ANNUAL WORK REPORT January December 2014 - …civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/upload/documents/dokumenta...ANNUAL WORK REPORT January – December 2014 Office for Cooperation with Civil Society

Republic of Serbia

GOVERNMENT

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION

ANNUAL WORK REPORT

January – December 2014

Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia

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CONTENT

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................

1. PROJECTS OF THE OFFICE ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.1. “EU Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society” Project ................................................

1.2. “Enabling environment for civil society development” Project ..............................................................

1.3. Internship Program for young members of minorities in state institutions ..................................

2. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT ..................................................

2.1. Initiatives for changing regulations relevant for activities of associations and other CSOs....................

2.2. Participation of the Office in work groups for making legal acts and other work bodies .......................

2.3. Transparent financing of CSOs ...............................................................................................................

2.3.1. Annual collective report about expenditure of budget funds for activities of associations and

other civil society organisations

2.3.2. Guide for potential national and foreign financing sources

2.3.3. Calendar of public administration calls ..........................................................................................

2.4. Guidelines for including civil society organisations in the law-making process ....................................

2.5. National strategy for an enabling environment for civil society development ........................................

2.6. Trainings of civil servants .......................................................................................................................

2.7. Conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings (sector and inter-sector) ............................................

2.8. Cooperation with associations and other CSOs ......................................................................................

3. EU INTEGRATIONS, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION .......................................

3.1. EU integrations .......................................................................................................................................

3.1.1. Annual progress report ...................................................................................................................

3.1.2. Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European

communities and their member-states and the Republic of Serbia ................................................

3.1.3. EU accession negotiations ..............................................................................................................

3.2. The Office as the National contact point for EU program “Europe for Citizens” ...................................

3.3. Planning and programming of international development assistance .....................................................

3.4. Co-financing projects of CSOs ...............................................................................................................

3.5. Increasing capacity of CSOs ..................................................................................................................

3.5.1. Training for sectorial CSOs and other CSOs ..................................................................................

3.6. Regional and international cooperation ...................................................................................................

3.6.1. Participation in regional projects ....................................................................................................

3.7. Serbia presiding OSCE in 2015 ..............................................................................................................

3.8. Participation of the Republic of Serbia in the work of the Joint Consultative Committee (ЈСС) ...........

4. MEDIA AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES ..............................................................................................

4.1. Media visibility of the Office ..................................................................................................................

4.2. Internet presentation of the Office ..........................................................................................................

4.3. Media activities related to the creation of the National strategy .............................................................

4.4. The Office and social networks ...............................................................................................................


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INTRODUCTION

The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society (hereinafter: the Office) was

established in 2011 with the aim of system inclusion of civil society organisations into a

permanent dialogue with government institutions, which should be based on a transparent and

structured communication and regular exchange of experiences, information and opinions.

The Office was established for the sake of achieving several aims:

1) establishing permanent dialogue between the state and civil society organisations

related to issues of general and common interest;

2) strengthening inter-sectorial cooperation in the spheres where civil society

organisations are important factors in formulating and implementing public policies (human

rights, building a legal state, gender equality, social protection, employment, poverty

reduction, social inclusion, education, culture, amateur sport, sustainable development,

environment protection, good neighbourhood cooperation, Euro-Atlantic integrations etc.);

3) strengthening capacities of civil society organisations as a key factor in creating a

pluralist and democratic society.

This Report refers to the period from January to December 2014 and represents the

overview of realization of chief activities within the scope of the work of the Office.

1. PROJECTS OF THE OFFICE

1.1. “EU Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society” Project

Since November the Office has been the user of technical assistance within IPA

Program of support to civil society 2011–2013 and within the three-year project “Support to

the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society” in the total amount of 1.200.000 EUR. The

program is implemented by The Swedish Institute for Public Administration (SIPU). The

funds for institutional support to the Office were programmed within the multi-user IPA

2011–2013 with the aim of creating a motivating regulatory environment for civil society

development, increasing the capacities of the Office employees for performing activities

within their competence, managing grants designated for civil society organisations,

monitoring approved grants etc.

During 2014 the SIPU project team continued supporting the Office in its activities.

One of the most important activities of the Office supported within the project was the

production of the first National strategy for an enabling environment for civil society

development in the Republic of Serbia for 2014–2018, which began at the conference in the

Sava Centre held on 20–21 February 2014. You will find a detailed overview of production

methodology and overall process in the separate chapter of the Report 2.5 National strategy

for an enabling environment for civil society development.


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During 2014 SIPU also continued its work on establishing the National Council for

development and cooperation with civil society. It was stipulated that the basic tasks of the

Council should be monitoring the Strategy implementation and supporting other processes

relevant to civil society development in Serbia.

According to analyses of the legal framework regulating taxes and finances conducted

in 2013 and 2014, the project team continued indicating the possibility of further

improvement of legal solutions suitable for civil society development in the Republic of

Serbia and proposed initiatives for amendments and supplements to:

the Property Tax Law;

the Corporate Profit Tax Law;

the Rule books derived from the Law on Accounting.

The project supported producing the document “Guidelines for including civil society

organisations in the law-making process”, which was adopted by the Government of the

Republic of Serbia on 26th

August 2014. After its adoption, the Guidelines were printed and

promoted in the Media Centre in Belgrade.

The activities of the SIPU project team also included supporting the promotion of the

Annual collective report of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society for 2012 about

distributing funds from the national, autonomous province and municipal budgets for

program and project activities of associations and other civil society organisations. Apart

from Belgrade, findings and recommendations of the Report were promoted in other 4

Serbian towns: Novi Sad, Subotica, Kruševac and Užice. The production of the Annual

collective report of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society for 2013 about distributing

funds from the national, autonomous province and municipal budgets for program and project

activities of associations and other civil society organisations, also supported by the project,

is now in its final stage. In cooperation with the Office, the project ensured the modification

of the Questionnaire, i.e. the e-application for collecting data by state bodies, with the aim of

improving the data processing procedure.

The project also provided support in organising trainings/increasing capacities of civil

society organisations concerning negotiation processes for EU membership of the Republic

of Serbia through Sectorial civil society organisations (SCSO). These trainings were

organised for 236 participants from CSOs from various parts of Serbia. The trainings were

also organised for negotiation Chapter 10 (Information society and media), Chapter 11

(Agriculture and rural development), Chapter 25 (Science and research), 26 (Education and

culture) and Chapter 22 (Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments).

Within activities of supporting the EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia, the

project offers regular technical assistance to the organisations whose projects were supported


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within EU Support to Civil Society for 2011 and 2012. Moreover, support to the EU

Delegation is also provided through expert assistance of the project and the Office in

preparing and conducting an advertisement for grants within the program of the same name

for 2013. After the completion of the advertisement, the project offered assistance in

evaluation the projects and the preparation of contracts for new grants. The signing of the

contracts was followed by the celebration of promoting new projects and CSOs which

received the grants. Helping a new group of organisations whose projects have been

supported will continue within this project. Training about management and monitoring EU

projects has contributed to strengthening existing capacities of the Office in this domain of

work.

The project also supported the presentation of the Office and its achievements at

regional and European conferences, organised trainings for the Office employees and ensured

their participation in seminars.

The support to the development of capacities of the Office employees included study

tours to Croatia, Poland and Sweden in the first half of 2014. These visits were aimed at

making a comparison between legal and institutional solutions to the cooperation of public

administration and CSOs in these countries as well as evaluating the potential implementation

of certain tested good practices of these countries in Serbia.

1.2. “Enabling environment for civil society development” Project

According to the Assistance Agreement for strengthening the Government activities,

signed by US Agency for International Development (USAID) on behalf of the United States

of America and the Government of the Republic of Serbia on 23rd

September 2010, the funds

were provided for supporting Serbia in strengthening democratic power. USAID directed part

of these funds (214.834,00 US dollars) to the work of the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia through the Agreement on

implementing the project “Enabling environment for civil society development” signed on

14th

February 2014. In honour of the new partnership, Director of the Office Ivana Ćirković

received the award of US Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Michael D. Kirby and

Director of US Agency for International Development (USAID) Susan Fritz on 24th

February

2014.

The project “Enabling environment for civil society development” was planned to last

18 months and it represents a number of activities aimed at improving dialogue and

cooperation between public institutions and the civil society as well as strengthening

capacities of all dialogue participants. Therefore the project represents a significant

contribution to the development and regulation of participatory democracy in Serbia.

Since one of the key activities within the Office’s work domain is the production of

the National strategy for an enabling environment for civil society development in the


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Republic of Serbia for 2014–2018 (hereinafter: the Strategy), which will represent the

framework for providing support to further development and sustainability of the civil society

as well as its larger participation in creating and implementing public policies, this project is

conceived to be additional support to this process. Therefore, continuing the participatory

approach to creating the Strategy established at the Sava Centre conference in February this

year, the project also organised 10 consultation meetings with representatives of local self-

governments and CSOs, who were able to improve the text of the first Strategy draft and

propose and develop measures and activities within the defined strategic framework. The

meetings were held in October and November 2014 in 10 Serbian towns (Subotica, Šabac,

Novi Sad, Užice, Novi Pazar, Kruševac, Zaječar, Vranje, Niš and Paraćin) with more than

400 active participants. The long-term aim of this inclusive process of the Strategy adoption

is to accept this model as a future standard in making national documents and legal acts.

After the completion of the consultation process, the Office published a detailed Report on

the process, results and recommendations for local self-governments, the Government and the

civil sector1 while a short overview of the consultations was published in the Sunday edition

of daily “Novosti” on 7th

December 2014.

With the aim of supporting sustainability and strengthening of the civil society, the

project “Enabling environment for civil society development” also began working on the

interactive web portal which should be the place for networking of CSOs as well as for their

representation and communication with the private sector and citizens of Serbia. “Map of the

Civil Society” (the working title of the portal) is an aspect of non-financial support to

activities and projects of CSOs which ensures a more direct communication of citizens with

these organisations and gives a systematic review of activities, fields and territorial coverage

of the civil society in Serbia.

Since the aim of the project is increasing the capacities of the public and civil sectors

and in particular of the Office as a mediator in establishing a more intensive inter-sector

dialogue, specific trainings and seminars have been both held and planned for representatives

of local self-governments, public administration, CSOs as well as the Office employees. In

September a delegation consisting of 8 Office employees went on a study tour to Budapest

(Hungary), where they attended 6 meetings with representatives of public institutions and

CSOs which focus on cooperation of these two sectors in various manners. This exchange of

experiences and knowledge was significant and motivating for further work of the Office in

establishing an enabling environment for the civil society work and development. A series of

trainings for representatives of local self-governments in all Serbian municipalities is planned

for the beginning of 2015 with the topic of transparent financing of CSOs as well as greater

inclusion of the civil society and citizens in the act-making at the local level.

