IDM Albania - SMART Balkans

“Fragments of Utopia”

The project “Fragments of Utopia” embodied the main topic of Mural Fest Kosovo 2023. It went hand in hand with the atmosphere and other activities celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Ferizaj. It all started with a white banner sheet that blended the dreams and needs of the citizens in one question: “What is your ideal city like?”

Firstly, it just drew a lot of attention and quick glances. Step by step, people at all ages started describing their ideal city. Over 60% of the writings, highlighted the lack of public spaces and the great need for the city to breathe and for citizens to have clean and green areas to spend time with their children.

Antika Veseli, the author of the mural, started her journey as a volunteer passionate about art. Once an assistant to international artists, today Antika is a young artist, with passion and vision to give more colors to her city.

“An ideal city, a utopian city, symbolizes dreams and ideas that do not stop, despite everything that is going on in the world. Regardless of how things turn out, we always end up at the relation between the human being and nature as an inescapable and undeniable source outside of everything. My vision for the ideal city unfolds with an illustration of what I feel and think. Buildings bring attention to human creativity, while humans to nature itself, bringing the two together in the same way time does. An atmosphere covered with green and a soft blue color that embraces it, bears witness to the traces of nature and life itself” – said Antika.

The mural was created on the walls of one the schools in Ferizaj, where ironically before it was surrounded by greenery and now it is being swallowed up by tall buildings. This mural is there to remind the new generations that the same mentality should not continue as we need nature, sun and spaces for socialization. After all, the city should belong to the citizens!

”For Social and Environmental Welfare” Berat concluding conference

Our Local initiatives cooperating partner” For Social and Environmental Welfare” Berat held their concluding activity of the project that aimed to improve energy consumption efficiency in Albania. This event was a great gathering opportunity for environmental experts, representatives of the main local institutions, teachers, volunteers and other stakeholders to evaluate the achievements and challenges of this initiative. Piro Xheblati, Director of the Social Services in Berat Municipality in his remarks emphasized the sustainable solutions that this project brought not only to Berat, but also to several other municipalities through the new instrument: “Civic Energy Committee”. Videos, photos and other result-oriented stories were presented to the participants where volunteers talked more about their experience during the educational-awareness campaigns with the community and other capacity building activities.

Watch the summary here: ”For Social and Environmental Welfare” Berat concluding conference

REOPENED Call for NGOs: Facilitating the accreditation and development of the Financial Academy for Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo | Deadline: November 17

Call for NGOs

Facilitating the accreditation and development of the Financial Academy for Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo

Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) is a non-profit organization that provides expertise, political analysis, applied scientific research, and capacity building for key social actors to promote reforms and engagement in evidence-based policy processes. IDM has issued a call for participation in a tender for NGOs registered and active in Kosovo to undertake the “Facilitating the accreditation and development of the Financial Academy for Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo”. This call aims to contract an NGO for the development of this task in accordance with the specifications outlined in the ToR.

The deliverables expected from the engaged NGO are:

Program accreditation: CSO engaged is responsible for accrediting the curricula in Kosovo, adhering to national laws on adult education or relevant legal frameworks.
Communication: CSO engaged is responsible will establish direct communication with relevant public authorities in Kosovo to facilitate the accreditation process.
Curriculum development in finance for CSOs: CSO engaged will collaborate with experts experienced in civil society sector, finance, CSO management, and adult education to develop the Methodology for curriculum development, the reflection of needs analyses, the curriculum, documents, and learning materials.
Delivery of education program: Educate a total of 40 attendees through accredited curricula. Select attendees from CSOs based on applications received through a public call. Aim for gender balance, with ideally the report 50/50. The educations will be conducted in two education cycles per year in 2024 and 2025. The CSO engaged will strive for 16 successful candidates per group to receive the certificate upon program completion.
Documentation: Maintain accurate documentation in alignment with national laws and donor procedures, including attendees’ files, attendee lists, entrance and final examination records, and satisfaction surveys.

In the application email, you should attach all the documentation listed below:

Extract from the NGO’s statute.
Annex 1-Methodology.
Annex 2 – Financial proposal of the bidder, in EURO, inclusive of prices for the listed service.
All additional costs related to the service provision should be included in the above-mentioned prices.
The proposed prices should be valid for the entire contract duration.
The price in the financial proposal must specify that all relevant legal obligations are included.
Curriculum vitae.
Statement of interest (explain how the NGO fulfills the requirements and refer to relevant experiences related to the results).

