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Author: WeBalkans

Young European Ambassadors attend the Sarajevo Film festival

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

In August, Sarajevo was the centre of the region on the occasion of the 28th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. This year, for the first time, Young European Ambassadors (YEAs) also attended the event as part of the Human Rights Day programme.

 

The programme was attended by 11 YEAs along with volunteers from the Institute for Youth Development, KULT, from Bosnia and Herzegovina. They watched special selections of films, and attended lectures and workshops led by experts in the fields of human rights and engaged art, and took part in panels with participants of the youth programme on “Dealing with the Past.”

 

During these five days, YEAs had the opportunity to watch movies by respected filmmakers like Ari Folman and Joseph Pierson, to listen to the stories and experiences of the most famous Bosnian war reporter, Aida Čerkez, and the leader of the NGO Forgotten Children of War, Ajna Jusić.  They also to spoke with EU Ambassador, Johann Sattler, and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Jan Waltmans. The programme used a combination of art – primarily film – and academic and activist work to ask the question: to whom do human rights belong today?

Boosting farming in Montenegro

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

EU funds create new jobs and better quality products.

Milenko Nedić (47) used to be in the army. In 2005, as part of government reforms, he was declared redundant along with 3,000 other colleagues, and overnight he was jobless. When he had to decide what to do next, he remembered his parents’ background in farming – the only other work he knew about.

Milenko and his wife took out a bank loan and bought the three cows that started their small farm. The beginning was difficult because of the loans’ high interest rates and the couple’s lack of overall financial capacity. Then an opportunity emerged for Milenko and his wife to expand and stabilise their business with support from the EU’s instrument for pre-accession assistance for rural development (IPARD II). “Through IPARD programmes, I have managed to complete the farm’s mechanisation and obtain milking systems, as well as all other equipment I need for the farm. In the last call I received support of about €48,000, which I put together with my own contribution of €32,000,” says Milenko. He now has about 50 cows and one of the biggest farms in the Piva region in Montenegro.

“Before the start of the implementation of the IPARD II programme, we only had two or three processing plants that met the national standards for food safety. We now have over 21 facilities that meet the standards. This fact in itself shows the positive impact that IPARD II has had in Montenegro.”

Safer food

Milenko is not the only IPARD II success story in Montenegro. So far, at least 254 farmers have used IPARD II funds, and have benefited from improvements in working conditions on farms. Gordana Dujović from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management explains that, “before the start of the implementation of the IPARD II programme, we had only two or three processing plants that met the national standards for food safety. We now have over 21 facilities that meet the standards. This fact in itself shows the positive impact that IPARD II has had in Montenegro”. According to Gordana, over 100 new jobs have been created through the IPARD II support so far, and these have mainly gone to young people.

Montenegro is currently using the funds available from the IPARD II programme, which can be used until the end of 2023, and the EU has recently adopted the IPARD III programme for Montenegro for the period 2021-2027. Gordana is confident that IPARD III will be even more successful than the previous programmes. “We are starting IPARD III with much more experience and knowledge gained through the previous implementation of calls of the IPARD II programme. We, as well as the recipients, are much more experienced, and I believe that the benefits will increase significantly. Accreditation of new measures is also planned, so it will open up possibilities for recipients to receive more support, and for Montenegro as a country to withdraw more of the EU funds available to it,” she says.

“The farm provides us with a good life. It requires a lot of work, and most of the money earned needs to be reinvested in production again, but the farm is growing.”

About the programme

Part of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) designed to support reforms in countries in the process of joining the EU, the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD) focuses on the agri-food sectors of those countries and rural areas. Through this tool, the EU provides beneficiaries with financial and technical help to make their agricultural sector and rural areas more sustainable, aligning them with the EU’s common agricultural policy.

Milenko is convinced that without IPARD projects nine out of ten farmers would have to give up agriculture. According to him, not enough members of the labour force are willing to engage in farming, so the mechanisation procured through IPARD calls is an important contribution. “The farm provides us with a good life. It requires a lot of work, and most of the money earned needs to be reinvested in production again, but the farm is growing,” says Milenko.

Scout camp open for adventures in North Macedonia

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

An EU-funded project supports improvement of facilities and services at a scout camp in Struga.

