Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) invites participants to an annual policy workshop which will take place on the 27th of May 2014 in the Residence Palace, GMF Offices in Brussels from 10am to 1pm. This year’s topic is “What is the environment in which CSOs work, and what can the EC and Governments do to improve it?”

The workshop will be an opportunity for presenting the regional findings of the monitoring of the enabling environment for civil society development in 7 Western Balkan countries and Turkey. The findings are a result of extensive monitoring conducted by BCSDN’s members through the use of uniquely developed monitoring methodology – The Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development.

The aim of the event is to inform EU stakeholders with the strategic regional outlook on the situation putting into perspective what EC can do to push the reform agenda for improving the enabling environment for civil society development. The workshop will be focused on discussing how the EU and especially the EC can help local civil society strengthen, be credible and hold governments accountable.

Further information on the findings of the country monitoring using Monitoring Matrix can be found under http://monitoringmatrix.net/ as well as in the background paper attached below.

A detailed agenda of the workshop can also be found in the attachment below.