The evaluation of applications will be conducted according to the following methodology:

CV and/or NGOs experience – 35 %
Methodology – 35%
Financial proposal – 30%

Can apply only NGOs registered and active in Kosovo. The branches of international NGOs are not eligible to apply.

All interested applicants are invited to submit their application to the email address [email protected] with the subject “Application Smart Balkans – Facilitating the accreditation and development of the Financial Academy for Civil Society Organizations in Kosovo”. Development of three tutorial videos” by November 17, 2023, at 17:00.

GLPS Policy Analysis: (TWO) SOVEREIGNS ON A TRAIN

On October 26, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) organized a Roundtable Discussion on the topic: “(Two) Sovereigns on a Train: the few highs and many lows of Kosovo’s Sovereign Fund Initiative”, held in Prishtina. The aim of this event was to discuss the Government’s proposal for the establishment of its Sovereign Fund, from the viewpoint of its constitutionality and impact in economic policies. At the beginning of the event, GLPS presented a Policy Analysis titled: “(Two) Sovereigns on a Train”, that provides a detailed analysis on the Kosovo Sovereign Fund proposal in general and the corresponding Draft Law with its precursory Concept Document in specific. It starts by briefly providing a general overview of Sovereign Wealth Funds and then narrows down to the mainstay of the paper, Kosovo’s Sovereign Fund initiative. The latter section is three-pronged: comprising legal arguments, policy perspectives, and theoretical examinations which push back on several grounds of the initiative. Afterward, the paper concludes with final remarks and recommendations, excised from the substantive parts of the paper.

The author of the Policy Analysis and Research Fellow, Mr. Levik Rashiti, argued that the main problem does not come from the relationship between the Fund and the management of public enterprises, but from the authorizations of the Sovereign Fund to invest in domestic companies, where the criticism was more detailed in the concept of national champions. Adding to this, he further noted that the aspect of public finances (as stipulated in the current Draftlaw) is also a constitutional violation in relation to the free market economy, fair competition, public finances (through derogation without legal alternative). For these, the arguments were built from the legal angle, but amalgamated with issues of politics and economic philosophy (competition rights and issues of monopolies and oligopolies, among others) and comparative aspects.

On the other hand, Mr. Emanuel Bajra, Member of the Working Group for the Sovereign Fund, put emphasis on the positive impact that the Sovereign Fund will have, stressing that a pragmatic approach is required when discussing for the Fund and its structure, a topic discussed since back in 2009. Among other things, Mr. Bajra emphasized the importance he sees in the creation of the capital market and offered his views in support of the aspect of national champions. He also emphasized that an important issue is the investment in foreign markets by the Kosovo Sovereign Fund. In addition, he offered clarifications on the issue of mediation in relation to the external investments of the Sovereign Fund of Kosovo.

Lastly, Ms. Rudina Nallbani Hoxha, Programme Manager at Friedrich-Erbert-Stiftung Office in Kosovo, emphasized the importance of the capital market for the economy and the aspects of the opportunity for investment by citizens as necessary for the latter (investments in startups as an example).

This Roundtable Discussion was organized with the support of the “SMART Balkans – Civil Society for Shared Society in the Western Balkans” regional project implemented by Centar za promociju civilnog društva (CPCD), Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) and financially supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA).

You can read the full Policy Analysis here: Policy Analysis: (TWO) SOVEREIGNS ON A TRAIN

Vatra Psycho-Social Center “Protect the victim, maximum punishment for perpetrators.”

“…From the very moment I heard the news on the media portals about the sexual abuse of a girl, I thought that as a society, we need to do something to seek protection for the victim. And there was no other way… Vatra Psycho-Social Center was at the forefront of work to protect the girl and demand justice on her behalf, but also on behalf of dozens of girls and women who find themselves in situations of abuse and exploitation… On Vatra’s social media (which I follow due to my activism), I became aware of the efforts that Vatra and other organizations in Albania had joined to seek justice, protection, and solidarity. “M.N (activist)

This account from a Vatra activist represents one of the numerous voices that emerged. Vatra Psycho-Social Center engaged in advocacy activities to ensure the protection of a girl who was sexually abused in the city of Vlorë by a group of perpetrators. Immediately after the incident, the center was involved in urging the immediate functioning of the Coordinated Referral Mechanism to take protective measures.

