A project funded and supported by the Freedom House, Budapest
A project funded and supported by the Freedom House, Budapest
Project RCR consisted of 3 meetings of NGOs: 1 in Prague, 1 in Budapest and 1 in Sofia. During these meetings, NGOs from Kosova, Montenegro and Serbia were introduced to indigenous NGOs that deal in similar fields. The goal of the project was 2 fold: to create an information exchange between the NGO representatives from Kosova, Montenegro and Serbia, and secondly to create projects of regional cooperation between NGOs in these three regions and NGOs in the host country. Below you will find a listing of projects suggested which will develop regional cooperation and a listing of NGOs participating in the project. If you have any questions regarding the structure, format or evaluations of Project RCR please contact Program Manager Megan King at the Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise. If you wish to join the informal network that RCR has become please send information about your NGO (type of projects, mission statement, contact person) to Megan at CDFE.
Thank you.
Megan KingProgram Managermeganking@cdfe.cztel/fax: 00420-2-22212336
Pictures from Study Trips to Prague and Budapest
Projects Suggested :
Kragujevac Calling Prague
Part 1: A group of 3-5 Czech artists will travel to Kragujevac for 3-5 days. NGO Millenium will organize an exhibition and a series of lectures and talks to be given on the status of modern art in the Czech Republic and other Central European countries. These lectures will focus on what makes Czech art specifically Czech. CDFE will use the contacts of the cultural center Pro-Aero to approach FAMU (the art faculty of Charles University) in order to find to most representative artists for the project.
Part 2: A group of artists from Kragujevac will travel to Pro-Aero in Prague for 2 days of programming. The artists will include musicians and visual artists. The visual artists will be on display for the duration of the program. Pro-Aero will arrange for Serbian movies to be shown leading up to the visit from Kragujevac, and the visit will be presented as a festival of modern Serbian culture.
Regional Cooperation for the Future
Part 1: A series of roundtables will be held in both Kragujevac and in Podgorica. The participants of each of the roundtables will come from both Montenegro and from Serbia. These roundtables will focus on:
- Cooperation of the Civil Sector
- Economic Cooperation
- Regionalism as a Future
The lecturers of these round tables will be local NGOs for the first one, economic experts from G17 for second one, and coalition Sumadija for the third one. The purpose of this project is improvement of the cooperation of NGOs from Serbia and Montenegro and the strengthening of the civil sector in the FRY.
Part 2: As a result of the roundtables, a joint NGO publication will begin. This publication will feature articles from local Montenegrin and Serbian NGOs. Later, the newsletter would like to include articles from the Forum for Democratic Initiatives from Gjakova, Kosova.
Study Trips in the Czech Republic for NGO Representatives, Journalists and Administrative Staffs
Partners for Democratic Change in Prague met with a representative of FID and agreed on three areas in which there is a need for training. NGO leaders, journalists and local administrative staffs are three areas where there will be a great need for training in Kosova in the future. Partners has had experience organizing trainings for these three professions in the past. Partners has provided training for groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albanian and Bulgaria. Attached to this document are 3 detailed proposal for the training which each group would receive. Partners is also interested in cooperating with other regions to develop training projects which could further benefit the Balkans.
Please see the attached documents for the full proposals.
The Exploration of a Multicultural Society
This project would build on the relationships developed through RCR. The project would consist of a group of 15 NGO representatives (2 from Bosnia-Herzegovina, 3 from Croatia, 2 from Kosova, 2 from the FRY of Macedonia, 1 from Montenegro and 5 from Serbia) traveling to New York City for a two and a half week program.
The NGO representatives would be broken into 3 teams (consisting of 5 members each). Each team would be assigned an American coordinator to help with logistics. Each team would be assigned to a section of New York City. The team would stay in their assigned section of the city for 4 days. In the mornings, the team would visit either a local NGO or government office. This visit would be a fieldtrip to the office to examine the ways in which a multiethnic community is promoted. In the afternoons, each of the teams would visit the community in their assigned area, i.e. researching conditions of local schools, ownership of businesses in an area, language being spoken in the street, etc. This information would be compiled into a report on observations in the area. Each team would be assigned to 2 neighborhoods, 1 for each week of the project in order to help the team members develop a more balanced overview. Each Friday of the project, the 3 groups would be brought together to present their report and make comparisons between their home countries and the situations they observed.
The final 2 days of the project would be an open discussion of the multiethnic situation in their home countries.
Youth exchange between Kosova and the Czech Republic
Building on a history of youth exchanges between Germany and the Czech Republic, YIU will arrange an exchange between the Czech Republic and Kosova. Recently, YIU began an exchange program with Palestinian youth. Through this experience, YIU has developed a program of sensitivity training for conflict areas, and this experience will be applied to Kosova.
The project will involve 5-7 days in which 10 Czech university students will travel to Kosova and stay in the region of Gjakova. Following this visit, 10 Kosovar youth will travel to the Czech Republic. They will stay in the homes of the Czech students (in the region of Brno) for 5 days, and then the entire group of Czech and Kosovar youth will travel to Prague for 5 days.