Krste-Jon Scout Camp van be found in a great location: close to the woods as well as the beach along Lake Ohrid.It is  also near the city centre of  Struga. The scout camp opened in the 1970s with very basic infrastructure, and the first additional investments in the camp weren’t made until 2003, when the municipality funded construction of the first concrete building containing eight rooms.

“We had major infrastructure-related problems: we didn’t have toilets, hot water, or lighting.”

Marjan Glavinceski is the head of the Krste-Jon Struga civil society organisation that manages the camp. He explains that despite the beautiful environment where the camp is located, it was not really attractive to visitors. “We had major infrastructure-related problems: we didn’t have toilets, hot water, or lighting.”

Luckily, possibilities opened up for this scout camp three years ago when the camp management decided to look for support to improve its conditions. They looked  found it from the European Union, and together they turned the camp into one of the most attractive sites in the Western Balkans.

The EU-funded Local and Regional Competitiveness Project supported the camp to improve its physical infrastructure as well as to launch new attractions for visitors. To date, the camp has built seven stilted chalets, extended the existing building and improved the infrastructure of the tent pitches. As a result, the camp can now accommodate up to 200 visitors at a time, providing them with proper toilets and hot water.

The project also launched new adventure tourism services, including  scuba diving, bicycle and hiking tours, and kayaking. The project helped purchase equipment for these attractions and supported the training of the instructors. “Now we are able to keep our visitors busy throughout their stay: if they stay for five days, they have a different thing to do each day. The scuba diving in Ohrid lake is currently the most sought-after attraction among visitors,” says Marjan.

“The EU support was crucial. We are a small organisation working locally, and had no potential for growth without this support.”

About the project

The Local and Regional Competitiveness Project (LRCP) is a four-year investment operation financed with a grant from the European Union (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance – IPA II). The project offers a holistic approach to tourism development and destination management and will provide investment funding and capacity building to support sector growth, investment in destinations, and specific destination prosperity. The LRCP objective is to enhance the contribution of tourism to local economic development and improve the capacity of the government and public entities to foster tourism growth and facilitate destination management.

Marjan explains that as a result of the project the number of visitors has increased considerably, and last year the number of visitors from abroad was higher than those from North Macedonia. “The EU support was crucial. We are a small organisation working locally, and had no potential for growth without this support,” says Marjan.

The campsite invested last year’s profit in further improvement of infrastructure and they have plans to introduce new attractions such asparagliding in the future. “We want to develop further and become an important player in the adventure tourism market in the Western Balkans,” says Marjan.

Bebbo app, an online tool for parents in Montenegro

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

An online application that provides reliable parenting advice is now accessible for free to all families in Montenegro.

Maja Miranović is a mother of a five-year-old girl and, like all parents, she is interested in the best positive parenting methods, including the health and safety, development and learning of her daughter. However, getting reliable advice on parenting is not always easy, as there are many sources of official and unofficial information available. Since February this year, Maja has been using the mobile application, Bebbo, to answer most of the key questions she has on positive parenting.

“Given that we live in an era of internet communication and the rise of social networks, we tend to be overwhelmed with information and advice from various sources and are unable to immediately assess the reliability of some of the information. The Bebbo app saves me time and energy because everything I find in it comes from a credible institution, so I recommend it to all the parents I know,” Maja says.

The Bebbo app is a free online tool that was launched in February this year, and Maja was part of a test group of parents who tried Bebbo and provided their suggestions for the further development of the application. Since it was launched, Maja has been actively using and recommending it to other parents. She describes the tips and articles in the Bebbo app as concrete, concise, verified and reliable. “Several ‘brainteasers’ suggested for a given age not only made our time pass faster and entertained her well, but also showed me that my child is capable of thinking in a way that, until then, I had not noticed,” Maja says.

“The application has been downloaded more than 7,800 times in Montenegro. The parents have rated it on average 4.53 out of 5. These figures show that the parents are happy with the app, however, we plan to supplement Bebbo continuously with new content and try to make it useful for as many parents and professionals as possible.”

Professional parenting gathered in one app

The Bebbo app was developed and launched by UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, with the contribution of the European Union. The app is designed to help parents of children under six years of age with easy tips on topics like breastfeeding and baby weaning, health, nutrition, immunisation, learning, toys and games for children, developmental milestones and positive parenting. Helpful and interactive tools help nurture and aid children’s health and development. Ida Ferdinandi, UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Officer in Montenegro, explains that they are very pleased with the results and parents’ feedback so far. “The application has been downloaded more than 7,800 times. The parents have rated it on average 4.53 out of 5. These figures show that the parents are happy with the app, however, we plan to supplement Bebbo continuously with new content and try to make it useful for as many parents and professionals as possible,” says Ida.

