Germanwatch travelled to Northern Macedonia together with three partner organisations. On site, we learned that an open-cast lignite mine can become a solar park, how small businesses are revolutionising the electricity supply and why cross-border cooperation is particularly important for the energy transition in the Western Balkans. A travel report.

The European Forum within the project "Virtual Internships for Inclusive Societies" gathered together 60 representatives of civil society organizations from Serbia, Macedonia, Italy, and Spain, representatives of the public sector as well as young people. The event was held on September 26th and 27th.

Young people in NEET status, i.e. those not in education, employment, or training, are becoming an increasingly important topic on the agendas of decision-makers and career practitioners, and various structures that provide support for employment, self-employment, or some other career options.

Within the first cycle of the Learn.Mobilize.Participate support program the Belgrade Open School team organized a three-day training session in Sabac for local partners, CSOs and media, which deal with the protection and improvement of the environment.

At the initial training organized for new program partners at the beginning of the project year, participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the financial and programmatic aspects of the program, project implementation rules, as well as learn more about communication on social media and anti-corruption measures. This three-day training also allowed partners to present their projects to each other, get to know one another, and clarify any uncertainties.

The program's implementation began with an initial meeting with partners in its first year. The initial meeting took place from 6th to 8th September 2023, in Šabac and brought together representatives from 13 civil society organizations and investigative media.

The Third National Forum within the project "Virtual Internships for an Inclusive Society" brought together over 60 youth representatives, high school teachers, youth offices, and representatives of companies from all over Serbia to analyze existing and create future models of virtual internships. The event was held on August 24 and 25.

Belgrade Open School is announcing a call for donations for the initiation of new ideas and the development of organizations, which is intended for civil society organizations.

Belgrade Open School is announcing a call for donations for immediate support of reform processes within the framework of Serbia's accession to the European Union, which is intended for civil society organizations.

The Commission of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue – formed for the selection of civil society organizations for membership in the Council for the creation of a stimulating environment for the development of civil society – conducted the selection of candidates for membership in the Council and will propose 11 members (and 11 deputy members) with the most votes to the Government of Serbia for this body.

As part of the „Virtual Internships for Inclusive Societies “project, the second team partner meeting was held in Skopje on the 3rd and 4th of July.

The Belgrade Open School, in cooperation with the Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI), organized the second in a series of Green Talks on the topic of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).

The EU Resource Center for Civil Society in Serbia presented its activities at the "EU Opportunity Week", organized from June 21 to 26 in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš.

The content disseminated by domestic media frequently fail to respond to the needs and interests of youth, and when they report on youth, negative perspective is predominantly adopted. This is also shown by the latest report of the National Youth Council of Serbia Youth in the media mirror 2022. This research emphasizes that the most of the of content related to young people revolves around the subject of their safety, primarily focusing on criminal activities and wrongdoings. Unfortunately, pos

In Serbia, investigative journalists have been increasingly subjected to harassment, intimidation, and violence by authorities and progovernment groups. They have faced physical attacks, smear campaigns, and punitive tax inspections.

Improving specific knowledge and skills related to dialogue with public authorities, designing, monitoring public policies, networking, and getting familiar with the practices of dialogue between CSOs and public authorities in Sweden were some of the goals of the Study Visit organized by the Belgrade Open School in partnership with the Olof Palme Center.

With the aim to involve a wider circle of organizations in the early stages of drafting the National Environmental Protection Strategy, Belgrade Open School, Young Researchers of Serbia and Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute within the framework of the project Volvox - Community Strength organizes a consultative process with civil society organizations.

To strengthen the capacity of the civil sector to participate in the process of creating public policies, The Belgrade Open School, in cooperation with the Republic Secretariat for Public Policy, organized the second School of Public Policy. The school was held in Sokobanja in the period from 24th to 27th of April, 2023, where it gathered representatives of 20 civil society organizations as participants.

On Thursday, April 27th, the first National Fora was held as part of the "Virtual Practices for an Inclusive Society" project.

The Belgrade Open School, in cooperation with the Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI), organized the first in a series of Green Talks within the Civil Society for Energy Transition project.