1http://strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/izrada-strategije/dokumenti

http://strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/izrada-strategije/dokumenti


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1.3. Internship Program for young members of minorities in state institutions

For the third consecutive year the Office has participated in project “Internship

Program for young people – members of minorities in state institutions in Serbia”

conducted by the Office for human and minority rights of the Government of the Republic of

Serbia with support of the Embassy of Great Britain and Embassy of the Kingdom of the

Netherlands, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the

Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The program lasts six months and it was conducted in two rounds within the report

period. In the first round, which was realized between 4th

November 2013 and 30th

April

2014, the intern was Marija Stanković from Belgrade, with BA in tourism studies, a member

of the Roma minority. In the second round, which is to be realized between 1st December

2014 and 31st May 2015, the intern is Mehdija Medović, with BA in security management,

who is a member of the Bosniak minority.

2. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT

Improving the regulatory framework significant for civil society activities and

development represents part of the overall improvement of the legal framework at the level of

entire reform of the legislation system. In that respect, the largest part of the Office’s

activities is dedicated to proposals for amendments and supplements of acts with the aim of

creating enabling environment for civil society development

2.1. Initiatives for changing regulations relevant for activities of associations

and other CSOs

The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society submitted the following initiatives for

amendments to the regulations to the Ministry of Finance:

In November 2014 the Initiative was submitted for amendments and supplements

to the Corporate Profit Tax Law2 in Article 15, Paragraph 1 and Article 44,

Paragraph 1. The adoption of the Office’s proposal for including the activities listed in

the Law on Associations and the Law on Endowments and Foundations, which are

considered as activities of particular public interest, in Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the

Corporate Profit Tax Law, would have a stimulating effect on the corporate

philanthropy development in the Republic of Serbia.

2 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 25/01, 80/02, 80/02 – other law, 43/03, 84/04, 18/10, 101/11,

119/12, 47/13, 108/13 and 68/14 - other law


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In November 2014 the Initiative was submitted for amendments and supplements

to the Property Tax Law3 in Article 12, Paragraph 1, by adding a new Item 13. The

stipulated amendments would ensure tax exemptions for property, i.e. real estate to

foundations, endowments and associations which are registered according to the laws

regulating their legal status and which use their real estate solely for multi-beneficial

purposes in line with their statues.

At the beginning of August 2014 the Ministry of Finance addressed the Office with a

request to invite civil society organisations to give their proposals for amendments and

supplements to the rulebooks derived from the Law on Accounting (in the text below) which

refer to the recording of economic changes for other legal entities. One month after the public

invitation no CSOs submitted their comments on the rulebooks. On the other hand, the Office

prepared proposals for amendments to the above-mentioned rulebooks on the basis of the

analysis conducted by Mr. Milan Negovanović, an expert engaged by the project Technical

Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic

of Serbia – IPA 2011.

The Office’s initiatives were forwarded to the Ministry of Finance on 18th September

and reviewed at the session of the National Accounting Committee held on 4th November

2014 as follows:

Initiative for amendments and supplements to the Rule Book on the chart of

accounts and content of accounts for other legal entities4,

Initiative for amendments and supplements to the Rule Book on content and

form of financial statements for other legal entities5,

Initiative for amendments and supplements to the Rule Book on content of

positions in financial statements for other legal entities6.

Having in mind significant and numerous specific aspects in business operations of

non-profit organisations which imply different financing sources and consequently a different

structure of income from business entities, a different property and capital structure, different

goals of business activities etc, the proposed amendments were primarily defined with the

aim of harmonizing accounting and financial operations of CSOs with these specific aspects.

On the other hand, certain issues which were not the subject of previous rule books and are

relevant only for other legal entities were now included and further elaborated in the Office’s

proposals. 3 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 26/01, “Official Gazette of the Republic of the Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia”, No. 42/02 - decision of the Federal Constitutional Court and “Official Gazette of the

Republic of Serbia”, No. 80/02, 80/02 - other law, 135/04, 61/07, 5/09, 101/10, 24/11, 78/11, 57/12 - Decision

of the Constitutional Court, 47/13 and 68/14 - other law 4 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 24/14

5 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 8/2012

6 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 8/2012


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The most important amendments in the Rule book on the chart of accounts and

content of accounts for other legal entities refer to the substantial reduction of the regulations

stipulating the application of the International Accounting Standards/International Financial

Reporting Standards, since other legal entities do not apply these standards which, on the

other hand, was not in full compliance with the Law on Accounting.

Unlike business companies (commercial legal entities in general), the structure of the

CSO profit and loss account is dominated by other sorts of incomes and expenses. In line

with this, a significant change was made in the structure of class 6 – Incomes, in order to

adjust it to the income structure and financing sources of other legal entities. Moreover, some

accounts were deleted and new, formerly missing accounts were formed within other classes,

in compliance with the specific aspects relevant for civil society organisations.

In the Rule books on content and form of financial statements for other legal entities

and on content of positions in financial statements for other legal entities, respective changes

were made in compliance with the changes in the chart of accounts and all other necessary

harmonisations were made.

The above-mentioned amendments to the Rule books as proposed by the Office were

adopted almost entirely while all three Rule books were published in the Official Gazette No.

137/14 of 24th

December 2014.

During November the following initiatives were submitted to the Ministry of Public

Administration and Local Self-Government:

Initiative for supplementing the Law on Public Administration7 which refers to

adding a new Article 75b. By adding this Article 75b to the Law on Public

Administration will define and establish potential levels of cooperation between

public administration bodies and CSOs in the process of preparation, adoption and

implementation of regulations. At the same time, this Article will stipulate that the

Government will define more closely the manner and procedure of realizing that

cooperation. The Initiative is currently in the consideration stage.

As a member of the GIZ Project group for improving the law-making process in the

Republic of Serbia, the Office participated in producing the GIZ initiative for amendments

and supplements to the Working text of the Government Rules of Procedure8, which will

be submitted to the Republic Legislation Secretariat, which is in formal charge of

proposing acts.

7 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 79/05, 101/07, 95/10 and 99/14

8 “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 61/06 – edited text, 69/08, 88/09, 33/10, 69/10, 20/11, 37/11,

30/13 and 76/14


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The Office’s proposal for amendments referred to the law proponent’s obligation to

produce and make public, apart from the baselines, the Report on conducted consultations

regarding those baselines on its website and e-portal. The Report should contain all

proposals, suggestions and comments collected both in written and electronic forms, which

would improve work transparency and thus increase the quality of the law-making process in

the Republic of Serbia. The Initiative is currently in the consideration stage at the level of the

GIZ Project group for improving the law-making process in Serbia.

2.2. Participation of the Office in work groups for making legal acts and other

work bodies

The Office representatives participate actively in the work of the Technical Work

group for registration in birth registers, which is in charge of implementing the Agreement

on Understanding between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, the

Ombudsman and the UN High Commissariat for Refugees about carrying out coordinated

activities directed at offering assistance to members of the Roma community who are not

registered in the birth certificate and have no personal documents. The Technical Work group

achieved good results in the previous period, which is proved by a substantial reduction in the

number of legally invisible persons, or Romas who needed personal documents as well as by

a series of training organised for judges about the implementation of the Law on

Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Proceedings, the trainings for registrars, deputy

registrars and clerks in charge of first-instance administrative proceedings in the domain of

birth registers in relation to the implementation of the laws and by-laws regulating the

recording of facts and particulars in birth registers. In the course of this year, just as before,

there were 5 meetings with the representatives of Roma and other CSOs dealing with the

problems of Romas, Roma leaders and media representatives about “Novelties in the field of

registration in birth registers and obtaining personal documents”. These meetings were aimed

at informing the participants about the progress achieved in this field as well as to invite them

to intensify their activities in informing Romas about activities within the Cooperation

Agreement and to improve the coordination and cooperation in achieving the goals of the

Agreement. These five meetings were held in the following order: on 30th

October –

Belgrade, on 20th

November – Kragujevac, on 27th

November – Subotica, on 2nd

December –

Niš and on 16th

December – Novi Sad.

Within GIZ project “Support to implementation of legal reforms in the Republic of

Serbia”, the Office has continued participating in the work of the Work group “Improving

the law-making process in the Republic of Serbia”. The aim of the project is to improve

the legal and institutional framework for strengthening rule of law and economic

development in order to facilitate accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union.

The Project work group is working on the preparation of the Action plan for implementing

the Strategy of Public Administration reform, the Strategy for regulatory reform as well as on

improving the Government Rules of Procedure.


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The Office also has its member and deputy member in the Committee for

implementing the National Strategy for Judicial Reform, in whose work it has

participated during 2014.

The Office representative is a member of the Work group for writing the text of the

Law on High Judicial Council and the Law on the state prosecutorial council (as of July

2013). The amendments to these laws are aimed at improving transparency and quality of the

electoral procedure as well as ensuring court protection regarding the decisions of these two

bodies During 2014 the activities of the Work group included amendments and supplements

to the Law on High Judicial Council and the Law on the state prosecutorial council, while on

several occasions the Work group considered the necessity for amendments to the

Constitution of the Republic of Serbia with the aim of full harmonisation of the above-

mentioned laws with the Constitution.

The Office actively participates in monitoring the implementation of the “National

Action Plan for implementing Resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council – Women,

peace and security in the Republic of Serbia”. This Resolution refers to the participation of

women in decision-making and peace processes, specific rights, needs and protection of

women in the security sector. The participation of the Office in this process also represents

the assumed obligation within the Action Plan for realizing recommendations by the

European Commission contained in the Annual Progress Report about the Republic of Serbia

in the EU integrations process for 2012, where the role of the Office is defined as to perform

activities regarding the encouragement of cooperation of the public administration bodies

with the associations and civil society organisations. In June 2014 the Office delegated its

member and deputy member to the Political Council and the Multi-sector coordination

body.

In April 2014 the Office representatives as members of the Work group for making

the Strategy of prevention and protection from discrimination for the period from 2013

to 2018, took part in the public discussion on the Action plan draft for implementing the

Strategy of prevention and protection from discrimination in the Republic of Serbia for

the period from 2014 to 2018, as well as the public discussion on the segment of the Action

plan draft for implementing the Strategy of prevention and protection from

discrimination in the Republic of Serbia dedicated to the improvement of the position of

LGBT persons, which was organised by the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the

Government of the Republic of Serbia.

In March 2014 the Office took part in making the initial proposal of the Action plan

draft for implementing the national Strategy about HIV infection and AIDS for the

period from 2014 to 2015, whose production is coordinated by the Republic HIV/AIDS

Office of the Institute for Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut” in compliance

with the decision of the multi-sector Committee for the Fight against HIV/AIDS and


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tuberculosis of the Government of the Republic of Serbia made at the initial meeting of the

Committee on 8th

October 2013.

At the invitation of the Institute for Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović

Batut”, within the twinning project “Implementation of the Strategy for Fight against drugs

(components of reduced offer and demand)” used by the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of

Health and Institute for Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut”, the Office was

involved in the Work group for making the Strategy for Drugs in the Republic of Serbia

2014–2021 and the accompanying draft of the National action plan for fight against drugs

in the period from 2014 to 2017. The Office was also a member of the Special work group

for Chapter “Prevention” within the Action plan of the same name.

