Global Development and the Role of Civil Society Organizations of the Western Balkan

The Second National Meeting of NGOs from Serbia dedicated to networking organizations interested in international development cooperation and global development

Belgrade, 25 – 26 April 2017. – Event organized by Civic Initiatives took place at Human Right House Belgrade. This meeting gathered members of 12 CSOs. Present organizations were: Cartas Serbia, Belgrade Open School, Education center of Sombor, Center for youth work, Protecta, Timok club, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Helsinki Committee for Human Right, Young Explorers of Serbia, ISAC found, People’s parliament, Forca Požega.

The first-day session was opened by Đurđa Đukić Program Coordinator for Civil Society Development from Civic Initiatives. Ms. Đukić announced the first-panel speaker Ms. Bojana Todorović from Ministry of Transport, Telecommunications and Tourism, and a member of Serbia negotiation team for the EU accession process. She spoke of the position of Serbia in the negotiation process, and she said that government is ready to open this chapter and fulfill their responsibilities till 2018. Mr. Igor Stojilović from Center for Youth Development who did a campaign for global education with Ministry of youth and sports. He presented the importance of global education and showed examples of good practice in Serbia and benefits of global education for the whole world, not just local communities. Mr. Gordan Bosanac from CroSol platform association was the last speaker of the panel for that day. He talked about the situation in Croatia after entering EU. He gave some good examples of work of CSOs in Croatia on the field of global education. Jovana Perkućin from ISAC found opened the second-day session with subject “Process of negotiation of chapter 30”. She talked about the essence of development help and why is important for Serbia to adapt – form part where she gets help to a donor of help. Professor Dr. Slobodan Cvejić from SeCons who presented Sustainable development in Serbia.  Sustainable development means that country take care of limited resources, and interconnection of the economy, society, culture, ecosystem and the right of new generations to live in decent conditions.

Participants got a chance to share their opinions and attitudes about this issue in Serbia, and to set their next move as CSOs to set agenda in public space and force policymakers to rethink their way of work.