technical assistance for civil society organisations kosovo office this project is funded by the...

Technical Assistance for Civil Society OrganisationsKosovo Office This project is funded

by the European Union.

TACSO Kosovo Office • Fazli Grajqevci 4/a •10000 Prishtina • 038 220 517•045 266 265• [email protected]

SIPU International AB Sweden • Civil Society Promotion Centre Bosnia and Herzegovina • Human Resources Development Foundation TurkeyFoundation in Support of Local Democracy Poland • Partners Foundation for Local Development Romania

CSO Sustainability & EU Integration process

TACSO perspective Belgrade, 23-25 march 2011

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General objective of TACSO project is to strengthen overall capacities and accountability of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) within the IPA beneficiaries and to guarantee the quality of services of CSOs and a sustainable role of the CSOs in the democratic process.

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“Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles“.

Abbie Hoffman

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Civil society has a key role in democratic public life and should be actively involved in political, social and economic reforms. The Commission places high priority in supporting further growth of their activities.

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Commission Communications on the “Western Balkans” (2006) and on “Civil Society Dialogue in Candidate Countries” (2005): emphasising the importance of relationship between CSOs from Europe and the region.

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Enlargement Strategy Papers: reflect the commitments by the European Commission to improve the quality of enlargement process by emphasising fundamental issues such as civil society development and people-to-people contacts within the region and with the EU.

2007: Launch of the Civil Society Facility

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Role of the CSOs in EU integration process:

In relation with the public- Disseminating information and educating the public about the integration process;

In relation with the government – Participating in drafting legislation, polices and implementation process;

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In relation with the European Commission- Contribution in preparation of the country’s EC progress report and other dialogues such as SAP dialogue, serving as valuable resource for measuring the development indicators;

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European Commission continuously urges

countries to improve the participation of civil society in policy dialogue and to make a better use of civil society expertise

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• In July 2010, Kosovo hosted the plenary SAPD meeting and TACSO facilitated the first SAPD civil society dialogue meeting, which was co-chaired by the European Economic and Social Committee.

• Conclusion: to continue this process and also conduct sectorial and more focused consultations with civil society in the areas that are subject of the progress report.

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Justice, Freedom, Security, Innovation, Information Society, Social Policy, Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Food Safety, Transport, Environment, Energy, Regional Development, Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation, Internal Market, Competition, Consumer and Health Protection, Economic and Financial Issues, Statistics ..

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…..are topics of the dialogue between EC and civil society in Kosovo being developed since the beginning of 2011.

A good practice hopefully productive and to be followed by the government as well!

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To carry out this role successfully, besides the external enabling environment CSOs need to have:

•Institutional sustainability; •Financial sustainability and provide

•Quality Services;

…issues to be also addressed in this conference..

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TACSO approach:Capacity building program- regional trainings on:

EU funding;EU project development;CSO management;Citizens’ participation in decision making processes; Advocacy and lobbying.

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• Conference on Quality Assurance Systems for CSOs, Zagreb;

• Cooperation between Local Self–Governments and CSOs, Podgorica;

• CSO sustainability in IPA countries, Belgrade;• Strategic planning-Future Search Workshop,

Istanbul.

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Other features:

• LAGs; • TACSO website- regional and national pages; • Reports- Needs Assessments; • TACSO manuals; • Country TA desks; • Help desk service….

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Indicators of TACSO impact Macedonia: national training on CSO management resulted in

preparing strategic plans for 8 CSOs with an average of 5 years experience that never had a strategic plan before.

…more than 60% of the beneficiaries of TACSO support are grass root organisations…

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Serbia: as a result of TACSO support to CSOs in applying for call Support to Civil Society -IPA National Nr. of applications was 278 compared to 184 in the previous call;

Regional multi beneficiary projects – CSOs from Serbia are part of implementation in 25 out of 32 regional projects ….

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Croatia:

as an outcome of participation in TACSO regional trainings, using smartly partnership and networking opportunities 2 CSOs from Croatia successfully established partnerships with CSOs from the region implementing together projects from Socio Economic Partnership call….

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Albania: TACSO supported CSOs in applying for Civic Initiative and Capacity Building call – IPA National Nr. of applications increased to 69 compared to 10Out of this 9 contractors were selected and 6 of them beneficiaries of the TACSO training programme…

EIDHR 2010/2011- 120 applications – 2 phases ….

Regional projects – 1 CSO from Albania is a Lead Applicant , beneficiary of TACSO trainings….

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BiH: preliminary results of survey on TACSO impact:

- 32 out of 80 CSOs – received PADOR registration , 30% applied for EU funds, 20% other funds;

- 52 out of 66 CSOs –attended the training on EU application – 9 submitted proposals to EU, 18 to other donors;

- QAS national conference- attended by 180 CSOsYouth CSOs- requested Quality Assessment tools

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Kosovo:

EIDHR 2009/2010 call -89 applications compared to 23 7 wining projects, all of them beneficiaries of the TACSO trainings, absorbing 99% of the available funds;

As a result of QAS conference one CSO started application of the quality assurance standards;Support to 96 CSOs- doing PADOR registration

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Montenegro- -2 NGOs from Montenegro and 2 from Albania

established partnership as result of the joint cross border event- now implemnting projects in Cross Border cooperation programme;

as e result of consultative meeting related to monitoring of EU projects-14 out of 16 NGOs introduced monitoring action plan as tool for succesful projects implementation

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Turkey – hard to speak with numbers BUT TACSO office will potentially facilitate the process of

reviewing the Constitution of the country, ensuring high democratic standards and greater civic participation;

Facilitated the International Congress of Handicapped persons, fostering partnerships and networking beyond goals of the congress …

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TACSO 2continuation of what we are doing and focus on:

Policy Issues, a mediator to facilitate the cooperation between Government and CSOs in all the levels ….. always meeting the specific needs of our beneficiaries what indeed is the most crucial element of this regional project with the permanent objective to…..

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strengthen the civil society within a participative democracy;

stimulate a civil society-friendly environment and culture;

strengthen the overall capacities and accountability of Civil Society Organizations within IPA beneficiaries;

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guarantee the quality of service of CSOs and a sustainable role of the CSOs in the democratic process.

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Thank You for your attention!

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technical assistance for civil society organisations kosovo office this project is funded by the...

Documents

civil society dialogue

european union

technical assistance

democracy crumbles

democratic process

key role

sustainable role

democratic public life