In May 2014 the Office delegated its representative to the Work group for making the

National strategy for young for the period from 2015 to 2025 led by the Ministry of Youth

and Sports.

The Office has its representatives in the Board of Directors of the project “European

Support to inclusion of Romas” conducted by the OSCE Mission to Serbia in coordination

with the Office for Human and Minority Rights and with financial support of the European

Union through IPA 2012 program. The main aim of the project is to support the

implementation of the National strategy for improving the position of Romas in the Republic

of Serbia. The Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the Ministries,

institutions and organisations directly in charge of certain fields of the Strategy

implementation so as to have the leading role in monitoring and evaluating the project

progress.

In 2014 the work was completed on the Draft of the Rule Book on minimum

standards for offering specialized SOS telephone service for women as victims of

violence, where the Office representatives participated in the work of the broader Work

group led by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy. In the

following period the Rule Book is expected to be adopted by the Government of the Republic

of Serbia.

The Office added its comments and activities to the Response of the Republic of

Serbia to the Draft Report of the expert group for combating human trafficking

(GRETA) for the Republic of Serbia, which is submitted to the Secretariat of the

Convention of the Council of Europe about combating human trafficking. The Report was

finalized in February 2014 and it represents the continued activities of GRETA with the aim

of evaluating the application of the Council’s Convention about combating human trafficking

by the Republic of Serbia. The Report was made after the evaluation visit on 15–19th

April

2013.

In the sphere of its cooperation with the business sector, the Office is a member of the

Serbian Philanthropic Forum. The Forum has four Work groups whose members try to


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provide more mechanisms for giving in Serbia, a better legislation framework for developing

philanthropy, minimum standards for transparent reporting and to promote philanthropy as an

inseparable segment of our everyday life. Apart from the Office with Cooperation with Civil

Society, the Forum members are business companies and enterprises, foundations and civil

society organisations.

The Office is a member of the Project group for making the Action Plan for

improving administration openness for the period 2014–2018, whose work is run by the

Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government (in the new Government

convocation, while the previous Project work group was run by the Ministry of Justice and

Public Administration). The task of the Project group is to prepare the Action Plan

emphasizing the importance of open administration in a member state, the review of the

condition and achievements in the area of open administration as well as identified activities

and their implementation and monitoring plan which the administration assumes in order to

improve public integrity and efficient public resources management, which are the main

challenges chosen by the Republic of Serbia in the two-year period the Action plan refers to.

Since the very beginning of its work on the Action plan the Office has offered support

to the Ministry regarding the establishment of cooperation with CSOs. In that respect, the

Office invited CSOs to submit their proposals, comments and suggestions for improving the

Working version of the Action plan for implementing the initiative administration

openness for the period 2014–2015 in the Republic of Serbia and two meetings of the

Ministry and CSOs were held (in April and July) where the Action plan was presented and

the organisations had the opportunity to present and justify their suggestions and comments.

Apart from that, the Office also provided support through its proposal of the

manner/format of collecting comments as well as through the process of online consultations

with civil society organisations by publishing the Working version of the Action plan on the

websites of the Ministry and the Office. The Action plan is expected to be adopted by the

Government of the Republic of Serbia by the end of this year.

Since its establishment on 19th

June 2014 the Office has been a member of the Special

work group for analysing the condition and preparing proposals for improving

engagement of volunteers in emergency situations, whose work was run by the Ministry of

Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy. The

main task of this Work group was to make the analysis of the condition and to prepare

proposals for improving engagement of volunteers in emergency situations. At the December

session of the Government of the Republic of Serbia the Government decided to adopt the

Report on the work of this Work group which, apart from the above-mentioned analysis of

the legal framework and its deficiencies in this sphere, contains concrete proposals for their

solution.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Trade, Telecommunications and Tourism, the

Office participated in defining the indicators for monitoring the implementation of measures


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in the period July 2013–July 2014 of the Action plan for implementing the Consumer

Protection Strategy for the period 2013–2018, which considered the Office as a partner in

implementing certain activities.

In July 2014 the Office representative was delegated as a member of the

Interdepartmental Group for making the National strategy of opposing to irregular

migrations in the Republic of Serbia and the Action plan, whose work is led by the

Ministry of Interior.

Since September 2014 the Office has also been involved in the Project work group

for making the Proposal for the Strategy of regulatory reforms in the Republic of

Serbia for the period 2014–2016, with the Action plan for implementing the Strategy,

which is led by the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies. The Strategy and the Action plan

are planned to be adopted by April 2015.

The Office is a member of the National Council for climate changes which is

responsible for monitoring the condition, development and implementation of the national

policy in the sphere of climate changes, sector and other plan documents as well as

monitoring and fulfilling international obligations of the Republic of Serbia in the sphere of

climate changes.

The Office representatives participate in the work of the Inter-ministerial Project

group for public administration reform as well as the Operational work group for public

administration reform led by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-

Government.

The Office takes part in the Work group for preparation and implementation of

activities of making the Plan and program of public information campaign about the

participation mechanism in the law-making process at all levels, led by the Ministry of

Public Administration and Local Self-Government. The task of this Work group by 30th

December 2014 is to prepare and conduct activities of making the Plan and program of public

information campaign about the participation mechanism in the law-making process at all

levels in compliance with the Action plan of implementing the Anti-corruption Strategy

adopted by the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia 05 Number: 110-

7203/2013 of 25th

August 2013.

At the initiative of the Coalition for social entrepreneurship development, on 18th

September 2014 the Office organised a consultation meeting dedicated to issues in the sphere

of social entrepreneurship, which was also attended by the representatives of the Ministry

of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, the Ministry of Economy, the European

Integrations Office and the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team. The meeting

resulted in the decision of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy to

begin making of the Law on Social Entrepreneurship. The Work group for making the

Draft Law on Social Entrepreneurship was established and the appointed member and


15

deputy member of the Office participate in its work. Moreover, the Office ensured the

participation of CSOs in the work of this Work group.

2.3. Transparent financing of CSOs

2.3.1. Annual collective report about expenditure of budget funds for activities of associations

and other civil society organisations

In order to increase the transparency of financing associations and other CSOs, in

2012 the Office began producing the Annual collective report about expenditure of budget

funds provided and paid to associations and other civil society organisations as support to

program and project activities from the public funds of the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter:

the Annual collective report).

The Annual collective report about expenditure of budget funds provided and paid to

associations and other civil society organisations as support to program and project activities

from the public funds of the Republic of Serbia in 2012 was adopted at the session of the

Government of the Republic of Serbia on 28th

January 2014, while the main findings were

presented in public on 18th

February 2014 in Media Centre in Belgrade.

On the basis of analyzing the data collecting process during 2013 and

recommendations from the persons engaged in data entering, at the beginning of the year the

Office began making changes in the Questionnaire, i.e. the e-application for collecting data

by relevant bodies, with the aim of producing the best-quality report and improving the data

processing procedure.

In April 2014 the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the

Republic of Serbia in cooperation with EU IPA 2011–2013 project “EU support to the Office

for Cooperation with Civil Society” organised four meetings entitled “Transparent

financing of CSOs to greater citizens’ trust”.

The meetings were held in the following towns:

Subotica, on 15th

April 2014

Novi Sad, on 17th

April 2014

Kruševac, on 23rd

April 2014

Užice, on 28th

April 2014

The aim of these meetings was to present the Annual collective report about

expenditure of budget funds provided and paid to associations and other civil society

organisations as support to program and project activities from the public funds of the

Republic of Serbia in 2012, to improve the reporting process of local self-governments to the

Office for Cooperation with Civil Society about provided support to associations and other

civil society organizations and to improve their existing practices in the process of


16

transparent financing of CSOs. On this occasion the improved methodology was presented on

the basis of which data about provided support to civil society organisations will be collected

in 2013. The advanced Questionnaire about expenditure of budget funds intended for

associations and other civil society organisations was presented to the participants and all

questions, offered answers, terminology and requests of the Office to local self-governments

and provincial secretariats were clarified.

The meetings were attended by a large number of representatives of CSOs,

representatives of 6 provincial secretariats (Provincial Secretariat for Interregional

Cooperation and Local Self-Government, Provincial Secretariat for Health, Social Policy and

Demography, Provincial Secretariat for Education, Administration and National

Communities, Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information, Provincial

Secretariat for Finance, Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources) as well as a

large number of representatives of 46 local self-governments from the following

municipalities and towns: Ada, Vrbas, Žabalj, Bogatić, Sremski Karlovci, Novi Sad, Novi

Bečej, Pančevo, Zvezdara, Kovačica, Sremska Mitrovica, Zrenjanin, Plandište, Bač, Temerin,

Subotica, Bačka Topola, Kruševac, Mionica, Nova Varoš, Novi Pazar, Ljig, Ljubovija,

Valjevo, Jagodina, Lajkovac, Raška, Užice, Topola, Loznica, Ivanjica, Čačak, Batočina,

Ćuprija, Lapovo, Rača, Aleksinac, Boljevac, Knjaževac, Paraćin, Žagubica, Trstenik,

Prijepolje, Mali Zvornik and Sjenica.

In July 2014 the Office began collecting data necessary for producing the Annual

collective report for 2013 which will include all three levels of power (Republic, provincial

and local). The Report is produced by the new and advanced methodology of data collection

(application for data entering). After the collected data are processed by January 2015, the

Government of the Republic of Serbia is expected to adopt the Annual collective report for

2013 in the part referring to the Republic level.

2.3.2. Guide for potential national and foreign financing sources

In April the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society in cooperation with the

European Integrations Office, the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team and the

Citizen initiatives prepared and published the new eleventh edition of the Guide for potential

financing sources for projects of CSOs, local self-governments, small and medium

enterprises, entrepreneurs and individuals in Serbia for 2014 9.

The Guide for potential national and foreign financing sources gives a broad overview

of potential financing sources and represents an important overview of information aimed at

strengthening the civil sector in the Republic of Serbia and facilitating its functioning and

operating. This overview of potential donors and available funds not only ensures better

information and planning possibilities for CSOs but is also important for the international

community in the Republic of Serbia as the potential basis for better planning and

9http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/media/2012/10/Vodi%C4%8D-2014-final.pdf

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/media/2012/10/Vodi%C4%8D-2014-final.pdf


17

coordination of the future range and spheres of support with the aim of providing more

effective and efficient investing in development programs.

The Guide for potential national and foreign financing sources for 2014 is currently

being prepared and it is expected to be published at the beginning of next year.

2.3.3. Calendar of public administration calls

At the beginning of the year the Office published the Annual calendar of calls for

financing projects and programs of associations and other CSOs from the budget of the

Republic of Serbia in 201410

.

The aim of producing the Calendar was timely and continued informing of CSOs

about planned public calls of line ministries and other public administration bodies as well as

bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in order to prepare better-quality proposals

for potential financing from the budget and to increase the number of potential users of

financial funds from the budget of the Republic of Serbia.