Projects which were discussed(proposal ideas need to be developed)
Society of Hungarian Women Entrepreneurs meeting with a group of Serbian Women entrepreneurs
During the Budapest study trip the idea was mentioned to send a group of women business owners to Budapest to meet with their Hungarian counterparts. During a trip to the SEED Foundation in Budapest, it was learned that there is a monthly meeting of women business entrepreneurs that meets in Budapest. The suggestion was made to bring a group of Serbian women to meet with this Hungarian group and discuss the possibility of cooperation in the future. The logistics of the Serbian group's travel to Budapest would be relatively easy to arrange. There is no visa requirement for Hungary, and travel by train, bus and private car is possible. The Hungarian woman's group meets each month, resuming after summer vacations in September, and the offer has been made to include the Serbian women in a meeting.
The Center for Entrepreneurship in Podgorica also expressed interest in developing a similar type of project with groups in Montenegro.
SEED and Serbian Cooperation
The SEED Foundation in Budapest is a wealth of micro-business development experience. It was suggested that cooperation is possible between SEED and a SME-focused NGO in Serbia. This cooperation could develop from the implementation of a SEED project in Serbia.
There is also the possibility to develop a connection between an SME focused-NGO in Serbia and the National Federation of Traders and Caterers to examine the possibility of Hungarian development in Serbia. Mr. Sandor Foldes is interested in being a contact person for this development.
Making School Attractive to Roma Students
Dr. Antenna Zhelyazkova of the International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relation offered her center's expertise and cooperation in assisting NGO Elita to develop a program for their Roma Summer School in Gjakova, Kosova. Elita is now developing a summer school which will help Roma students in Gjakova 'catch up' with the Kosovar Albanian students. Dr. Zhelyazkova stressed the need to use methods which will make school work more attractive to Roma students. She discussed methods which have been proven effective in Bulgaria, and agreed to help 'export' these ideas to Kosova. Her staff includes Roma staff members who could work with the Kosovars to make this implementation even more effective.
League of Women Voters
There has been an interest mentions in involving the help of the NGO the League of Women Voters (USA) in the election process in Kosova. This assistance at a grass-roots level will also be available to other regions in the area. CDFE has made initial contact with LWV, and is currently negotiating what type of assistance might be possible in the coming election. Please contact CDFE directly if anyone is interested in discussing this assistance in detail.
Newsletter
In each of the study trips, the need for a newsletter was discussed. CDFE is willing to organize this newsletter, but we need guidance on what it should contain. There has already been an e-group organized at the address ProjectRCR@egroups.com that will help to keep those of you who chose to join. I am also willing to collect letters, articles and announcements and compile them in a newsletter form and then send these compiled messages in a newsletter form and mail it to all participants.
Please send me your ideas and comments on the idea of a newsletter. I would also appreciate input on its content, goal and format.
Megan
Overview of Organizations participating in Project RCR
BUDAPEST
Alliance for Local Communities' Sustainable Development - ALCD
Belgrade, Serbia
Alliance for Local Communities' Sustainable Development - ALCD - is an NGO from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, deliberated to advocate and support development of private SMEs, as a prerequisite for substantial and sustainable transitional move in Serbia. ALCD was formed in Belgrade, on November 30, 1998. Members of the organization are experts from the fields of private sector and sustainable development-related problems, activists from other NGOs from Serbia and Montenegro. The organization is predominantly oriented to development of the following areas: Development of private SMEs and entrepreneurship at all society levels; Education of entrepreneurs; Institution-development for financing of growth of private SMEs and entrepreneurs; Creation of associations of private SMEs and entrepreneurs at the local level; Analyses and forecasts of private SMEs and entrepreneurship development; Assemblance of documentation on sustainable development and creation of library thereof; Business incubators development; Development of Balkan Business Networking as informational network for SMEs.
PRAGUE
Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise
Prague, Czech Republic
The Center for Democracy and Free Enterprise (CDFE) was formally opened on January 1, 1991 to serve as the Czechoslovak Representative Office of the Central Europe Institute, Washington, D.C. On June 1, 1992, CDFE was transformed into a private, non-partisan, non-profit Czech foundation, which conducts and organizes educational exchanges, internships, training, and research in democratic institutions and market economies. The Center has created, sustained and co-sponsored numerous programs throughout the Czech Republic. Current projects include the Parliamentary Internship Program, The Sabre Foundation Book Donation Program, the European Literary Club, and the Consortium for the Establishment of a Czech EU-Affairs Training Institute, Project RCR: a project for Regional Cooperation and Reconciliation and The Next Ten Years: a project to promote active democracy. The primary mission of CDFE is to enhance and promote philanthropic and democratic goals and ideas in the Czech Republic through education, training, and dissemination of information.
PRAGUE and BUDAPEST
Center for Entrepreneurship
Podgorica, Montenegro
The CFE is the first consulting center established in Montenegro to support entrepreneurship and economic development. The Center was formed in 1993 within the Faculty of Economics at the University of Podgorica, but since 1998 has operated as an independent non-governmental organization. The CFE currently has offices in Podgorica, Berane and Kotor. The rationale for establishing the CFE was to fill the gap in knowledge required by pioneering entrepreneurs who emerged after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. It quickly became evident that most of these entrepreneurs required practical and tailor-made training to facilitate their business start-up and expansion. The Center has rapidly established itself as the core Center for entrepreneurship training in Montenegro. The primary services offered by the CFE include (1) business plan development for aspiring entrepreneurs; (2) basic and advanced business training to start-up and established firms; (3) business consulting services. (4) research, economic surveys, and SME database development; and (5) policy analysis and recommendations.
