On November 21, 2019 the Belgrade Open School (BOS), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), presented awards for the best change makers in Serbian civic advocacy over the past year. The awards presented as part of the Annual Conference on Strategic Advocacy in Civic Engagement. The conference discussed civic engagement in Serbia and local advocacy initiatives supported through the Civil Society Advocates project. After opening remarks from Vesna Djukic, General Director, Belgrade Open School and ShanleyPinchotti, Director of the Office of Democratic Governance and Economic Growth, USAID Mission to Serbia award ceremony begin.

These awards are meant to highlight the most inspiring and successful advocacy campaigns and provide encouragement to others to work for positive changes in their own communities. There were five award categories:

1. Change through collaboration (best cooperation between public authorities and civil society organizations) - Committee for Human Rights (Odbor za ljudska prava Niš) for the initiative “Zajedno za pristupačnost”;

2. Citizen voice (campaign that mobilized the most citizens around a cause) - Local communities of Stara Planina (Savez mesnih zajednica Stare Planine) for the initiative “NE za MHE”;

3. Advocacy by a non-formal group - Art festival “Reconstruction”;

4. Excellence in advocacy at the national level - Friends of Children Serbia and The Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia; and

5. Excellence in advocacy at the local level - Women of the South and women’s organization “Lav”.

For most inspiring and successful advocacy campaigns which brought positive changes in the local community, for their contribution were also special awarded: group “Izadji” for contributing to the development of tolerance in society and for organizing the first Pride in Novi Sad, Group "Inđijativa" for their initiative građanIN for contribution of young people to local community development, environmental movement "Okvir života" local community as guardian of agro biodiversity: first local seed bank in Serbia for innovation and Urban guerrilla from Nis for creativity.

Results of the research on the analysis of the capacity of civil society organizations in Serbia for advocacy activities were also presented on conference and now are available on the website Javno zagovaranje (www.javnozagovaranje.bos.rs).

This activity is part of the Civil Society Advocates: Through Partnership Towards Democratic Development in Serbia project, funded by USAID, and implemented by Belgrade Open School, in partnership with the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN). This three-year initiative, launched in November 2018, is helping to improve civil society advocacy practices to more effectively engage and articulate citizens’ needs and problems.