The Calendar offers the most important information about planned calls, goals and

subject areas of each individual call, approximate dates for their publishing as well as about

the planned amount of funds planned for each public call.

The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society updates this document regularly in

compliance with the new data and information about planned calls received from the state

bodies.

Apart from the Calendar of public administration calls, the Office regularly publishes

other current calls for projects11

of CSOs on its website – international donors, the European

Union and the private sector.

2.4. Guidelines for including civil society organisations in the law-making

process

In September 2013, in cooperation with the project “EU support to the Office for

Cooperation with Civil Society 2011–2013”, the Office prepared the working text of the

document Guidelines for including CSOs in the law-making process12

with the aim of

establishing principles and general criteria for cooperation between public authorities and the

interested public in the law-making procedures and ensuring their effective and efficient

implementation.

10

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/godisnji-kalendar-konkursa-za-2014-godinu/ 11

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/konkursi/ 12

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/kancelarija-predstavila-radni-tekst-smernica/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/godisnji-kalendar-konkursa-za-2014-godinu/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/konkursi/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/kancelarija-predstavila-radni-tekst-smernica/


18

In order to inform the interested public with the proposed solution, the Office

published the text of the document on its website and social networks inviting citizens to give

their comments and suggestions and contribute to improving proposed solutions. On 2nd

October 2013 there was the panel “Presentation of Guidelines for participation of

interested public in law-making procedures”, which was attended by 70 participants from

the public administration and CSOs. The consultation process with interested citizens and

civil society organisations was open in the period between 23rd

September and 14th

October

2013.

During the public debate the Office received comments from 9 CSOs apart from the

comments received during the panel and they were mostly adopted in the advanced version of

the document.

Since the Law on Ministries13 from April 2014 changed the competence of certain

Ministries and some new public administration bodies were established, the Office submitted

for reconsideration of the relevant state bodies the Proposal of the decision about adopting the

Guidelines for including civil society organisations in the law-making process.

At the session held on Tuesday, 26th

August 2014, and at the proposal of the Office

for Cooperation with Civil Society, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted

“Guidelines for including civil society organisations in the law-making process” (Decision 05

Number 011-8872/2014)14

. The Government’s Decision and the text of the Guidelines were

published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” No. 90/14.

The purpose of the Guidelines is directing the work of the public administration

bodies regarding the inclusion of CSOs in procedures of preparing, adopting and monitoring

the implementation of regulations with the aim of ensuring their effective and efficient

application.

Basic objectives of the Guidelines are further improvement of participation of CSOs

in processes of preparing, adopting and monitoring the implementation of regulations which

define issues and attitudes of public interest while the levels of their participation in these

processes can include: informing, advising, including and partnership.

The recommended principles for including CSOs are: their active participation in all

stages of the law and act adoption process; mutual trust between the public administration

bodies and CSOs; openness and responsibility; effectiveness, efficiency and economy; timely

informing of the civil society about the law-making plan; ensuring the participation of

persons with disabilities in law-making procedures; existence of feedback about results of the

13

“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 45/14 14

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/usvojene-smernice-za-ukljucivanje-organizacija-civilnogdrustva-

uprocesizrade-propisa-zakljucak/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/usvojene-smernice-za-ukljucivanje-organizacija-civilnogdrustva-uprocesizrade-propisa-zakljucak/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/usvojene-smernice-za-ukljucivanje-organizacija-civilnogdrustva-uprocesizrade-propisa-zakljucak/


19

conducted public debate; harmonised application of the participation principles in the public

administration bodies.

In the text of the Guidelines the Government recommended that, apart from the public

administration bodies, the bodies of the autonomous province and of local self-government

units should also respect the principles listed in the Guidelines in the law-making process.


20

The document was presented at the meeting held on 22nd

September 2014 in the

Grand Hall of Media Centre, where the participants were addressed by: Ivana Ćirković,

Director of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society, Zorana Mihajlović, Vice President

of the Government of Serbia and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure,

Tanja Miščević, Head of the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the

European Union, H.E. Michael Davenport, Head of EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia

and Sonja Stojanović Gajić, Director of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. The Manual for

applying the Guidelines was announced to be published with the aim of improving the

practice of the state bodies regarding the participation of CSOs in the law-making process as

well as ensuring efficient implementation of this document.

2.5. National strategy for an enabling environment for civil society

development

In cooperation with EU IPA 2011–2013 project “EU Support to the Office for

Cooperation with Civil Society” and TACSO office in Serbia – EU program People 2 People,

the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia

organised the national conference “GET INVOLVED – WHAT CIVIL SOCIETY DO YOU

WANT?!” Civil society in Serbia 2018 – creation of the first National strategy for an

enabling environment for civil society development” on 20–21st February 2014 in Belgrade.


21

In the process of making the first national Strategy, the Office for Cooperation with

Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia was supported within EU IPA

project “EU Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society” and USAID project

“Support to creating an enabling environment for civil society development”.

The national conference gathered more than 300 representatives of public

administration institutions and bodies at the national and local level as well as of CSOs, with

the emphasis on the importance of creating the first strategic framework for an enabling

environment for civil society development in the Republic of Serbia. The purpose of adopting

the Strategy is to establish the framework for civil society development and sustainability, to

improve the cooperation of government institutions and CSOs as well as to define measures

for greater inclusion of the interested public in the process of creating and implementing

policies with the aim of further development and democratization of our society, promotion

and protection of human rights and freedom of association.

The conference was opened by: Ivana Ćirković, Director of the Office for

Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia; Nikola

Selaković, Minister of Justice and Public Administration of the Government of the Republic

of Serbia; Tanja Miščević, Head of the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of

Serbia to the European Union; H.E. Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of EU Delegation

in the Republic of Serbia; H.E. Michael D. Kirby, US Ambassador in the Republic of Serbia;

H.E. Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg, Ambassador of Norway in the Republic of Serbia. Danka

Latković, Head of the Office for Cooperation with Non-Government Organisations of the

Government of the Republic of Montenegro and Vesna Lendić Kasalo, Deputy Director of

the Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Republic of Croatia also participated in the

work of the conference.


22

The best examples and lessons learned from the European Union and the region were

presented regarding the process of creation and implementation of strategic frameworks for

civil society development.

The largest part of the conference was working through the application of Open Space

methodology, which ensures group consideration of complex topics with the principle of self-

organisation and achievement of results in a very short period of time. Open Space

methodology enabled all participants to speak and take active part in defining key topics and

objectives of civil society development in the Republic of Serbia and thus contribute to

creating the working text of the future strategic framework for an enabling environment for

civil society development in the Republic of Serbia. On the first day of the conference the

participants opened “Topic Market” where the outstanding topics were those dealing with

young people, including the Office in the negotiation process and with networking. Other

important topics were environment protection, informal education, transparency and co-

financing of projects. After the First conversation round, 66 topics were recommended which

should become part of the national Strategy.

On the second day of the conference, 40 topics recommended by representatives of

CSOs were processed and as many as 35 reports were made. This was followed by “Gallery”,

where the participants reviewed the results of work of all groups and voted for priority

strategic topics discussed in new work groups, which resulted in the final report with

proposed concrete activities within finally selected topics.

After grouping a large number of topics and voting, representatives of the civil society

in Serbia in Serbia created 15 priority topics which should be included in the document

National strategy for an enabling environment for civil society development. During the two

conference days the reports from three conversation rounds as well as the reports from the

final session15

were prepared with the proposals for concrete activities within the finally

selected topics. Some of the topics chosen by the participants are dedicated to with education,

volunteering, culture, environment, European integrations, social protection and health,

development of rural organisations and LGBT rights.

15

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/kompletni-izvestaji-sa-konferencije-ukljuci-se-kakvo-civilno-drustvo-zelis/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/kompletni-izvestaji-sa-konferencije-ukljuci-se-kakvo-civilno-drustvo-zelis/


23

Before, during and after the conference there was an overall online campaign on

social networks Facebook and Twitter, which ensured large visibility of events and obtained

wide audience when the strategic document itself is concerned.

The expert group for making the Strategy, composed of experts for certain

fields/chapters of the Strategy began working on 5th

June 2014. Then in July 2014 the

Project group was established for making the National strategy for an enabling

environment for civil society development in the Republic of Serbia for period 2014–

2018 and Action Plan for its implementation. The Project Group consists of 14 members, 13

representatives of public administration bodies and 1 representative of the civil society

organisation.

During October and November 2014, with the support of EU IPA 2011–2013 project

“EU Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society” and project “Enabling

environment for civil society development” aided by US Agency for International

Development (USAID) in the Republic of Serbia, the Office organised consultation

meetings with local self-governments and civil society organisations in ten Serbian towns:

Subotica: on 3rd

October 2014

Šabac: on 6th

October 2014

Novi Sad: on 10th

October 2014

Užice: on 13th

October 2014

Novi Pazar: on 14th

October 2014

Kruševac: on 20th

October 2014

Zaječar: on 24th

October 2014

Vranje: on 29th

October 2014

Niš: on 30th

October 2014

Paraćin: on 5th

November 2014

At these meetings the representatives of civil society organisations, local self-

governments and other interested citizens had the opportunity to discuss and make their

suggestions and proposals about the first Strategy Draft and in that manner to participate in

further elaboration of proposed objectives, measures and activities.

Publishing the text of the first Strategy Draft on 15th

September 2015, within special

sub-section of the Office’s webpage16

www.strategija.civilnodrusvo.gov.rs, marked the

beginning of the process of online consultations about the Draft of this strategic document,

i.e. making proposals and suggestions about the Strategy text in electronic form. The Office

developed a special system of public consultations on its webpage, which involved electronic

application and for the first time ensured sending proposals and suggestions through a

specially designed form giving the possibility of insight into other submitted comments and

suggestions comments and suggestions of CSOs and other interested citizens.

16

http://strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/diskusija/uputstvo-za-ostavljanje-komentara/

http://www.strategija.civilnodrusvo.gov.rs/

http://strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/diskusija/uputstvo-za-ostavljanje-komentara/


24

Civil society organisations and interested individuals who were not able to attend the

consultation meetings, according to the Instruction for leaving comments, could send their

proposals and suggestions directly to the text of the Strategy, in the part relevant for the

comments. Before being published, the comments underwent the authorisation process by

administrators. The comments which did not refer to the text of the Strategy Draft were not

published, just as those comments which did not contribute to constructive communication

among site visitor, contained impolite use of the language or referred to any form of speech

encouraging or spreading racial, national, religious, sex, gender or any other form of hatred

and intolerance or which violated the right to privacy and other human rights.

In the period between 15th

September and 1st December 2014, after the completion of

online commenting, there were as many as 153 comments. The Office forwarded all received

comments for further consideration to the Expert and the Project groups for the sake of

potential amendments and supplements of the Strategy text. The comments containing only

praise and criticism, i.e. those which did not refer to the subject of the Strategy regulation or

did not contain any concrete proposals for improving the Strategy text were not forwarded.

