EU TACSO 3 project, in cooperation with Trag Foundation from Serbia, are organising an on-line P2P event under the title “One Year On: Grassroots Organisations at the Forefront of Community Solidarity Response to COVID-19 Pandemic”. The exchange is being organized as a follow-up to the EU TACSO 3 Regional Meet-up on Emergency Response from June 2020. The aim is to complement the discussion on the consequences on civil society and society in general and how to deal with post-crisis patterns in the future. The two-day on-line P2P event will provide space for peer-to-peer learning and joint exploration of local community solutions and common challenges during COVID-19 and other complex crises in reflecting the practical developments and responses by CSOs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specific objectives of the event are to:

• Summarise and present activities undertaken by EU TACSO 3 and other civil society actors in response to COVID-19 pandemic;
• Discuss the lessons learned during the first spike of the COVID-19 pandemic to better coordinate and inform the community response and grassroots actions in future situations of crisis;
• Contribute to building community resilience;
• Open space for discussing challenges and future CSOs strategies for solidarity response in complex crises.

During the event, Trag foundation evaluation on their small grant support programme to 61 organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia during the COVID-19 pandemic that provides insights on how to support local communities in the post-COVID-19 pandemic circumstances.  Supported CSOs from local communities from the three countries as well as CSOs from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Turkey with similar experience will spotlight their experience on positive examples of grass-root response to COVID-19.

The three main topics of discussion will include:

– CSOs as essential social service providers during COVID-19: When the global pandemic hit and lockdown measures were introduced, CSOs were crucial in providing support to vulnerable groups when the institutions were either closed or slow to adapt to the ongoing needs of beneficiaries in the system of social care (persons with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, Roma, elderly etc.).

– Activating community solidarity: grassroots organisations mobilising community resources for immediate relief during the COVID-19 crisis: Many community organisations were very successful in mobilising resources and volunteers to help relief of the direct damaging effects of the COVID-19 crisis. They were quicker to gather and distribute support to those most in need and provide different healthcare resources.

– Is the future of activism on-line? Discussion of on-line community organising challenges and opportunities: Adopting the new normal has left grassroots organisations with mixed feelings. Some feel that authentic activism and community organising could not be done on-line, while in some cases, on-line events have brought new audiences and more accessibility to high-level speakers/ guests.

The event will take place on-line on Wednesday, 9 and Thursday, 10 June 2021.

The event is mainly targeted to the CSOs representative and community-based organisations from the Western Balkan and Turkey.

If you are interested in attending the P2P event, please register here until Monday, 7 June till 15:00 hrs CET.

The working language of the event is English, while simultaneous interpretation will be provided to all main local languages.

The Zoom link to join the event, along with other details, will be sent to all registered participants prior to the event.