider public through publishing success stories of their work being done in influencing (national/local) sectorial policy dialogue(s). The concept is to collect success stories that can be quoted as successful examples of cooperation between either EU, regional, national or local institutions with civil society.

The objective of publishing the success stories is to give the possibility to civil society to share stories of their work in supporting their community to the wider public. CSOs are one of the most vibrant fabrics of our societies and their continued support is essential for countries to develop and respond to the unprecedented challenges of our time.

Broad areas that can be taken into account for submitting inputs include:

  • Awareness raising for the need for policy dialogue;
  • Building awareness of CSO work;
  • Capacity building of CSO’s to engage in policy dialogue;
  • Capacity building of state actors and civil servants to engage in policy dialogue;
  • Development of civil dialogue mechanisms.

The deadline for submitting success stories is 15 January 2021.

DPNSEE invites member organisations and other civil society partners from the region to share their success stories.

To read more, follow this link>>>.

Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey (TACSO) is a regional project funded by the European Union (EU) that improves capacities and strengthens the role of civil society organizations (CSOs). The project assists CSOs to actively take part in democratic processes in the region, and it also stimulates an enabling environment for civil society and pluralistic media development.