The plan for the beginning of 2015 is to conduct public consultations about the

Strategy drafts and the accompanying Action plan, where the public will be able to see which

of the proposals are adopted.

The Strategy is planned to be adopted by the Government in the middle of 2015.

2.6. Trainings of civil servants

Within the training program organised by the Department of Human Resources

Management and with the support of GIZ program for legal and judicial reforms, two

trainings focused on “Coordination and cooperation in the law-making procedure” were

held on 24–25th

April and on 3rd

October 2014. On this occasion, the Office representative

acquainted the participants with the Office’s competence and activities as well as with the

document Guidelines for including CSOs in law-making procedures, with the aim of

improving cooperation of public administration institutions and CSOs and the participation of

CSOs in the processes of preparing, adopting and implementing regulations which define

issues and attitudes of public interest.

The aim of the training was to acquaint the participants with skills and techniques of

organising effective and efficient ministerial and inter-ministerial consultation meetings and

public debates as well as with models for participation of interested public and CSOs.

2.7. Conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings (sector and inter-sector)


25

Organising panels, meetings and conferences with the aim of increasing capacities and

sustainability of civil society organisations, as well as cooperation and exchange of

experiences with similar government institutions in the region, EU member states and the

world represents an important segment of the Office’s mandate. In order to fulfil its mandate,

the Office initiated and was the partner in organising many national, regional and European

gatherings

During the reporting period the Office representatives participated in as many as 99

gatherings (workshops, conferences, seminars, and meetings) as initiators, organisers and

partners. Since the number of these gatherings is quite large, there is a review of several most

important ones.

The Director of the Office gave Telecom Serbia VIRTUS award for corporate

philanthropy in the category of long-term partnership between profit and non-profit

sectors. This award, which is given for the seventh time in Serbia, was established with the

aim of promoting and encouraging corporate philanthropy in Serbia by attracting as many

companies and enterprises as possible to participate in socially responsible activities and

projects. The grand ceremony was held in Belgrade’s Hyatt Hotel on 19th

January 2014.

VIRTUS award is organised by TRAG foundation for local initiatives (former BCIF – Balkan

Community Initiative Fund) with the financial support by US Agency for International

Development (USAID) in partnership with the Institute of Sustainable Communities (ISC)

and the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team in the Government of the Republic of

Serbia (SIPRU).

The Director of the Office participated in the work of the Annual meeting and

business forum of the European Bank or Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),

which was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 14th

and 15th

May. Recognizing the significance of the

civil society in transition processes, the EBRD Civil Society Engagement Unit organised the

panel discussion entitled “Civil society as a partner in transition”. This panel was part of the

parallel gathering within the EBRD Annual meeting entitled the Civil Society Program. In

her speech within this panel the Director of the Office emphasized the importance of

democratic efforts of the civil society and cooperation with the public sector with the aim of

creating a better society. She noted that the Governments of the states had recognized civil

society organisations (CSOs) as powerful partners in creating policies and that now there was

the obligation of creating motivating conditions for enabling CSOs to achieve their goals,

including those at the local level.

The Office representative attended the two-day conference entitled “OSCE and

human right defenders: Budapest document 20 years later”, held in Bern, Switzerland, on

10th

and 11th

June. Besides the Director of the Office, the meeting was also attended by Ivan

Mrkić, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Serbia and Ambassador Dejan Šahović,

Head of the Foreign Ministry's working group for Serbia's OSCE chairmanship. Apart from

the topic important for all OSCE members, the participation of the representatives of the

Republic of Serbia at the conference was also significant in the light of the fact that Serbia


26

will take over OSCE chairmanship in 2015. The conference was dedicated to the topic of the

current condition in the sphere of protecting human right defenders and the role of civil

society organisations in improving this sphere. The gathering was organised as the place for

conversation and exchange of opinions about future activities of member-states with the aim

of strengthening their support to human right defenders and improving their position.

On 17th

June 2014 the Director of the Office took part in the event within the initiative

“Dobro ČiniTi”, by which its founders wanted to gather all those willing to get involved in

charitable giving. The way in of spending collecting funds will be monitored with the support

of Catalyst Foundation. The gathering of the initiative “Dobro ČiniTi” was dedicated to

collecting funds for the flooded areas.

On 4th

July 2014 the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society and the Office for

assistance and rehabilitation of flooded areas organised the first Coordination meeting with

civil society organisations which participated in providing assistance to people in he

flood-stricken areas. The meeting was held upon the proposal of numerous organisations

gathered within the initiative United for Serbia. The meeting was attended by the

representatives of the European Integrations Office, the Office for assistance and

rehabilitation of flooded areas, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social

Policy, the Ministry of Youth and Sports as well as by the representatives of over 30 CSOs.

The purpose of the gathering was to establish dialogue and cooperation of the state bodies

with civil society organisations with the aim of more efficient assistance to the people in the

flood-stricken territory.

In the course of 2014 the Office continued with the practice of regular sectorial

meetings attended by the decision-makers from the line Ministries and the representatives of

relevant civil society organisations. Apart from their informative character, these meetings

open the possibility of civil society organisations influencing the process of decision-making

as well as establishing cooperation and networking both inside the civil sector and between

sectors. The representatives of the Ministries present the plans of their Ministries for the

following period with an overview of those activities which may involve CSOs, as well as

about current amendments to the legislation framework. The established mechanisms are

presented and the new mechanism are recommended about the cooperation with CSOs, or the

ways in which these organisations can get involved in the activities of the Ministries, make

their contribution and influence decision-making, primarily in the respect of improving

current draft acts.

The sector meeting in the field of agriculture was held in Belgrade on 20th

January

2014. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management was represented by

Minister Dragan Glamočić, State Secretary Danilo Golubović, Head of the Sector for Rural

Development Programming and Promotion Aleksandar Bogunović, Assistant Director of the

Directorate for Agrarian Payments Bojan Živadinović and Head of the Rural Development

Sector Dragan Mirković. There were also more than 100 representatives of CSOs from this

sector. The meeting was organised with the aim of establishing continued, two-way and


27

interactive cooperation between the two sectors. By organising sector meetings the Office

helps line Ministries to inform citizens and civil society organisations about realized and

planned activities in the following year, particularly within the context of the EU membership

negotiation process, with a special emphasis on debate and suggestions to the line ministry

about the implementation of policies at the local level.

On 22nd

January in Belgrade a sector meeting of the Ministry of Health was held with

more than 100 CSOs from the sphere of health. On behalf of the Ministry, Assistant Minister

Darko Laketić, PhD sci. med., presented the Work plan of the Ministry of Health for 2014,

with a special review of the legal framework and regulations to be adopted in the course of

the year. Radmila Ivanek, special advisor to the minister, spoke about the implementation of

the Law on Protection of Patients’ Rights which was adopted last year. The session about

proposals of cooperation mechanisms between the Ministry and CSOs was addressed by Dr

Dubravka Šaranović, senior advisor in the Sector for public health and program health

protection, who expressed the willingness of the Ministry to cooperate with CSOs, and

emphasized the need and readiness to hold quarterly meetings, while noting that the budget

included funds for calls of civil society organisations and professional associations.

On 8th

July in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and

Technological Development and the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia

to the European Union, the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society organised a public

debate about the Draft Law on amendments and supplements to the Law on Higher

Education, which was attended by the representatives of the above-mentioned Ministry,

experts, representatives of the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the

European Union and representatives of more than 30 CSOs. The representatives of CSOs had

the opportunity to make their comments and suggestions regarding the proposed legislative

solutions.

The working meeting with civil society organisations about amendments to the

Law on Textbooks and other Teaching Aids was held on 15th

September 2014 in the

organisation of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society and the Ministry of Education,

Science and Technological Development. The participants were acquainted with the general

review of the amendments to the Law on Textbooks and other Teaching Aids while problems

in implementation of the existing law were defined during the discussion. The holding of this

meeting represents the application of the new work principle of the Ministry of Education,

Science and Technological Development, which involves acquainting organisations with

legislative proposals in the initial preparation stage and before public debate, which should

ensure the production of better-quality regulations while considering problems in practice.

The coordination meeting of the Anti-corruption Agency with CSOs was organised on

19th

November with the support of the Office in order to establish the system of permanent

coordination of CSOs in anti-corruption campaign (Measure 4.5.6. from the Action plan for

implementing the National anti-corruption strategy from 2013 to 2018) and to increase active

participation of CSOs in combating corruption.


28

2.8. Cooperation with associations and other CSOs

Everyday activities of the Office involve regular communication and mediation in

communication and cooperation between ministries and other public administration

institutions and civil society organisations

On a daily basis the Office receives a large number of requests and appeals from

CSOs which mainly ask for support in financing projects, about establishing cooperation with

public administration bodies, networking with other CSOs as well as for assistance in

mediation in solving problems in application of regulations and requesting access to

information of public importance. Representatives of organisations address the Office via

letters, e-mails, the contact form on the webpage, social networks (Facebook, twitter), by

telephone or in person, at gatherings or through organising meetings.

The Office employees try to reply each request/application/inquiry within the shortest

period of time by offering accurate and complete information.

3. EU INTEGRATIONS, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL

COOPERATION

3.1. EU integrations

3.1.1. Annual progress report

The Office took part in preparation of contributions for the Annual progress report of

the Republic of Serbia in the EU accession process for 2014. The contribution involves the

most important initiatives and activities of the Office in 2013 regarding the creation of an

enabling environment for civil society development, transparent financing of CSOs from

public funds of the Republic of Serbia as well as contributions of the Office regarding

European integrations and negotiation process about accession of the Republic of Serbia to

the European Union and inclusion of CSOs in that process.

In this year’s report the Office was mentioned in the following context: “The Office

for Cooperation with Civil Society has improved its organisational capacities and played an

important role in ensuring the civil society participation in the screening process. In August

the Government adopted Guidelines for including civil society organisations in the law-

making process. It is necessary to ensure consistent implementation of these instruments and

mechanisms and to increase transparency in allocating budget funds intended for the civil

society…”17

17

http://www.seio.gov.rs/dokumenta/eu-dokumenta.211.html

http://www.seio.gov.rs/dokumenta/eu-dokumenta.211.html


29

3.1.2. Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European

communities and their member-states and the Republic of Serbia

The Office participates in the work of three subcommittees for implementing the

Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European communities and their

member-states, on the one side, and of the Republic of Serbia on the other side:

Subcommittee for justice, freedom and security of the Stabilisation and Association

Committee,

Subcommittee for research, innovations, information society and social policy of the

Stabilisation and Association Committee and

Special group for public administration reform of the Stabilisation and Association

Committee.

