In April, 2023 within the SMART Balkans project, which is implemented in six Western Balkans countries by the Centar za promociju civilnog društva (CPCD) from Bosnia and Herzegovina in partnership with the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) from Albania and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) from North Macedonia, with the financial support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the evaluation of 349 received applications from OCDs, media and creative groups, agreements were signed for the implementation of 76 new projects. The projects were supported with a total amount of 722,840.94 EUR.
All Ceremonies took place in a festive atmosphere, and the new Cooperating partners join the goal of creating a better future and sustainable development of peaceful and inclusive societies of the Western Balkans.
On April 20, 2023, contract signing ceremonies were held in Albania and Montenegro, during which a total of 14 local initiative projects, 4 creative box projects and 4 media projects were awarded. The list of beneficiaries of grants in the implementation of SMART Balkan goals for all three types of grants in Montenegro is available at the link: https://smartbalkansproject.org/me/smart-vijesti-me/potpisani-ugovori-sa-dobitnicima-creative-box-lokalne-inicijative-i-medijskih-grantova-iz-crne-gore. Cooperative partners from Albania are available at the following link: https://smartbalkansproject.org/smart-news/smart-balkans-agreement-signing-ceremony-in-albania-20-april-2023/.
The Agreements signing ceremony in Serbia was held on April 24, and the beneficiaries of grants for 9 projects of local initiatives, 2 Creative box and 2 Media grants can be found at the link: https://smartbalkansproject.org/smart-news/agreement-signing-ceremony-serbia/
On April 28, ceremonies were also held in Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 27 projects of local initiatives, 7 creative groups and 7 media were awarded in three countries for 3 types of grants, and see the lists of beneficiaries on the following links, for Kosovo: bit.ly/3Lx0x9m , for Bosnia and Herzegovina: https://bit.ly/41S0j3H and for North Macedonia: https://bit.ly/3Hyyk0E.
SMART Balkans is a four-year regional project that is implemented with the aim of strengthening participatory democracies and Euro-Atlantic integration in the Western Balkans countries through the strengthening of civil society organizations and networks, with a special emphasis on the areas of security, stability and good governance, whereby regional cooperation is encouraged.