In addition to institutional engagement, Vatra committed to raising the voices of numerous activists, organizations, members of networks, and coalitions it is part of, giving a voice not only to that girl but also to all those girls who are victims of violence, abuse, and exploitation. The protest announced by Vatra and partner organizations on social media with the slogan “We protect the victim, maximum punishment for perpetrators” took place on November 2, 2023, with the participation of representatives from different cities of Albania, civil society activists, and media representatives. Vatra and its partners addressed the Prosecutor’s Office to take protective measures for the victim; conduct a criminal investigation, as well as requested the maximum punishment for the perpetrators.

“…We demand justice for the victim, we demand that law enforcement institutions enforce existing legislation and international conventions… We have hope in you this time!” (Civil society member) *.

“The time has come to change our mindset; we need to educate young people, not only to avoid situations of violence and abuse but to condemn them, not to remain indifferent!” (Civil society member) *

Two days after the protest, it was learned from law enforcement authorities that, as a result of the investigation into protective measures, measures were taken for some violations that occurred in the protection of this case.

ANAD: “Imagine yourself in the local government”

The lack of accessible spaces and activities in Albanian sign language is a barrier to the social inclusion of deaf youth in society, and it is the responsibility of institutions to minimize or eliminate these barriers. Young people and the deaf community have little or no information about local government institutions, their roles, responsibilities, and the services they provide. Therefore, it becomes the duty of these institutions to distribute accessible information in Albanian sign language for equal treatment and access to services. Understanding local self-governance units by citizens is the first step towards a participatory and inclusive democracy. With the aim of educating and informing young people who are deaf about local government, its role, responsibilities, and services, as well as promoting youth activism and inclusive communities, the project “Imagine yourself in the local government” is being implemented. As part of this project, young people who are deaf will have the opportunity to learn more about local government, and the information acquired will be shared with their peers.

Find out more watching the videos prepared by ANAD here: Imagine yourself in the local government

SHKEJ: The importance of collaboration among institutions involved in the child protection system

Our cooperating partner “Shoqata Kombetare Edukim per Jeten” presents an informative and awareness-raising video on the importance of collaboration among institutions involved in the child protection system, promoting an integrated social protection system. Professionals from rural and urban areas of the Municipality of Tirana share insights into challenges and effective solutions, showcasing how collaboration can minimize these issues.

You can watch the video here: The importance of collaboration among institutions involved in the child protection system

Monitoring Visit in Kosovo

The SMART Balkans team visited Pristina and North Mitrovica to meet some of our cooperating partners in Kosovo. We were pleased to have a close discussion with Green Art Center, Udruzennje mladih-Mlada aktivna Gracanica, Community Building Mitrovica, and Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture, beneficiaries of #LocalInitiative grants. Representatives from these organizations shared with the project team the progress of their initiatives, the achieved results and the challenges faced during this period. SMART Balkans project remains committed to promoting stability and sustainable peace based on cooperation and constructive dialogue among communities in Kosovo. Western Balkans need a SMART approach! #SMARTlyconnected

Monitoring Visit in Albania

The SMART Balkans team continued its monitoring visits in Albania. Last week, we met with representatives from Institute for Strategic Development, EU Policy Integration Forum – EU Policy HUB that are our cooperating partners of #LocalInitiative grants and “Tirana Art” Center, supported by #CreativeBox Grants. The keynote of these meetings seems to be Youth. Covering a wide range of topics, from monitoring and supporting Local Youth Councils in Divjakë and Fushë Arrëz municipalities to involving young people in the public discourse on European Integration, and even using art to convey sensitive and awareness-raising messages, the SMART Balkans project aims to contribute to the active involvement of youth in democratic processes in the region. SMART way – participate today! #SMARTlyconnected

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SDK (Community Security and Development)- Youth policies in the municipality of Podujevo

SDK (Community Security and Development) conducted a meeting with municipal authorities to discuss youth policies in the municipality of Podujevo. In this discussion forum, SDK gathered relevant actors from municipal authorities, including representatives from the youth, culture, education, and finance sectors.

The purpose of this meeting was to engage in a dialogue about the challenges and issues encountered during the development of youth activities at the local level. Initially, the challenges presented by young people in relation to local governance were introduced, and simultaneously, the difficulties faced by municipal authorities in the formulation and effective implementation of youth policies at the local level were discussed and elaborated.