The EU Delegation to Serbia launched a new call for proposals for civil society organisations and now held an info session during this week for interested organisations. The EU-funded call for proposals worth € 4,8 million, aims at empowering civil society in Serbia to actively participate in decision making by further stimulating an enabling an environment for civil society, in view of strengthening Serbia’s EU integration process.
Specifically, this call will further strengthen the overall capacity of civil society via an EU National Resource Centre throughout Serbia by regional presence where and as relevant. It will also increase the capacities of grassroots and informal groups for advocacy and monitoring of reforms and Serbia’s EU integration process through flexible financial support to developing CSOs and informal groups. It will put focus on strengthening under-developed civil society in specific sectors and assisting to the transformation of informal groups into organised CSOs.
On this occasion, Emanuele Giaufret, EU Ambassador to Serbia, stated: “Democracy is stronger when civil society is strong and able to strengthen transparency and accountability of public authorities; and promotes active engagement of the citizens within their communities for inclusive and participatory processes. I am very proud the EU will continue to support Serbian civil society and contribute to making it more effective and sustainable. An empowered civil society is a crucial component of any democratic system and should be recognised and treated as such by all stakeholders, including state institutions.”
The Ambassador also pointed out that recent reports about a decline in funding for CSOs were false. The opposite was true as demonstrated by the present call for proposals, the highest ever launched. “The EU provides opportunities for those working or human rights, environmental protection and who contribute to building democracy and rule of law.”
Following a steady increase in the longer-term, the annual EU contribution will reach to € 5.5million amounting to a total EU contribution of € 17million for a 3 years period to civil society in Serbia. This assistance will be provided through a mix of funding modalities to respond to specific needs of different types of CSOs’ in terms of size, levels of capacity and geographic presence.
There will be continued out-reach to smaller organisations, in particular through financial support to developing CSOs and third parties and flexible support mechanisms.
The complete call for proposals can be found under this link:
