Field visit to the grantees in March 2022

22/03/2022

During the three-day field visit, ACT representatives visited several CSOs. The visit was organized as part of the regular activities of ACT personnel and included consultations with representatives of supported CSOs regarding the project implementation, its potential challenges, as well as the overall experience gained by associations through grants.

Our colleagues visited the National Coalition for Decentralization (NKD), which is implementing the “Our Place in Serbia” project. The NKD is a formal network of 13 local organizations from 10 cities in central and southeastern Serbia, focused to decentralization and regional development, electoral reform and the European integration process. This network is supported through the grant scheme “Public Advocacy of Civil Society Organizations”. A visit to the organization Media and Reform Center Nis was organized as well. The CSO was supported through the grant scheme “Partnership Initiatives”, which supports joint projects of organizations and units of local self-government. Media and Reform Center Nis is implementing the project “Public debates for public affairs and good decisions – we are building an open administration through building trust and citizen participation.”

ACT representatives also met with representatives of Team 42, which has already been supported twice through the “Local Advocacy Public Grant” grant scheme. During 2021, this organization implemented a project that dealt with the protection of patients’ rights, and from March 1, 2022, it began implementing the project “Leskovac tailored to young people”.  During these three days, ACT members also met with representatives of the two associations that received an institutional grant. These are Polekol, an organization focused on environmental protection, primarily on the issue of water resources and the right to healthy drinking water, as well as the association Da zna, which deals with the protection of human rights, with the main focus on mapping and documenting illegal actions. LGBT + persons in the Republic of Serbia.

The ACT team also visited the Women’s Network 45+, which is a beneficiary of a grant under the scheme “Public Advocacy of Civil Society Networks” for the project “Public Advocacy to Economic Empowerment of Women 45+”