The CFE's efforts to date have had a measurable impact on the Montenegrin economy. For example, over 200 people have received training on how to start a business. In excess of 80 of the CFE's training participants have worked with the Center to develop business plans, received funding for those ideas, and started their business operations. Over 150 new jobs have been created in the process.
PRAGUE
Civic Initiatives
Belgrade, Serbia
The mission of Civic Initiatives is to promote democracy and strengthen civil society through education and support of active citizenship. They offer a broad range of activities in a comprehensive program of support, training, and development that strengthens the NGO sector and helps build ties across internal and regional boarders. Most of their actives are carried out outside Belgrade, and include NGOs from every region of Serbia and Montenegro. CI is working with representatives from political parties, trade unions, local authorities, media and other civic groups and citizens. Past projects since September 1997 include, town-hall meetings, democracy seminars for young leaders and students, the printing of 6 books focused on democracy in transition, NGO training workshops, internships, small grant competitions, a newsletter, and regional networking in CEE.
BUDAPEST
European Movement in Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia
The aim of European Movement in Serbia is full membership in European institutions and organizations. Its key mission is influencing the public in Serbia, aiming for it to become engaged in creation of a democratic and pluralistic society and in achieving equality among individuals and their communities, to promote European values and traditions, to plant European events, trends and achievements in Serbia, as a base of participation in the impressive European project. The one that provided more than a half of century of peace and stability. Projects include Policy Forum of the European Movement in Serbia; Southeastern Europe 2000; the publication of the Journal Temida; the publication of Europe Plus.
PRAGUE SOFIA
Forum for Democratic Initiatives
Gjakova, Kosova
The Forum for Democratic Initiatives from Gjakova, Kosova was founded in 1991. Activities for the Forum are developed in four sectors: civil society, gender equality, environment, and property and the free market. The Forum is the editor and publisher of the independent journal "Demokracia." The Forum is also currently the organizer of a series of round-table meetings focused on bringing together politicians, economists, and intellectuals to address concrete social and civil society issues facing Kosova. The Forum also publishes brochures which spread the concrete result so the round-tables in general society.
BUDAPEST
Foundation for Market Economies
Budapest, Hungary
The Foundation for Market Economy is a non-profit organization, independent of any political body. It was established by the Institute of Industrial Economics and Consulting & Research for Industrial Economics Ltd. on May 20, 1992. The Foundation is to serve the public interest. The Foundation is maintaining research and consulting activities operated by a small research team, essentially within the framework of project financing. Objectives of the Foundation include: research into the problems related to the development and operation of market economy; utilization of research findings in the legislative process, economic policy, training and the forming of public opinion; analysis of the transformation of property ownership, the role of the state in the economy, development of the privatization process and private sector, direct foreign investments; research work to facilitate the forming of economic policy, strategic and tactical issues of industrial policy, regional development and specific steps of international economic adjustment in the process of transition (com-petition policy, market protection, conditions of joining the European Union).
Research (together with related training and consulting functions) are aimed to facilitate the evolution and growth of businesses, particularly small and medium-size (private) enterprises.
FUNDING and SUPPORT Start with them
Freedom House
Throughout its nearly sixty-year history, Freedom House has been an advocate for democracy and human rights worldwide. Freedom House's work includes an array of research, advocacy, and publications to promote human rights, democracy, free market economics, the rule of law, independent media, and U.S. engagement abroad. Freedom House's international Democratization programs are advancing the worldwide expansion of political and economic freedom.
PRAGUE
Millenium
Kragujevac, Serbia
http://www.surf.to/ngomillennium
Millenium is an organization which describes its mission as "the urban development of society through alternative culture, art and communication in order to create a modern civil society in the new century." Past projects of the Millenium team have involved the development of music festivals, an Internet magazine, the production of independent television productions and humanitarian projects aimed at promoting human rights in Serbia. Millenium's current projects focus on the promotion of the NGO 3rd sector on a local level, the development of volunteerism, and cooperation within the NGO sector. Millenium will continue to develop art and music festivals geared toward drawing more people into an active civic life.
BUDAPEST
RIINVEST
Prishtina, Kosova
RIINVEST is a research organization which is focused on the development and definition of the economic climate of Kosova and the Balkan region. It has conducted numerous studies in the past including a focus on the environment for small and medium business development in Kosova.
SOFIA
Forum Elita
Gjakova, Kosova
Forum Elita is dedicated to develping projects which deal with youth in a transition society. Elita focuses on projects which educated Kosovar youth to the dangers of drugs, violence, crime and prejudice. Elita is currently running a summer school for Roma youth which will help bring them up-to-speed for the coming school year. Elita will engage youth in projects which will improve the community of Gjakova.