Belgrade Open School organized the traditional ninth Move.Link.Engage. conference, titled "The Strength of Partnership."
"The power of partnership may seem distant and unattainable to many. However, strength lies in partnership, and today we are talking about such positive examples — from Serbia and the region. Whether we, as a society, will succeed in forming collaborations and solving our problems through dialogue depends solely on us," said Milorad Bjeletić, Executive Director of the Belgrade Open School.
This year's conference focused on the best practices of cross-sector cooperation — from initiating dialogue to facilitating decision-making processes and shaping public policies.
"Without participatory democracy, we cannot have adequate reforms. Therefore, it is crucial that civil society organizations engage in dialogue with all branches of government. For example, establishing the Council for Creating a Stimulating Environment for the Development of Civil Society is a good example of how dialogue can be conducted with various sides and how institutional cooperation between the civil and public sectors can be established," said Žarko Stepanović, acting assistant minister in the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue.
The conference placed special emphasis on how to fulfill the recommendations from the 2023 Progress Report on Serbia and involve citizens in reforms related to Serbia's EU accession process.
"Collaboration and partnership between various actors in society are essential for advancing the reform process. Therefore, partnerships between public administration and civil society have great potential to contribute to Serbia’s EU accession process. The civil sector leads this process in many areas, especially in matters of environmental protection and human rights, thus giving a voice to a wide range of political and ecological issues. So, cooperation between civil society organizations (CSOs) and public authorities must be lively and strong," said Anne-Charlotte Malm, head of the Development Cooperation Group at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
Nikola Bertolini, Head of the Cooperation Department at the EU Delegation to Serbia, reflected on the power of information and the importance of dialogue. "When I travel through Serbia and speak, on the one hand, with civil society organizations and, on the other hand, with city mayors, I realize that they are very disconnected and do not communicate with each other enough. Apart from a very small number of good cases and examples of best practices where cooperation exists, the foundation for further work is to think about how to transfer the motivation that civil society organizations have to public authorities. I am pleased that Serbia has a Council for Cooperation between the Government and the Civil Sector, and this is something we have been advocating for years," Bertolini emphasized.
The first panel, titled "Dialogues on Change" highlighted the results of the "Dialogue of Change" project and the positive changes it has brought to various local communities in Serbia. Panelists presented successful examples of cross-sector cooperation, showing different perspectives on partnerships between the civil and public sectors while also sharing experiences and lessons learned regarding dialogue. The panelists particularly focused on how to turn the presented good examples of cooperation into sustainable practices. The panelists were representatives of civil society organizations supported within the "Dialogue of Change" project.
The second session, "Partnership for Reforms" discussed one of the most important documents for all countries aspiring to EU membership: the European Commission's Progress Report on Serbia, which monitors the reform processes at the level of institutional changes. Panelists, partners in the "Europe ASAP" project, discussed the findings of the report, as well as the most significant challenges and obstacles in the accession process. One of the key conclusions of the panel was that sustainable cross-sector partnerships can contribute significantly to the fulfillment of the recommendations from the Annual Report.
The next session focused on the topic of "Mobilization and Community Engagement in the EU Accession Process". Panelists emphasized the importance of community engagement and mobilization, which must be based on expertise, experiences, resources, and shared responsibility in order to fully utilize all development potentials and provide long-term frameworks for solving specific problems.
The final panel addressed the topic of creating an enabling environment for partnerships between the public and civil sectors. The discussion focused on proposals to improve the strategic, normative, and institutional frameworks in decision-making, with a particular focus on public policy design.
The Move.Link.Engage: Power of Partnership event gathered over 170 participants and was organized within the projects "Dialogue of Change: Nurturing Participative and Evidence-Based Policy Dialogue in Reform Processes in Serbia" and "Civil Society for Advancing Serbia's Accession to the European Union – Europe ASAP".