Call for participants to the IV Social Regional Academy of IRIS Network

IRIS Network invites participants to take part in IV REGIONAL SOCIAL ACADEMY “Independent living and deinstitutionalization in West Balkan. Are we there yet?”

Event will be held online from  20th to 22nd  October 2021. In order to apply to the Academy, please follow the link.

The call is open until 14th October 2021.

Further information on the Academy can be found on the following link.

Working language of the academy is English, all participants must have a good command of the English language.

Iris Network Balkan Briefings

Under the ‘IRIS NETWORKing – CSOs for protection sensitive migration management’ project, we have developed one regional Balkan Briefings. Within the policy influencing pillar, this document serves to assess quality standards in migration management in the Western Balkan region.

The Balkan Briefings on the quality standards are providing a regional perspective on a) Process and requirements of service standardization; b) Adaptation of licensing system so that the conditions for CSOs are supporting; c) Services that are missing, and which are necessary to be supported; d) Support from local and national governments in achieving structural standards; e) Linking stakeholders from different sectors such as social welfare and education; f) Exchange of experiences with countries that already have a practice of licensing.

The briefings will involve a wide range of inputs aiming to introduce, advance, and monitor quality standards for social and legal services for the migrant population in WB.

Balkan briefings- September 2021

ANNEX 1- References

ANNEX 2- Questionnaires

ANNEX 3- Questionnarie analysis

ANNEX 4- List of relevant institutions

 

 

Iris Network Public Hearing

Iris Network Public Hearing was held in Belgrade yesterday via the Zoom platform. IRIS Network National Coordinators, partner organizations, the Network’s members, representatives of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, representatives of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of EU Integration, the Ministry of Education, representatives of UNICEF, the IOM, and other international and civil society organizations followed the online event.

During the introductory session Shadow Report for Chapter 24 for Serbia, focusing on migration in particular, prepared within the Iris project was presented. It was followed by a discussion about the regional online IRIS Network advocacy campaign Social services for All. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the general public about the importance of social services provided by CSOs, which has been joined so far by a number of member organizations as well as relevant institutions.

 

LIR CD Partners (Iris Network B&H) presented a regional document on identifying needs for improving social services and migration management in the Western Balkans and shared their experiences from the recent Public Hearing on the presentation of the results of the analysis of deficiencies and improvement of social services and social services innovation for vulnerable groups.

After a short discussion and exchange of experiences, two Iris Network members from Serbia – JRS and Osmeh Vlasotince presented their work and the innovative activities they implemented throughout the pandemic and announced the upcoming projects.

 

Throughout the Public Hearing, a number of important issues have been raised. The Iris Network will continue to work on empowering the CSOs to be effective, accountable, and independent actors and to improve their capacity for dialogue with governments for the purpose of influencing policy and decision-making processes as well as on advocating for all the significant issues share among its members.