NGO Connection
March 11- March 16, 2001
A project of the Open Society Fund's East East Project
Open Society Fund Praha and The Fund for an Open Society Yugoslavia
Photos from the project
The Goal of Project NGO COnnection
To share ideas on regional cooperation and the role of NGOs in a successful transition to democracy by creating a bridge between Czech and Serbian NGO representatives.
Objectives
--To hold 4 round table discussions in Serbia focused on the mistakes and successes
that have been made by Czech NGOs in the past 10 years in the Czech Republic.
--To share the situation of Serbian NGOs with the NGO community in Prague through
a roundtable discussion and the publication of topic papers written by the 5
representatives from Czech NGOs.
--To introduce 5 Czech NGO representatives to Serbian NGO representatives in
4 Serbian cities in order to discuss the possibility of regional cooperation
between Serbia and the Czech Republic.
Project Description
5 representatives from Czech NGOs visited Belgrade, Kragujevac, Nis and Novi
Sad. The representatives spent one day in each of the cities. In the morning
of each day the group visited with Serbian NGO representatives in their offices
in order to get a better understanding of the capacity of Serbian NGOs. In the
afternoon of each day the Czech representatives participated in a round table
discussion held by the local administration or the hosting partner. The topic
of the round tables were the successes and mistakes in the NGO community in
the Czech Republic in the past 10 years, 'Are there any lessons that the Czechs
would pass on to the Serbs?' NGOs in the city were invited to attend the roundtable
discussions.
On May 17th a roundtable discussion will be held in Prague at the Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise (16:00). The participants of the trip to Serbia will be the speakers at the roundtable, and NGO representatives from other Prague based NGOs will be invited to attend. The speakers will address the situation of NGOs in Serbia and will offer to put interested Czechs in contact with Serbian NGOs.
Each of the Czech NGO representatives that travelled to Serbia is being asked to write a short topic paper on 1) the lessons that can be translated into the Serbian situation, or 2) the possibility of regional cooperation between Czech and Serbian NGOs. The topic papers will be translated into Czech and English and distributed to Czech and Serbian NGOs and to international organizations. These papers will be introduced at the Prague roundtable.
Particpants from the Czech Republic and organizing partners in Serbia
Database of NGOs contacted in Serbia
Opinion papers from Czech NGO Representatives