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CSOs PROVIDING SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

IRIS Network in cooperation with SOLIDAR is organizing the Round Table “CSOs PROVIDING SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES”, dedicated to challenges and opportunities for CSOs providing social services in the Western Balkans, which are related to overcoming current refugee crisis and the latest political and economic pressures inside the European Union that provoked a slowdown of the Enlargement process.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) need to find ways to revamp the Enlargement process and its social dimension in order to enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion. In particular the innovative capacities of CSOs providing social services needs to be strengthened and they need to be supported to strengthen their capacity and directly engage local and regional beneficiaries in decisions around the ‘EU Social Acquis’. These are the main objectives of the EU funded project “Improving the provision of Social Service Delivery in South Eastern Europe through the empowerment of national and regional CSOs” led by ASB-SEE that will be presented at this round table.

The Round Table will bring together policy makers and members of the civil society the possibility to discuss main challenges and opportunities for CSOs providing social services in the Western Balkans as well as the best solutions to make sure that Enlargement process is a catalyzer for social progress and enhancement of socio-economic rights.

More information on the even could be found here.

IRIS Network members attended SOLIDAR Training Academy

SOLIDAR Training Academy “INTEGRATION, INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE – Addressing challenges and opportunities in the social services, education and training sector”, which took a place in International Training Center ILO in Turin, has been officially closed last Friday. The training brought together representatives of 13 Civil Society Organizations from different European countries.

During three days of training, participants were discussing on the current challenges their NGOs are facing to, improved their skills in intercultural dialogue and laid the groundwork for future cooperation. Main topics covered migrant issue and cultural diversities by defining strengths and weaknesses of different social environments, as well as external opportunities and threats which are recognizable through activism of represented organizations. Participant also had the opportunity to share good practices with colleagues from other organizations and to improve skills in the field of promotion of their work through using modern social media approach.

Among the participants, the training was attended by representatives of IRIS Network from Serbia and Albania.