3.1.3. EU accession negotiations

According to the Decision about establishing the Coordination body for EU accession

process, the Office participates in the work of the Council of the Coordination body and is

a member of eleven Negotiating groups

The Office is a member of the Council of the Coordination body as well as of the

Negotiating group on competition (Chapter 8), Negotiating group on information society and

the media (Chapter 10), Negotiating group on agriculture and rural development (Chapter

11), Negotiating group on social policy and employment (Chapter 19), Negotiating group on

regional policy and coordination of structural instruments (Chapter 22), Negotiating group on

justice and fundamental rights (Chapter 23), Negotiating group on justice, freedom and

security issues (Chapter 24), Negotiating group on science and research (Chapter 25),

Negotiating group on education and culture (Chapter 26), Negotiating group on environment

(Chapter 27) and Negotiating group on consumer protection and health protection (Chapter

28). In this role the Office is a channel for communication and cooperation between

Negotiating groups and civil society organisations, with the aim of identifying relevant

expertise of the civil society which can contribute to EU accession process.

During 2014, just as during the previous year, the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society, in cooperation with the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia to

the European Union and relevant institutions for corresponding negotiation chapters, worked

on including CSOs in the negotiation process for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the

European Union. So far the modalities of participation of CSOs in this process primarily

included monitoring sessions on the Internet with the aim of having an explanatory analytical

review of harmonisation of the legislation of the Republic of Serbia with EU legal acquis

(screening), participating in preparing bilateral screening for certain chapters, briefing

meetings with the aim of informing civil society organisations about bilateral screenings

http://www.seio.gov.rs/serbia-and-eu/who-is-who.823.html


30

which were held as well as participating in production of the Action plan for negotiation

Chapter 23 – Judicial system and fundamental rights.

In 2014 the Internet broadcast of explanatory screening was organised for the

following Chapters: 1 (Movement of Goods), 2 (Movement of Workers), 3 (Establishment

and Freedom of Services), 4 (Free Movement of Capital), 5 (Public Procurement), 6

(Company Law), 7 (Intellectual Property Rights), 8 (Competition), 10 (Information society

and media), 11 (Agriculture and rural development), 12 (Food Safety, Veterinary and

Phytosanitary Issues), 13 (Fisheries), 14 (Transport), 15 (Energy), 16 (Taxation), 17

(Economic and Monetary Issues), 18 (Statistics), 19 (Social Policy and Employment), 20

(Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy), 21 (Trans-European Networks), 22 (Regional policy

and coordination of structural instruments), 25 (Science and research), 26 (Education and

culture), 27 (Environment), 28 (Consumer Protection and Health Protection), 29 (the

Customs Union), 30 (Economic External Relations), 31 (Foreign, Security and Defence

Policy).

All invitations for monitoring Internet broadcasts of explanatory screenings were

public and published on the official webpage of the Office. Internet broadcasts of explanatory

screenings for the above-mentioned Chapters were attended by about 500 representatives of

relevant CSOs.

In 2014, in cooperation with the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of

Serbia to the European Union, the European Integrations Office and relevant institutions for

negotiation chapters, the Office organised 15 meetings where it acquainted CSOs with the

details of bilateral screening for the total of 17 chapters. These meetings are chaired by

Professor Tanja Miščević, PhD, Head of the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic

of Serbia to the European Union, with the presence of the heads of negotiating groups and

other representatives of relevant institutions for corresponding negotiation chapters, as well

as representatives of the European Integrations Office and the Office for Cooperation with

Civil Society.

These meetings were attended by more than 300 representatives of CSOs in 2014.

The participants evaluated the meetings as exceptionally successful ones which will

serve as a good example for informing representatives of civil society organisations after the

completion of screenings in all negotiation chapters.

The Ministry of Justice expressed willingness for further inclusion of CSOs in the

following stage of negotiations – production of the Action plan for implementing

recommendations from the Report on screening, having in mind that civil society

organisations have followed and participated in the reform and European integrations

processes of the Republic of Serbia for years and that their contribution can be of great use to

the harmonisation process with EU legal acquis and therefore to the society on the whole.


























31

In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society invited civil society organisations to participate in the preparation of the Action plan

for Chapter 23 – Justice and Fundamental Rights. The total of 5 organisations sent their

proposals.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society invited civil society organisations dealing with the spheres within Chapter 23 –

Justice and Fundamental Rights, to participate in making comments about the Action plan

draft for Chapter 23. The total of 7 organisations submitted their comments about this

Action plan draft.

At the request of the Negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the

European Union, the Office made the Report on participation of CSOs in the negotiation

process for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union18

, which shows the

modalities of participation of CSOs in this process so far. The Report also contains the

Office’s recommendations about further inclusion of CSOs in the negotiation process for

accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union, the most important of which refer

to the need for further inclusion of CSOs in the preparation of bilateral screenings on the

basis of good experience regarding Chapter 23, the continuation of established practice of

inviting organisations to briefing meetings after the completion of bilateral screenings,

ensuring greater transparency in the work with the aim of broader informing the interested

public, including the publishing of presentations from bilateral screening, the questions of the

European Commission and reports from bilateral screenings and briefing meetings on the

webpages of relevant institutions. Moreover, the Office’s recommendation is that it is

necessary to harmonise future models of including CSOs in the production of negotiating

positions.

3.2. The Office as the National contact point for EU program “Europe for

Citizens”

Since November 2012 the Republic of Serbia has participated in the program “Europe

for male and female citizens” with the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society as the

national contact point.

On 4th

April 2014 the Office took part in the bilateral screening meeting for Chapter

26 – Education and culture. The meeting presented the participation of the Republic of Serbia

in the program “Europe for male and female citizens” and the results achieved by CSOs and

local self-governments, which received ten times more funds in comparison to the

contribution to the above-mentioned program in 2013.

18

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/izdvajamo/izvestaj-o-dosadasnjem-ucescu-ocd-u-procesu-pregovora-o-

pristupanju-republike-srbije-evropskoj-uniji/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/izdvajamo/izvestaj-o-dosadasnjem-ucescu-ocd-u-procesu-pregovora-o-pristupanju-republike-srbije-evropskoj-uniji/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/izdvajamo/izvestaj-o-dosadasnjem-ucescu-ocd-u-procesu-pregovora-o-pristupanju-republike-srbije-evropskoj-uniji/


32

On 14th

April 2014 the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted the

Regulation about the program “Europe for male and female citizens” for 2014–2020. The

general goal of the Program is the contribution to better understanding of the European

Union, its history and diversity, promotion of European citizenship and improvement of

citizen and democratic participation at the level of the Union.

On 27th

October 2014 in Brussels, Belgium, Ivana Ćirković, Director of the Office for

Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia signed the

Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union about

the participation of the Republic of Serbia in the program “Europe for male and female

citizens” from 2014 to 2020. Gregory Paulger, Director-General of the General Directorate

for Communications, signed the document on behalf of the European Commission.

On 26th

May 2014, with the aim of informing the interested public about possibilities

and ways of participation in the new program cycle 2014–2020, the Office organised the

information meeting on the occasion of presenting the program “Europe for male and female

citizens 2014–2020” and its priorities for 2014. The meeting was attended by more than 80

representatives of local self-government units and CSOs. In July the Office organised two

more info sessions about this program in Novi Sad and Niš. About 120 representatives of

local self-governments and CSOs took part in these info sessions. The Office also organised

the presentation of the program “Europe for male and female citizens” on 30th

August 2014

within the festival “Biciklana fest”, which gathered members of cycling associations from

entire Europe. The presentation was aimed at the potential connecting of European towns in

order to improve the cycling infrastructure. About 400 information brochures about the

program were prepared and distributed at the above-listed gatherings.

In June 2014 the Office took part in the International forum for project development

within the program “Europe for male and female citizens” in Sarajevo, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, which was aimed at encouraging cooperation in local communities in the

countries participating in the Forum (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro,

Austria and Croatia).

The Office also participated in the workshop dedicated to this program which was

organized by the Permanent conference of towns and municipalities.

During November the Office also made three public calls for civil society

organisations and local self-government units in the territory of the Republic of Serbia for

participation in gatherings dedicated to the program “Europe for male and female citizens” as

follows:

Regional contact seminar “Local partnership for Europe”, which was held in

Ljubljana on 24th

and 25th

November 2014 with the aim of promoting local

partnerships between CSOs and public institutions and their cooperation in Central

Europe and in the West Balkans in order to prepare successful common projects for

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/kancelarija/nas-tim/zaposleni/


33

the European Union program “Europe for male and female citizens”. The meeting

gathered about 50 representatives of the civil society and local self-governments from

the region – Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and

Albania. On the public call basis the Office chose 2 representatives from Serbia as

well. The organiser of the meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was the Centre for mobility

and European educational and training programs of the Republic of Slovenia, which is

the national contact point for the European Union program “Europe for male and

female citizens” in Slovenia.

Regional forum Europe for citizens held in Zagreb on 27th

and 28th

November 2014

was aimed at forming partnerships for development of project ideas within the

program “Europe for male and female citizens”. The participants – representatives of

the civil society and local self-governments of the countries in the region – Croatia,

Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina – had the opportunity to devise

creative project ideas, i.e. future project proposals, together with potential partners

from the above-listed countries. Three representatives from Serbia attended the forum.

The gathering in Zagreb was organised by the Office for Cooperation with NGOs of

the Republic of Croatia, which is the national contact point for the European Union

program “Europe for male and female citizens” in Croatia.

Regional forum “Europe for citizens 2014 –2020” was held on 8th

and 9th

December

2014 in Laktaši (near Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The aim of the forum

was to form partnerships for development of project ideas within the program

“Europe for male and female citizens”. The forum was organised by the Ministry of

Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the Directorate for European

Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of economic relations and

regional cooperation of the Republic of Srpska. There were 4 representatives of CSOs

and one representative of the local self-government from Serbia.

The representatives of the Office as the national contact point for this program also

attended these gatherings.

In December 2014 the Office published the Report on results of the program “Europe

for male and female citizens” in 201419

:

- 27 organisations and local self-government units from Serbia applied during 2014;

- 1 project submitted by the applicant from Serbia was approved and the amount of

132.500 euros was granted;

- 38 organisations and local self-government units are partners on projects approved

during 2014; they also received part of funds but the precise amount is still unknown.

19

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/izvestaj-o-rezultatima-evrope-za-gradjane-gradjanke-za-2014-godinu/

http://civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/vesti/izvestaj-o-rezultatima-evrope-za-gradjane-gradjanke-za-2014-godinu/


34

In December 2014 the Office also published annual priorities of the program “Europe

for male and female citizens” for 2015 so that potential users of the program could prepare

better for the first call within the program in 2015. Within Chapter 1 of this program priority

will be given to the projects marking World War 2 and consequences of this war in the post-

war construction of Europe. Within Chapter 2 of the program “Europe for male and female

citizens”, priorities will refer to the debate about the future of Europe. Male and female

citizens are invited to participate in discussions through projects or their active engagement in

organisations participating in the program “Europe for male and female citizens”. The debate

should not be restricted solely to those citizens who support the idea of the European Union

but it should also reach those who have not been involved so far or those who are completely

against the Union or question its achievements.

