The support of the Delegation of the European Union should contribute to CSOs’ sustainability in the long run.
“It is necessary to put more focus on the sustainability of your organisations, to work more on state funding, the enabling environment, local authorities, national authorities, establishing direct contacts, transfer of knowledge from civil society to the public sector and vice versa. “, stated Nicola Bertolini, Head of Cooperation in the Delegation of the European Union, at the online consultations with CSOs on the programming of the IPA III Civil Society Facility and Media for the period 2021-2023.
About 65 organisations took part in the online consultations on the ZOOM platform held on April 12, 2021, organized with the support of the Civil Society Resource Center.
Irena Ivanova from the EU Delegation informed about the purpose of the program, which is based on the EC Guidelines for support of civil society in the enlargement countries 2021-2027. The basic framework of the program includes calls for action grants, operational grants, resource centers for support of CSOs, support to the platform for sectoral dialogue, technical assistance etc.
In the discussion, as priority areas the CSOs’ representatives emphasized: support to local citizenship and activism, support for the youth and ensuring greater local youth participation, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that are complementary to our country’s accession to the EU, digital agenda and tackling the spread of hate speech, child pornography and other illegal activities on the Internet; support to local organisations in rural areas, the green agenda, the quality of education and the need for digitalization, the role of non-formal education, gender issues, transparency and accountability and a number of other thematic areas.
Nikica Kusinikova from the association “Konekt” stressed the need for two channels of support: thematic support for organisations working in various thematic areas of social development and support for the infrastructure of CSOs, support for organisations to develop in the long run.
Several organizations, as an important segment, cited regranting as an excellent opportunity to support small local organisations that in cooperation with local self-government can contribute to the development of local communities. Better coordination among donors was also proposed, as well as the need for better monitoring and measurement of the impact of the implemented projects.
On April 15, 2021, consultations were held with media organisations in order for them to contribute to the programming of EU financial support for the period 2021-2027.
“Media freedom, media ethics, investigative journalism, training and capacity building of media associations are some of the areas that will continue to receive financial support through European Union programs,” Bertolini said at the consultation.
The media organisations emphasized the need for media reform as a priority, emphasizing the domestic production and the media programs in our country. According to media organisations, it is necessary for the media to be stimulated for domestic production of educational, children’s, entertainment programs, but also documentaries as a product of investigative journalism.
After the consultations, the organisations had the opportunity to submit proposals in electronic form through the Civil Society Resource Center. Seven organisations took advantage of this opportunity and contributed to better programming of the IPA III Civil Society Facility and Media for the period 2021-2023.