The second warmest year in the history of measurements in Serbia, according to the data from the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute, was the year 2022, while even 7 out of 10 warmest winters in Serbia have been recorded since the beginning of this century. Decarbonization, i.e., abandoning coal and other fossil fuels as primary sources of energy production, is a priority in the fight against climate change, as fossil fuels are the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, which cause globa

The Belgrade Open School and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched five-year "Together for the Environment" project to improve environmental protection and biodiversity in Serbia. The project was opened at a conference that gathered more than 70 representative from different social sectors - public, civic and business with the aim of developing cooperation.

The Working Group for Internships continued its work in 2023 in order to implement and complete the process of passing the Law on internships started in 2021. The meeting was attended by about twenty representatives of state administration bodies, the National Employment Service, trade unions and civil society organizations. Members of the working group raised issues that have been discussed before.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with partners, has started the process of developing an Environmental Protection Strategy with an Action Plan within the EU project for the Green Agenda in Serbia. In order to make the process more transparent and with the desire to involve a wider range of organizations in the process of drafting the Strategy, on March 9, 2023, the first consultative meeting was held in Belgrade in order to give representatives of civil society organizati

The Belgrade Open School, as part of the "Virtual Practices for an Inclusive Society" project, organized an initial meeting of partners. At the two-day meeting representatives of partner organizations that will participate in the implementation of the project were present: Association XANO Channel from Spain, Cultural Society Pixel from Italy, National Youth Council of Macedonia, Junior Achievement (Belgium) and Youth Achievements in Serbia.

To contribute to the development of social entrepreneurship, and to present its benefits as a potential for providing support to young people in the NEET situation, the Belgrade Open School implements the E4NEETs project (Strengthening support structures for young people in the NEET situation in the field of entrepreneurship).

For years now, the media scene in Serbia seems irreparable: fake news has not been rare for a long time, investigative journalists suffer enormous pressure, attacks on journalists are becoming more frequent, as well as impunity for attackers, while the media is increasingly polarized. And relevant reports testify to the unfavorable state of the media and media freedoms in our country.

We devoted the issue of the January newsletter to recapitulating the successes and failures that Serbia has made during the year 2022.

The Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) is a key document that should set the goals of the national energy and climate policy, provide a framework for the energy transition process and be an instrument for reaching the long-term goals of the EU energy and climate policy.

The interests of young people change from generation to generation. Compared to other age groups, young people consume different content and prefer modern forms of communication. In order to reach them, convey a message to them and try to exert a certain influence, we need to speak the same language, communicate through the same channels and offer them content tailored to them.

The topic of the December issue of our newsletter deals with the violation of human rights during the organization of the World Cup in Qatar, which we wrote about in the text World Cup 2022 - About football and human lives.

Why do we collaborate? For many years, the Belgrade Open School team has been continuously working on strengthening the capacities of the civil sector, and its professionalization, and establishing it as an equal actor standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the public and private sectors.

In Serbia, the Low Carbon Development Strategy, more than two years after the public discussion, was not adopted, while the Draft of the National Energy and Climate Plan does not envisage measures that would make our country carbon neutral by 2050.

In the statement of the Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) published on Tuesday, November 22, it is stated that the air in the previous days, except in Valjevo, was of good quality and appeals to citizens to contribute to the improvement of air quality by choosing environmentally friendly energy sources. Belgrade Open School considers this kind of appeal unacceptable because it represents the transfer of responsibility for air pollution from decision makers to citizens.

The Minister of Environmental Protection, Irena Vujović, stated that investment in environmental protection will remain one of the priorities in the coming period and added that in the previous two years, the most was done for cleaner air in Serbia. On the other hand, the rebalancing of the budget for 2022 reduced the total budget of the Ministry of Environmental Protection by 1.29 billion dinars.

The energy crisis and the heating season draw out the important questions on issues that require continuous, not seasonal, attention of citizens - the danger of fossil fuels and, in connection with that, finding renewable and long-term solutions. The imperative to abandon fossil fuels primarily lies in the fact that they pollute the environment, cause climate change and have limited supplies, so the issue of availability of these energy sources and dependence on energy imports from other countri

Partnership. Cooperation. Dialogue. How to improve existing mechanisms for involving civil society organizations in decision-making processes? How to actively involve citizens in the challenges that concern them? What are the challenges? What is our practice and what view of dialogue and partnership do representatives of public authorities, the academic community, civil society organizations, and citizens have? To provide answers to key questions related to socially current topics in Serbia, as

New edition of the newsletter Let's talk about negotiations is avaliable.