3.3. Planning and programming of international development assistance

The Office took part in the meetings of Sectorial work groups for programming EU

funds, which were aimed at prioritizing activities and measures in sectors and coordinating

activities financed by donors in the following period, as well as activities defined in the

document “National priorities for international assistance for the period 2014–2017 with

projections until 2020”. The Office submitted comments and proposals for improving the

Action plans in the sphere of internal affairs, public administration reform, energy,

environment protection, education, agriculture and rural development.

In order to continue cooperation with civil society organisations in the sphere of

planning, programming, monitoring and reporting about international assistance with the

focus on the Instrument for pre-accession assistance, the Office was a member of the

Committee for selection of Sectorial CSOs (SCSOs) and on the basis of the Public call by

the European Integrations Office at the end of May.

3.4. Co-financing projects of CSOs

During 2014 the Office conducted monitoring of 12 co-financed projects of civil

society organisations which were supported within the program “Support to civil society

2011–2013” – National Program for 2011 and 13 co-financed projects within the program

Support to civil society 2011–2013” – National Program for 2012 .

Continuing the established practice of supporting civil society organisations, in April

2014 the Office published the third public call for co-financing projects, this time for civil

society organisations which were allocated the European Union funds within the program

“Europe for male and female citizens” in 2013. There were as many as 4 applications. In

the middle of may the Office published on its webpage the decision about selection of

projects for co-financing from the budget of the Republic of Serbia after the completed public

call, according to which co-financing was approved for 4 projects of CSOs in the total

amount of 832.593 dinars as follows:


35

1. Project “Participation Y Generation”, the application was submitted by the citizen

association Lоvеfеst Vrnjačka Banja;

2. Project “Citizens outside walls, the application was submitted by the association

Volunteering Centre of Vojvodina;

3. Project “European network of citizen resource centres”, the application was

submitted by the Club for strengthening the young 018;

4. Project “Expansion and citizenship: Look into the Future”, the application was

submitted by the association Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies.

The general goal of the call was to encourage international and regional cooperation,

promote values on which the European Union is based and to use the European Union funds

efficiently.

The specific aim of the call is offering support to associations in further development

and promotion of active citizenship, participation in building unique European identity,

cherishing affiliation to the European Union, increasing tolerance, understanding and

intercultural dialogue as well as respect and promotion of diversity.

The grand ceremony of granting contracts on co-financing 4 projects of civil society

organisations was held on 26th

May 2014 within the information meeting on the occasion of

presenting the program “Europe for male and female citizens 2014–2020” and its priorities

for 2014, where the grantees of the funds described their experiences in applying for the

program “Europe for male and female citizens”, the process of searching for partners for the

project and experiences in conducting the projects.

On 10th

September 2014 the Office published the Public call for co-financing

projects of associations and other CSOs which were granted the funds of the European

Union or other international donors with the aim of helping people in the flood-stricken

areas. The general goal of the call was to provide assistance to people in the flood-stricken

areas and to encourage cooperation and coordination in the work of local self-governments

and CSOs in relieving flood consequences. As many as 6 projects in the total amount of

4.608.674,730 dinars were approved as follows:

1. Project “Humanitarian aid to flood victims in Serbia – Secure world for children”,

the application was submitted by Foundation SOS Children Villages of Serbia;

2. Project “Support to the most vulnerable groups in flooded areas ”, the application

was submitted by Foundation Ana and Vlade Divac;

3. Project “Support in recovery from damage in flood-stricken households in

Svilajnac”, the application was submitted by the association Development

Business Centre Kragujevac;

4. Project “Application of educational drama in development of tolerance and

inclusiveness”, the application was submitted by the association Bazaart;


36

5. Project “Interactive map for supporting civil society organisations engaged in

recovery from consequences of May floods in Serbia”, the application was

submitted by the association Citizen initiatives;

6. Project “Psychological strengthening of Romas in Obrenovac”, the application

was submitted by the association Art of Living.

3.5. Increasing capacity of CSOs

3.5.1. Training for sectorial CSOs and other CSOs

As early as 2013 the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society began organising

trainings “Introduction to the negotiation process in European Union accession” intended for

civil society organisations with the aim of increasing their capacities for potential

participation or monitoring the future EU accession process of Serbia. These trainings are

financed from IPA Program of support to civil society 2011–2013 and within the three-year

project “EU Support to the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society”.

Through these trainings the EU acquis and relevant national legislation were

introduced together with the experiences of experts from negotiating groups and civil society

organisations from the region and EU. The trainings were also attended by representatives of

relevant ministries and the European Integrations Office. The trainings initiated an important

discussion about the role of the civil society in the negotiation process for accession of the

Republic of Serbia to the European Union.

In the course of 2014 the following workshops were held:

On 5th

February 2014 there was the training “Introduction to the negotiation

process in European Union accession and the role of the civil society –

negotiation Chapter 10 (Information society and media)”, where the experience of

the Republic of Croatia in the negotiation process for the given Chapter was presented

by Mr. Jadran Antolovic, former chief negotiator for part of Chapter 10 referring to

the media and Mr. Krešo Antonović, former chief negotiator for part of Chapter 10

referring to telecommunications. The gathering was attended by about 80

representatives of CSOs.

On 5th

March 2014 there was the training “Introduction to the negotiation process

in European Union accession and the role of the civil society – negotiation

Chapters 25 (Science and research) and 26 (Education and culture)”, where Mr

Pero Lučin, Rector of the University in Rijeka and former member of the Croatian

negotiating team responsible for Chapters 25 and 26 presented the experience of the

Republic of Croatia in this process, legislation of the European Union within

negotiation Chapters 25 and 26 and the role of CSOs in monitoring policies in the


37

sphere of science and research, education and culture. The gathering was attended by

about 130 representatives of CSOs.

On 2nd

June 2014 there was the training “Introduction to the negotiation process in

European Union accession and the role of the civil society – negotiation Chapter

11 (Agriculture and rural development)”, where Ms. Ružica Gelo, former member

of the Croatian negotiating team responsible for Chapters 11, 12, 13 and 28 presented

the most important lessons and experience of the Republic of Croatia obtained in the

negotiation process regarding Chapter 11.

On 12th

December 2014 there was the training “Introduction to the negotiation

process in European Union accession and the role of the civil society –

negotiation Chapter 22 – Regional policy and coordination of structural

instruments”, where Ms. Marina Šutalo, coordinator for Chapter 22 in the

negotiations for accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union,

presented the most important lessons and experience of the Republic of Croatia

obtained in the negotiation process regarding Chapter 22. The gathering was attended

by about 25 representatives of CSOs.

3.6. Regional and international cooperation

The international conference – European Citizens’ Initiative Day was held on 1st

April 2014 in Brussels, Belgium, in the organisation of the European Economic and Social

Committee. The aim of the conference was to review the first successful and completed

European Citizens’ Initiatives, to exchange experiences and examples of good practice while

creating recommendations which may increase the efficiency of this direct democracy

instrument and bring it closer to citizens.

The workshop about civil society support in strengthening the role of women in

fighting violent extremism and radicalisation that lead to terrorism was held in Istanbul,

Turkey, on 13th

and 14 May 2013 in the organisation of OSCE and Global Counter Terrorism

Forum. The workshop was aimed at exchanging learned lessons and examples of good

practice regarding the role of women in fighting violent extremism and radicalisation that

lead to terrorism and strengthening women in the public space.

The regional workshop “Conditions of coordination and institutional organisation

in the accession and negotiation process with EU” was held on 23–25th

April in Bečići,

Montenegro, in the organisation of the Network of the European Integrations Offices in the

South East Europe, with the aim of exchanging experiences between representatives of the

countries in the region with a special focus on issues regarding institutional organisation of

negotiations for Chapters 23 and 24, which were the first chapters opened in the negotiation

process of Montenegro and will be closed last.


38

The conference “Is the Catching-Up of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Member States a Mirage” was held on 3rd

December in Brussels, Belgium, in the

organisation of ECAS and the Open Society Institute from Sofia. The aim of the conference

was to mark the tenth anniversary of the fifth EU expansion as well as to discuss the topic of

new member-states which were still behind regarding democracy, rule of law and the quality

of life in comparison to older member-states.

The conference “Regional cooperation in perspective – according to the sustainable

model of support to regional cooperation” was held on 5th

December in Zagreb, Croatia,

within the Assembly of regional platform for culture Kooperativa. The gathering was aimed

at providing the review of perspectives for development of long-term sustainable model of

transnational institutional support to the civil society cooperation in the region.

3.6.1. Participation in regional projects

The Office cooperates on the project “Balkan Civil Society Legal Acquis –

Strengthening the Advocacy and Monitoring Potential and Capacities of Civil Society

Organisations” led by the Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) and

approved within the MB IPA Partnership Programme for Civil Society Organisations.

The aim of this project is strengthened monitoring and advocating issues related to creation of

an enabling environment for civil society development and sustainability as well as

strengthening structures for involving CSOs in the negotiation process with EU. An

important segment of the project refers to the application of Matrix for monitoring enabling

environment for civil society development 20

as a mechanism of postulating the spheres of

civil society development and standards for monitoring civil society development in the West

Balkans and Turkey. The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society recognises the

importance of the Matrix as a tool for self-evaluation of its work.

3.7. Serbia presiding OSCE in 2015

In order to prepare institutions for chairmanship of the Republic of Serbia in the

Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2015, the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs continues preparation activities.

The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society is a member of the Intergovernmental

work group which will coordinate the chairmanship process. On 16th

July 2014 the Office

organised the Coordination meeting with civil society organisations on the occasion of

preparations for the chairmanship of the Republic of Serbia in OSCE in 2015. The meeting

was aimed at presenting the plan and priorities of Serbia’s chairmanship in this international

organisation. Moreover, the representatives of CSOs had the opportunity to become

acquainted with possibilities at their disposal for active participation in the chairmanship

process.

20

http://monitoringmatrix.net/

http://monitoringmatrix.net/


39

3.8. Participation of the Republic of Serbia in the work of the Joint

Consultative Committee (JСС)

On 1 April 2014, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran

and Social Policy, the Office published a public call for submitting applications for

membership in the Joint Consultative Committee consisting of the representatives of the

European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and representatives of social partners and

CSOs in the Republic of Serbia.

The public call contained the criteria which must be fulfilled by civil society

organisations applying their members as well as the criteria which must be fulfilled by each

applicant. Procedures and criteria of the Public call are created in such a manner that the

selection of members of the Joint Consultative Committee from the ranks of the civil society

should be conducted transparently, publicly and with the exclusive and decisive role of civil

society organisations in the selection process. The public call and the list of applicants

fulfilling conditions for application with their resumes and motivation letters were published

on the Office’s webpage with the invitation to civil society organisations to vote for one of

the offered applicants.

The committee stated that 402 civil society organisations had voted for 15 (fifteen)

recommended applicants. The list of applicants with the largest number of votes is as follows:

1. In the priority sphere Rule of law the largest number of votes (22) was received by

Sonja Stojanović Gajić, recommended by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy;

2. In the priority sphere Environment protection, agriculture and rural development

the largest number of votes (6) was received by Zvezdan Kalmar Krnajski Jović,

recommended by the Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development;

3. In the priority sphere Social and economic development the largest number of votes

(94) was received by Ivanka Jovanović, recommended by the National Organisation

of Persons with Disabilities of Serbia.

