Civic Initiatives and the EU TACSO 3 project are organizing the fifth ’’PRaćka’’ conference on 20-21 April 2022, in the ’Miljenko Dereta’ Community Space on Dobračina 55 in Belgrade.

The name ’Praćka’ (slingshot) was inspired by the story of David and Goliath, led by the desire to draw attention to how useful small but deadly weapons can be in the fight against big problems. ’’PRaćka’’ is the only conference in the region dedicated to public relations and communications in the nonprofit sector.

In its fifth edition, Civic Initiatives in cooperation with the EU TACSO 3 project, will organize ’’PRaćka’’ as an EU People to People (P2P), which will give the conference a regional character for the first time and provide an opportunity to expand the exchange of knowledge and experience among participants.

Civil society organizations in Serbia and the Western Balkans are facing worrying global trends – the shrinking space for civic action and creeping restrictions to  fundamental freedoms. And in the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has further intensified these trends.

These challenges pose significant obstacles to CSOs’ ability to reach the public, communicate their values ​​and activities, and promote democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law.

The need to focus on communications has grown, and strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations can significantly contribute to combating power imbalances. In order to deal with these problems, we must be as creative and innovative as possible, ready to go beyond the established framework and go a step further when it comes to communicating our activities.

In the panels and workshops for this year’s ’’PRaćka’’, we will talk about how to resist the pressures, and also how to present our work in the best possible way using new tools and technologies.

The goal of this year’s ’’PRaćka’’ is to change our established way of thinking, find new ideas and approaches and apply new methods in overcoming obstacles.

The conference morning sessions will be live streamed on Zoom with simultaneous translations into English and Serbian. To obtain a Zoom link on your email please register here.

Download the draft Agenda.