During the autumn 2019 (October-December), EU TACSO 3 has conducted a thorough analysis of the state of civil society in the Western Balkans and Turkey (WBT). Through intense consultations with nearly 700 CSOs, public institutions, donors and other stakeholders, the findings of the research have been validated and synthesized in the form of the Report named: Assessment on the State of the Enabling Environment and Capacities of Civil Society against the Guidelines for EU support to Civil Society in Enlargement Region, 2014-2020 for the period 2018-2019.

We proudly announce that the Executive Summary of the Report is publicly available offering for the first time a coherent picture on the state of civil society in the WBT. It presents key findings, conclusions and recommendations with regards to the three major areas: 1) conducive environment for civil society development; 2) changing relations between CSOs and government and 3) capacity of civil society organizations.

The Report has demonstrated that Albania, Kosovo* and North Macedonia have been assessed positively on the conducive environment for development of CSOs, while Turkey, Serbia and, to some extent, Bosnia and Herzegovina have received a negative assessment, leaving Montenegro in the middle. The full Report with detailed findings at the regional level, as well as summary of the situation at the national level, will be available soon.

We are grateful to BCSDN researchers who conducted the field work and prepared the Report and all stakeholders who have contributed to this assessment, including EU Delegations and National Resource Centres in the seven respective IPA Beneficiaries, organisations and donors who have generously shared their resources, data and suggestions.

The full Executive Summary is available here.

 

 

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.