The Joint Consultative Committee is composed of the representatives of EESC and

representatives of social partners and citizen associations and other CSOs in the Republic of

Serbia, the total of nine members – three representatives of employers, unions and citizen

associations and other CSOs respectively. The Joint Consultative Committee promotes

dialogue and cooperation between social partners and other CSOs in EU and Serbia. This

dialogue and cooperation include all relevant aspects of the relations between EU and Serbia

in the negotiation process for accession.

In April 2014, in cooperation with the Citizen initiatives, the European Movement in

Serbia and TACSO Office in Serbia, the Office organised the Info session about


40

establishing the Joint Consultative Committee (EU-Serbia Civil Society Joint

Consultative Committee – JCC). The meeting was organised with the aim of acquainting

representatives of the civil sector, unions and employers with the role, functions and

responsibilities of the Joint Consultative Committee. Ionut Sibian, Executive Director of the

Civil Society Development Foundation (Romania), President of the Committee for West

Balkans and rapporteur of the European Economic and Social Committee for Serbia-EU

relations, presented the details related to the role, functioning and competences of the Joint

Consultative Committee. Co-chairwoman of the Joint Consultative Committee EU-Croatia

Lidija Pavić Rogošić presented Croatian experiences in establishing and functioning of this

Committee which may be of great help to Serbia which is supposed to undergo this process in

the future.

4. MEDIA AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

During 2014 the Office intensified the communication with interested citizens, civil

society organisations and public administration. By 25th

December 2014 the total of 175

pieces of news about the Office’s activities was published on the official webpage

www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs. The largest number of the news was translated into English.

Many announcements about the Office’s activities, its results as well as about

numerous project activities of CSOs were published on the accounts of social networks

Facebook and Twitter, where the number of followers is constantly increasing.

4.1. Media visibility of the Office

During 2014 the media visibility of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society was

increased in comparison to the previous year. Events which attracted media attention to the

greatest extent were:

1. National conference “Get involved!!! What civil society do you want?!”;

(21st and 22

nd February 2014)

2. Signing the Agreement between the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society and US

Agency for International Development (USAID);

(14th

February 2014)

3. Press conference on the occasion of adopting Guidelines for inclusion of CSOs in the

law-making process;

(22nd

September 2014)

4. Consultation meetings about the first working draft of the National strategy for an

enabling environment for civil society development in the Republic of Serbia for

2014–2018;

(3rd

October – 5th

November 2014)

http://www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/


41

The majority of media contributions had a positive tone and the contributions were

informative, comprehensive and referring to crucial information about the given event as well

as institution – its competences and general context of work in the current year.

Table 1: Number of announcements about activities of the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society in various media in the period from 1st January to 15

th July 2014

Table 2; Number of announcements about activities of the Office for Cooperation with Civil

Society in various media in the period from 1st September to 23

rd December 2014

4.2. Internet presentation of the Office

In order to realize its scope of work to the greatest extent, the Office uses its official

Internet presentation at www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs with the aim of achieving the pro-active



42

communication with all the interested parties. The Internet page is written in Serbian, both in

Latin alphabet and Cyrillic and it also has the English version

The principles observed by the Office in its work are transparency, availability,

openness for cooperation with all sectors (private, public and civil ones), continued studying

and development of capacities, promptness of answers to received questions while our

priority is accuracy of placed information. These principles are also applied on the Internet

page, where visitors can send letters and register for the mailing list of the Office.

Statistics of visits to the website in the first 6 months of 2014

number of visits to the

website

46.587

total number of viewed

pages

152.095

Statistics of visits to the website in the second half of 2014

number of visits to the

website

28.886

total number of viewed

pages

96.924

Only during the first 6 months of 2014 the Office managed to exceed the total

statistics from 2013, which can be seen unambiguously from the enclosed picture.

Chart 1: Statistics of visits to the website www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs in the period

January–July 2014



43

Chart 2: Statistics of visits to the website www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs in the period

July–December 2014

Chart 3: Comparative analysis of the first and second half of statistics of visits to the

website www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs during 2014

On the basis of analysis of the Office’s website it can be seen that there is a trend of

creating permanent audience as well as the fact that the website is gaining significance and

importance as an important media, which indicates that the manner of the Office’s Internet

communication is adequate and evidently achieves good results. It is quite certain that the

largest number of visits will be achieved (in comparison to the previous period in 2012) and

that the statistics will be definitely the best by all parameters but within usual limits for the

website of this type, having in mind the specific topic, the language used in communication

and, finally, the target group addressed by the Office.




44

It transpires that the engagement on social networks shows excellent results and that

the trend should be used to the maximum in order to keep the momentum lasting for more

than two years. What must definitely worked on and what is planned during this year is the

visual representation of information, their organisation and content categorisation in general.

The existing website does not fulfil the needs of the Office or the needs of visitors to the site

searching for information and therefore they quite frequently find the information via Google

instead of finding it easily on the website itself. This problem will be overcome through the

website reconstruction planned in the forthcoming period.

4.3. Media activities related to the creation of the National strategy

In order to promote the process of making the first National strategy for an enabling

environment for civil society development in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2014–

2018, numerous activities were initiated. The media campaign dedicated to the largest

activity of the Office during 2014 was planned, designed and conducted. The media

campaign is divided into 4 parts:

1. Promotion activities on the occasion of the National conference “Get involved!!!

What civil society do you want?!” (done)

2. Creation of the micro-site dedicated to the production of the strategic document

www.strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs (done)

3. Promotion and media activities before and during the consultation process at the local

level on the occasion of the production of the strategic document (done)

4. Promotion and media activities in the final stage of the production of the document

(before, during and after the public debate about the second National strategy draft)

(planned for the first quarter of 2015)

In promotional and media activities related to the process of producing the National

strategy equal attention is paid to the promotion of this topic in the means of public

information and through our own communication channels so that the visibility of the

institution has been substantially increased through numerous media contributions.

Number of contributions about the Strategy by media type and

category

Pri

nte

d

med

ia Daily 25

Local printed 9

Ele

ctro

nic

med

ia National TV 13

National radio 8

Regional TV 8

Local TV 38

Regional radio 4

Local radio 16

Internet 40

http://www.strategija.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/


45

Agencies 12

TOTAL 169

Table 3: Total number of media announcements about the National strategy

Chart 4: Number of contributions about the Strategy by media type and category

Note:

Printed media (daily, weekly and local)

Electronic media (national, regional and local)

The Office’s activities on the social networks were generally on the constant increase

during 2014. Within the activities related to the National strategy, the use of the social

network profiles was approached strategically so that the largest possible number of CSOs,

local self-government units, media as well as other target public would be informed about the

process of the document production. Hashtag#StrаtеgiјаОCDrs was created for the needs of

communication on the social networks.

FACEBOOK

Posts marked #StrаtеgiјаОCDrs 166

Comments 80

Information sharing 258

Likes 1.526

Number of people with post reach 82.367

Number of followers before the

campaign 2.576

Number of followers after the

campaign 3.459

Table 4: Statistics in absolute numbers

20%

49%

24%

7%

Штампани медији Електронски медији Интернет Агенције


46

Chart 5: Number of profile views and number of followers

TWITTER

Posts tagged #StrategijaOCDrs 432

Comments 42

Information sharing 506

Positive mark 659

Last 4 posts seen by 5.000 people

Number of followers before the

campaign 1.963

Number of followers after the

campaign 3.235

Table 5: Statistics in absolute numbers

93%

3% 4%

ФЕЈСБУК - Број прегледа/пратилаца Број оних који су видели објаве (post reach) Број пратилаца пре кампање

Број пратилаца након кампање


47

Chart 6: Statistics in relative numbers

Chart 7: Number of followers of Twitter account of the Office before and after the campaign

With the aim of broad informing the public and local self-government units the Office

also conducted a mini-campaign which ensured the information about consultation meetings

regarding the working draft of the National strategy to be placed on the total of 51 Internet

pages of local self-government. This also ensured the presence of many representatives of

local self-government at the meetings during October and November in ten towns of the

Republic of Serbia.

49%

19%

32%

ТВИТЕР - објаве/пратиоци Последње 4 објаве видело Број пратилаца пре кампање Број пратилаца након кампање


48

Chart 8: Announcements of consultation meetings on websites of local self-governments

Since the beginning of its promotion on 15th

September, when the consultation

process was opened about the first working draft of the strategic document, the micro-site

dedicated to the National strategy www.strаtеgiја.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs has had over 3.000

visits by 2.035 users who viewed the pages as many as 9.416 times. The average time of page

visits is 3 minutes and 26 seconds.

Chart 9: Statistics of visits to the Strategy micro-site in the period of open online

consultations about the First working draft

http://www.strаtеgiја.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/


49

4.4. The Office and social networks

The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society was very active on social networks

throughout 2014 in order to achieve as efficiently as possible its mandate which implies

permanent communication with associations of citizens and other civil society organisations

The profile on Facebook social network is being increasingly visited. On 14th

July

2014 the page had 3.063 “likes” (semi-annual reporting) while on 25th

December it had 3.686

“likes”. The profile information is posted, distributed, followed and read on a daily basis.

Mostly positive comments are received together with questions and requests for advice

concerning the work of CSOs

As far as social network Twitter is concerned, the Office was also active during this

year under the name @vladaOCDrs. On 14th

July 2014 the profile had 2.691 followers while

on 25th

December 2014 there were 3.445 followers. The number of followers on this network

is increasing progressively (one and a half announcements on Twitter brings one “follower”

on average), which justifies the engagement on the everyday distribution of information

through it. Hashtag#OCDrs which was created with the idea of gathering civil society

organisations in Serbia and enabling them to exchange experiences is now broadly used on

both social networks (Facebook and Twitter).

The Office also has its YouTube channel for distributing its video materials. Since

October 2013 the Office has also been present on social network LinkеdIn. The profile on

YouTube, which is used less than the social networks and more like a search-tool, increased

its number by 7 new followers and now it has 20 followers in total. The number of views of

video-materials increased from 2.012 to 3.995. Currently 27 new videos have been placed –

from the conference about the National strategy and media appearances while new video and

audio materials are expected to be placed in the forthcoming period. On social network

LinkеdIn the number of followers has increased by more than 100% and now there are 102

followers in comparison to 42 last year.

Intensified promotion activities of the Office related to the production of the National

strategy as well as with further everyday communication through all available channels of

communication during 2014 resulted in substantial increase in the number of registered

people in the mailing list of as many as 400% – from 220 to 877.


50

Documents

ANNUAL WORK REPORT January December 2014 - …civilnodrustvo.gov.rs/upload/documents/dokumenta...ANNUAL WORK REPORT January – December 2014 Office for Cooperation with Civil Society