Ida further explains that all the content has been developed and validated by early childhood development experts and a large team of professionals including developers, child psychology experts and practitioners. In addition, the UNICEF office in Montenegro worked on adapting the app to specific country needs.

“We had to adapt the content for our context so we partnered with the Institute of Public Health who cross-checked and adjusted some articles, or developed new content. For example, we adapted the vaccination calendar, which is very different from other countries, the paediatric schedule, health services available, and information about phone numbers and hotlines. We had to contextualise, so people in Montenegro can get full services from the Bebbo app,” says Ida.

“The EU financial support was instrumental for both developing the app at regional level and for launching Bebbo locally. The app is richly designed, with plenty of features to satisfy different needs parents might have. The whole process included months of hard work by quite a large professional team. For local adaptation of the app, we used resources from the “EU and UNICEF for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project.”

About the project

 The parenting app was developed by UNICEF. The EU-funded “Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on children and families in the Western Balkans and Turkey” project supported the development of some additional features of the application and enhancements, as well as ongoing technical support to the country offices in the Western Balkans during the adaptation phase. The project was launched in 2021 by UNICEF and the European Commission Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. It aims to strengthen national health, education, early childhood development, and child protection systems to ensure continuity in the provision of core services for vulnerable children and their families in the immediate and the longer-term recovery response to COVID-19. In Montenegro the adaptation of the application was funded through the “EU and Unicef for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project (2020-2023).

According to Ida, the development of the app was very demanding in terms of funds and expertise. “The EU financial support was instrumental for both developing the app at regional level and for launching Bebbo locally. The app is richly designed, with plenty of features to satisfy different needs parents might have. The whole process included months of hard work by quite a large professional team. For local adaptation of the app, we used resources from the “EU and UNICEF for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project, says Ida.

She explains that the Institute for Public Health in Montenegro is considering taking over the management of the app in the long run. In the meantime, UNICEF and the Institute for Public Health are developing new content and publishing it within the app.

YEAs play an active role in EXIT festival

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At this year’s EXIT festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, Young European Ambassadors (YEAs) organised and took part in a range of activities with the aim of promoting EU values, meeting other cultures, and contributing to discussion of important contemporary topics.

 

The first day of the festival was dedicated to getting to know their peers from around the Western Balkans and the rest of Europe, exchanging ideas, and sharing experiences and attitudes. It served as a chance for YEAs to inform people about what the EU offers and the policies it has. Visitors whom they interviewed included members of civil society organisations and other activists on social and environmental issues.

 

According to the visitors, the key topics that the EU should advocate for are recycling; more job opportunities for graduates; fighting against global warming and the use of nuclear energy; immigrants’ rights; the importance of adopting kids in gay marriages; and the environment – specifically the carbon footprint of the EU and sponsorship of inventions that create reusable energy. The overall opinion was that citizens can and should do more in tackling these important issues including contributing to increasing the inclusion of vulnerable groups in society, speaking out on human rights violations and in general being more socially active.

 

Visitors also shared initiatives in everyday life, but also during the EXIT festival, to preserve the environment. Some of the activities that they mentioned were volunteering to clean parks and neighbourhoods and teaching kids in schools how to recycle.

 

Their first associations with the EU included democratic politics, peace, equality, justice, human rights and EU funds for artists. Most of the people interviewed had participated in EU educational programmes or knew someone who had. These included sessions of the European Youth Parliament discussing problems faced by youth in Europe, Erasmus+ projects and other projects related to arts and culture that are funded by the EU.

 

At the end of the interviews, participants offered messages to young people from the Western Balkans on the future of the EU. Three of the most significant were:

 “Be nice to nature, elderly people and kids because everyone appreciates gestures of kindness”

“The European Union was created to maintain peace in Europe, especially between France and Germany. The future of the Union is to prevent more wars like the Ukrainian one from happening.”

“The EU donates a lot of money; you should use it.”

 

During their four days spent at the Petrovaradin fortress, enjoying good music and diversity, YEAs showed once again that EU values are human values, that Western Balkan culture is part of EU culture and that the EU is not only the future of the region but the present as well.

