The beginning of the third year of the project Civil Society as a Force for Change in Serbia's EU Accession Process (CS4EU) started by gathering of partnering civil society organizations in the premises of Belgrade Open School, on 11-12th December 2018.
During the two-day training, representatives of 17 project partners had the opportunity to present their achievements and results from the previous, second year of the CS4EU project, as well as their future plans and objectives. Some of the achievements were adopted contributions to the European Commission Annual Progress Report for Serbia for 2018, a significant readership of five investigative stories and more than 240 media articles produced aimed at bringing the process of European integration closer to citizens, four reports on the state of democracy, human rights, youth policy and security and many others which contributed to a better connected and strengthened civil society in Serbia.
In addition to sharing the impressions and lessons learned from last year, there was also the opportunity for partners to talk with the media strategist and lecturer at the Faculty of Media and Communications, Lazar Dzamić. His workshop was devoted to the effective ways of communicating as civil society organizations, bearing in mind that ways of reaching citizens and calling for action and participation are changing at a high speed, especially when it comes to social networks and online communication. During this workshop, as well as others dealing with project financial management, and individual consultations with the Belgrade Open School team, the partners had the opportunity to ask questions related to personal, concrete examples and to reach the answers through common experience and expertise from all partners and lecturers.
Partner organizations which have continued to cooperate on the project and received institutional support in the third year are:
1. Užice Child Rights Centre
2. Tijana Juric Foundation
3. National Coalition for Decentralization
4. Mental Disability Rights Initiative of Serbia– MDRI-S
5. Movement of Free Tenants and Owners Of Private Buildings
6. RES Foundation
7. Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia
8. Podrinje Anti-Corruption Team
9. Educational Center – Kruševac
10. National Youth Council of Serbia
11. Novi Sad School of Journalism
12. Centre for Contemporary Politics - European Western Balkans
13. Southern News (Južne Vesti)
14. Centre for Investigative Journalism Serbia – CINS
15. Independent Journalists Association of Serbia
16. Women’s Forum Prijepolje
17. Consumer Protection – Consumer Advisor
Partners will continue to work in areas of the rule of law, environmental protection, youth policies and media, and Belgrade Open School will aim to, through the support of Sweden and CS4EU programme, continue to provide adequate financial support, as well as expert support through organization of relevant training and study visits.
