A Country Consultations and Validation Meetings on the EUCSG 2020 Assessment Report organized for Montenegro 

EU TACSO 3, in cooperation with the Delegations of the European Union to Montenegro and National Resource Centers (NRCs) organized Country Consultations and Validation Meetings on the EUCSG 2020 Assessment Report for Montenegro, on Thursday, 9 September 2021.

It gathered around 30 various stakeholders: representatives of CSOs, international organisations, public institutions, and government including Ministry of Justice, Human, and Minority Rights; Office of Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society, and Media, Council for Cooperation between state administration bodies and non-governmental organizations, etc.

Ana Lorentzen, Programme Manager at EU Delegation to Montenegro opened the event emphasizing the importance of EU civil society guidelines and relation with the EU financing schemes on a national and regional level. 

Tanja Hafner Ademi, EU TACSO 3 Team Leader presented the regional context and the main assessment findings, covering three main EUCSG areas: the conducive environment for civil society, the mechanisms for cooperation between CSOs and public institutions, and CSOs capacities in the Western Balkan region, and Turkey.

After the presentation of the regional context, Filip Vickovic, Balkan Civil Society Development Network Researcher presented national assessment findings for Montenegro. It was highlighted that although guaranteed by the legal framework, in practice freedom of expression and assembly were restricted in 2020. The national findings conclude that the financial environment for CSOs was not improved in 2020 and was not fully enabling. One of the main issues discussed during the presentation was the need for improving the environment for corporate and individual giving, and increasing the capacity of CSOs for developing fundraising strategies that are not donor-driven, and include private-sector as a resource. It was noted that in 2020, 6,491,388.96 EUR were planned in the Budget line for transfer to NGOs, but only about half, 3,241,812.23 euros was distributed, which creates additional challenges for smaller CSOs, that mainly relies on governmental funding, to implement their regular activities. It was noted that CSOs remain to be perceived as leaders regarding gender mainstreaming, driving the process, and established and recognized women organisations have positioned themselves as counterparts also to the Government with regards to gender policy development. Participants discussed capacity-building activities as very often implemented as part of the CSOs’ projects and activities, but due to fluctuation of the staff, especially in youth organisations, remain to be relevant and needed, especially in certain areas (advocacy, HR management, etc).

Opinions expressed during the meeting will be compiled and further integrated into the final EU CS Guidelines Assessment Report for 2020 for Montenegro.

In the next few days, EU TACSO 3 continues with the consultation caravan. The details of the other meetings are available