EU and EBRD support small businesses in Albania

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Albania are set to benefit from new financing provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), co-financed by incentive grants from the European Union.

 

The bank is extending a €3 million loan to ProCredit Bank in Albania and the EU is providing €450,000 in incentive grants to support local enterprise investment aimed at boosting competitiveness. More than half of the total loan amount will finance investments in green technology and energy efficiency.

 

The loan will improve the availability of funding for SMEs and support them as they face rising costs in the current economic environment. SMEs will be able to apply for funds to invest in an upgrade or extension of their production facilities, new equipment and operations. Enterprises will also have the opportunity to invest in achieving EU standards in the fields of environmental protection, worker safety and product quality and safety, helping them become more competitive.

 

Participating SMEs are eligible for a grant incentive equivalent to 15% of the loan amount.

21st edition of Dokufest opens up in Prizren

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The international documentary and short film festival, Dokufest, started its 21st edition with the screening of “Fire of Love” by the American director Sara Dosa. Over 250 documentary and short films from all over the world will be screened through the week in Prizren, Kosovo. Aside from screenings, visitors will be able to attend activities such as workshops, masterclasses, and discussions.

 

Each year this largest film festival in Kosovo fills cinemas and improvised screening venues around the historic centre of Prizren with a selection of more than 200 hand-picked films from around the world. Founded with the aim of revitalising cinema and cultural life in Prizren, Dokufest has grown to be the most important documentary and short film festival in South-East Europe and since 2019 has been a BAFTA-qualifying festival for short films. The festival is co-funded by the European Union.

 

This year the festival theme is “How to survive?”, and the topic will be covered from angles such as climate change, physical survival, and the war in Ukraine.

EIB Global visits Montenegro

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A delegation from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union, and its recently established development branch, EIB Global, met the government of Montenegro in Podgorica on 29 July. Their goal was to identify new projects and continue their successful cooperation on accelerating the country’s social and economic development, as well as its accession to the European Union.

 

Led by Acting Managing Director Markus Berndt, the EIB Global delegation met the Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović, Deputy Prime Ministers Jovana Marović and Ervin Ibrahimović, and the country’s Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović. Together, they discussed the investment opportunities for Montenegro unlocked by the European Union’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans, and the ways EIB Global can support Montenegro in attracting the funds made available by this and other EU programmes.

 

Since 2020, EIB Global and the Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro (IDF) have unlocked €150 million in more affordable loans to boost the post-pandemic recovery and decarbonisation of the Montenegrin economy. EIB Global’s cooperation with the IDF has helped small and medium-sized enterprises recover faster from the pandemic and has supported Montenegro’s transition towards a circular, green, sustainable and socially just economy.

YEAs participate in ‘So Keres Europa?!’ forum in Tirana, Albania

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‘So Keres Europa?!’ (in the Roma language, What’s up, Europe?!) is an international week-long social forum, part of the activities under Tirana European Youth capital, which welcomed over 150 young people, including Young European Ambassadors (YEAs), from all over the EU, the Western Balkans and Turkey, to attend a series of workshops. The participants included Roma and non-Roma, who took part in workshops focused on the topics of human and minority rights in Europe, intersectionality, arts and culture, advocacy for youth issues and Roma resistance, in Tirana from 11-17 July.

 

After a full week of workshops, the forum culminated with a public event – The International Roma Youth Festival – where the groups presented the results of their work and representatives of the European Youth Capital, government representatives and national politicians had a chance with those from across Europe to take a stand for the diversity and inclusion of all young people.

 

The event was hosted by Roma Active Albania and Tirana Youth Capital and the forum was co-funded by the EU, Erasmus+ and Tirana European Youth Capital 2022.

Aleksandar Karatosho

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in YEA of the month.

YEA of the Month June 2022

Aleksandar is a student at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. As a Young European Ambassador for two years now, he has contributed to YEA mission in many ways – through his activism, leadership skills, and initiative – especially when it comes to putting youth from North Macedonia on the map and giving young people a voice to speak out. Aleksandar is active in many national and international civic organizations, he took part in numerous events, workshops, and projects. Furthermore, he is a member of the European Democracy Youth Network (EDYN) and the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia and is also a founder and president of the non-profit civic organization Youth Empowerment Association – YEA, which focuses on developing young people’s capacities in various areas.