Are we getting further away or getting closer to the EU? Are we taking a step forward, but two steps back when it comes to Chapter 27 - the area of environmental protection and climate change? Our country's progress in Chapter 27 was discussed at the presentation of the Shadow Report for Chapter 27: One step forward, two steps back, organized by the Coalition 27.

According to last year's data from the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 3 million citizens of Serbia breathed excessively polluted air during 2020. We still don't have this Agency's official report for 2021, but we do have official data, and we can conclude that we breathed excessively polluted air in 2021 as well, and we expect that the new heating season will bring us worrying pollution again.

Belgrade Open School, with the support of the European Union delegation in Serbia, organized a three-day initial meeting within the framework of support for civil society organizations. The meeting was attended by 21 organizations that are part of the second cycle of the Dialogue of Changes project.

88th edition of newsletter "Let's talk about negotiations" is avaliable now.

In 2021/22 the ETF conducted reviews of national career development support systems in all Western Balkan countries aiming to collect facts and information about existing policy and practice. The reviews cover lifelong career guidance for all, career education, career development support for workers, including for non-standard forms of employment.

Looking into the beginning of the heating season and months in which air pollution is increased, we are organizing a panel discussion on air quality in Serbia and civil society initiatives in advocating for the solution to this problem.

According to the research conducted by National Youth Council of Serbia (NYCS), there is big gap between youth and media. Media report on youth three times more often in negative, than in positive context. It is exception rather than norm that media report on cultural content, opportunities for youth or youth activism, and it is mostly reported on youth in black chronicle segment. Even if media report on challenges or problem young people face in Serbia, it is never in depth analysis nor is this

87th edition of newsletter "Let's talk about negotiations" is avaliable now.

How exactly are environmental policies implemented? Are decisions made in a transparent way? Does the public have access to environmental information? Are we participating equally in decision making? Are those who are inducing environmental damage being punished?

Energy transition represents the process of transition from a system in which non-renewable sources are dominantly used for energy production to a system based on the use of renewable energy sources.

Climate change is one of the three primary threats to biodiversity, the others being pollution and habitat loss due to overuse of natural resources. Serbia is a country with significant biodiversity, which is endangered by numerous threats, including the effects of climate change.

Research has shown that people are very aware of environmental problems, on different levels, but they don't know how to get involved.

In the new issue of the newsletter, we wrote about the European Parliament's Resolution on Serbia and its importance for the future course of Serbia's European integration.

Belgrade Open School has prepared an online lecture on Sustainable Development Goals, namely those concerning the protection of the environment in which we live. These are the goals that tell us how to stop the galloping consequences of climate change, how to keep our seas and oceans blue, and how to stop taking from nature more than we can give back.

In order for our mission, goal and the values that we are presenting and offering to desired target group, it is necessary find the best possible way to tell our story. A story about who we are and what we want, what ideas we advocate for and what vision we follow.

During the previous three years, the Belgrade Open School, in cooperation with five universities from Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania and an organization from Greece, participated in an initiative to connect knowledge gained through research in the field of career guidance and counseling and knowledge in the field of human resources development.

The first summer issue of the newsletter Let’s talk about negotiations is dedicated to the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the positioning of Serbia between Russia and the European Union.

How do we support young people who are not employed in the education process? Can social entrepreneurship be an adequate empowerment mechanism for this group of young people? What do the counselors who work with them and who prepare them for further career steps need? These are some of the questions we are trying to answer through the activities of the project "Reinforcement of support structures for NEETs in the entrepreneurial field."

The event Green MeetUp gathered more than 90 representatives from 51 associations who discussed the main environmental problems in communities across Serbia, but also the role that citizens have in the process of environmental protection.

In Serbia, the air is officially excessively polluted in 15 cities and agglomerations. This is the assessment of air quality for 2020, which we received from the Environmental Protection Agency in September 2021. For the assessment of the air in the previous year, 2021, we will wait for September this year. What kind of air we have been breathing so far this year, we will officially find out, you guessed it, only in the fall of 2023.