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What are resilience dialogues?
Resilience dialogues are a series of community events, where knowledge and experience are shared among civil society actors with the aim of enhancing their resilience to organized crime. They offer a safe space for exchange of information and common learning of participants and the possibility of identifying common areas of work, and networking for exchange and community support.
Resilience dialogues are part of the GI-TOC’s initiatives to strengthen civil society resilience to organized crime in the Western Balkans. They are organized annually on a national and regional level.
Overview of resilience dialogues 2020
Resilience dialogues in the Western Balkans were first organized in November 2020. Due to the COVID pandemic, the events were organized in hybrid format bringing together more than 110 representatives from the media, academia and NGOs.
The resilience dialogues 2020 were organized with two main goals:
- To bring together resilience actors in each country to better understand local trends and current issues around organized crime and corruption in their communities, as well as their responses.
- To identify common areas of work, create networks for exchange and community support and assess needs for strengthening the resilience of civil society organizations (CSOs) dealing with organized crime and corruption.
In each of the six countries, participants focused on local challenges and concerns. The highlights are summarized below:
Tirana, Albania
Launch of SEE-Obs and first activities in the Western Balkans.
• Objective reporting is difficult in Albania. Representatives of the media argue that many media outlets are linked to political parties and journalists practise self-censorship.
• There is little cooperation between the private sector and NGOs, as those companies that seek cooperation are either run by influential politicians or criminal actors, while others do not have the money to support CSO activities.
• Social enterprises continue to be rare in Albania but there are some notable examples working with youth across the country. This could offer a valuable opportunity for civil society organizations to generate their own funds and become financially more sustainable.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• CSOs receive most information on organized crime and corruption from sensationalistic and tabloid newspapers. There is little objective information on the topic, leading to a fragmented understanding of the phenomenon.
• There is a common sentiment that little can be achieved working for the CSO sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Representatives agree that political connections are essential in many parts of their work.
Pristina, Kosovo
• The situation in northern Kosovo is different from the rest of the country, both in terms of organized crime and corruption trends, and civil society engagement. For example, while funds are available to civil society in the north to work on issues of organized crime and corruption, serious security concerns prevent most people from being engaged in the CSO sector.
• CSOs said they lack capacity to investigate illicit financial activities other than corruption; others reported feeling isolated in their fight against organized crime and corruption.
Podgorica, Montenegro
• In recent years, CSOs have seen themselves as opposing government, as political opposition itself has been weak. NGOs and the media were enthusiastic about the recent elections and possible changes as a consequence. Although they don’t expect the government to last long, they are eager to take advantage of this newly created space.
• The CSO sector appears to be highly polarized. Rather than creating synergies by working with each other, many CSO actors prefer to work on their projects independently and individually.
• One of the few topics where there appears to be consensus among CSOs is the need for free access to information.
Skopje, North Macedonia
• Corruption needs to be addressed both top down (i.e. by government) and bottom up (through pressure exerted by the public). It is important to start by addressing everyday corruption in the public sector, in hospitals, etc. and by shedding light on wrongdoing among corrupt politicians.
• The issues of organized crime and corruption need to be brought closer to the community, their impact explained in a way that is easy for people to understand.
• CSOs expressed reluctance to place the logo of international donors on their projects and websites, as they fear the donor will not support them with their local institutions.
Belgrade, Serbia
• Several years ago, the donor community expected greater engagement of Belgrade-based CSOs with grass-roots organizations, thereby turning the bigger NGOs into mini-donors. This changed the relationship between bigger and smaller CSOs and made cooperation a ‘donor requirement’ rather than partnership.
• Some CSOs cannot afford not to work with the government and to apply for public funds. However, only few manage to get support, as the government appears to be funding mostly NGOs that reflect its own views.
Outcome of the dialogue: Stronger together report
This report is an outcome of the resilience dialogues held in 2020 and looks at organized crime in the Western Balkans from a civil society perspective. It gives an overview of how civil society organizations in the Western Balkans deal with issues related to organized crime and highlights their main activities and concerns.
Overview of resilience dialogues 2021: focus on building bridges with the government
In 2021, the resilience dialogues were organized as in-person meetings in the six capitals of the Western Balkans region between September and December 2021. Each event provided the space for civil society to connect and exchange experiences, and to discuss current issues and trends related to organized crime and corruption in the region.
Why is it important to build bridges with the government? What are the current challenges for cooperation?
The Western Balkans region is a difficult environment for civil society organizations to operate in, especially given that the space for NGOs and the independent media is shrinking. CSOs are subject to smear campaigns, pressure and even intimidation from a number of actors.
There appears to be a fundamental lack of trust on both sides. Some civil society organizations regard the government as the problem, whereas NGOs are seen by some as traitors to the government and society.
Nevertheless, there is some degree of cooperation between civil society and local and central government entities in all six Western Balkan countries, and most see cooperation with state institutions necessary to advance their initiatives.
Hence, this year the resilience dialogue focused on building bridges with government. Participants not only discussed current challenges but also exchanged ideas about common entry points in the joint fight against organized crime as well as next steps moving forward.