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Author: WeBalkans

‘Green lungs’ driving environmental change in Albania

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

Better data, better decisions – a first mapping of air quality carried out with EU support sheds fresh light on Albania’s pollution problem. Now it’s up to decision-makers to act. Albania’s capital, Tirana, is a vibrant city with 850,000 inhabitants, and growing every day. A limited public transport infrastructure prompts residents to drive cars ever more frequently, and the demand for housing has led to a construction industry boom in the last three decades. All this is taking a toll on the levels of air pollution. Without data, Albanians could only make assumptions about the quality of the air that they breathe. The environmental organisation, Milieukontakt, wanted to offer precise information so that better decisions could be made, based on data. Their plan was to measure pollution on a large scale – at over five hundred locations – and at the same time to involve as many people as possible in order to increase awareness of an environmental problem which is invisible but nevertheless makes such an impact.

“Everyone living in Tirana is aware of the poor air quality, but now we have the data to show exactly how bad it is.”

“Everyone living in Tirana is aware of the poor air quality, but now we have the data to show exactly how bad it is,” says Arion Sauku, Project Coordinator for Milieukontakt’s Green Lungs project which was the first to provide such comprehensive data on the problem. The project measured pollution with mobile meters in hundreds of locations across the capital, including the bustling city centre and the busy areas near schools, as well as at stops along Tirana’s longest bus routes. “The greatest air polluters are the transport and construction industries. The levels we’ve measured regularly exceed EU standards. In some cases, they are three to four times higher,” says Sauku. Over a three-year period, and with EU funding, Green Lungs extended its monitoring to three other large cities – Durrës, Elbasan and Shkodër. The results showed the same pollutants, caused by what is most in demand: housing and cars. The European Union has identified depollution, including of water and soil, as one of the main areas that need to be addressed within its Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This is a new growth strategy aspiring to switch from a traditional economic model to a sustainable economy, in line with the European Green Deal.

“There is plentiful information for decision-makers to act on – we’ve generated data, illustrated maps and narratives to indicate hotspots.”

About the programme The Green Lungs project designed and implemented a platform for monitoring air quality and noise pollution, and evaluating the service provided by urban greenery. Green Lungs was supported by the EU-financed Civil Society and Media programme in Albania which is designed to strengthen cross-sector cooperation between the government and civil society, and to develop the capacity of civil society organisations. Green Lungs’ online database means that anyone in the project cities can identify the air quality hotspots in their neighbourhood and the project has also educated young people about this issue in schools. In addition to air quality measurements, the platform established by Green Lungs also monitored human-made noise pollution and urban greenery. “There is plentiful information on all three components for decisionmakers to act on – we’ve generated data, illustrated maps and narratives to indicate hotspots,” says Sauku.

Basic journalism training for high school students in Kosovo

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

BIRN Kosovo is inviting students from Kosovo’s public high schools interested in media production, media literacy and tackling fake news to apply for training sessions on basic journalist skills. This activity is part of the EU-supported ‘Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists’ project. It will include ten training sessions for 200 high school students in a programme that aims to nurture young talent by mentoring students to produce videos, photos and articles.

 

At the end of each training session, youngsters will pitch their journalistic ideas, which the BIRN team will assess before selecting a minimum of 60 video and article pitches that will be published on the online platform KallxoRinia. The production process for all these articles will be overseen by a team of BIRN Kosovo editors.

 

There is currently a promising generation of high school students in Kosovo who have the talent, creative ideas and willingness to engage in investigative journalism. However, the media lacks a specific platform to provide these students with the chance to express their writing and community reporting skills. The main goal of the activity is to lay the path for increased independence, transparency, accountability, and civic engagement for these young people.

EIDHR launches a series of documentaries, “Do We Resemble the EU”

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

How have EU Member States been dealing or dealt with the challenges that North Macedonia’s citizens are facing in exercising their rights: as workers, as consumers, as people with disabilities, as members of the LGTBI community…, or simply as individuals entitled to full legal and health protection, including clean air?

 

Documentaries produced with help from the EU are trying to find answers on the spot and to inspire action at home – bearing in mind that respecting human rights is fundamental.

 

This series of ten documentaries “Do We Resemble the EU” is taking a closer look at what living in the EU is like, and how EU countries have overcome or are dealing with some of the same challenges facing the citizens of North Macedonia.

 

Produced by NGO Konfidens from Skopje and its production Balkon3, with the help of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), the series attempts to detect those pieces of the puzzle that the country is missing, in order to narrow the gap with the EU when it comes to the respect of human rights. The documentaries are being broadcast as of 1 June, on Alsat-M TV in North Macedonia every Tuesday and Friday.

Street performance against corruption in Podgorica

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI) organised a street performance in the Montenegrin capital on 2 June to raise awareness about the damage caused by corruption. The event, ‘Whistle or the end!’ is part of an educational and information campaign under an EU-funded regional project –  ‘Breaking the Silence: Enhancing the Whistleblowing Policies and Culture in the Western Balkans and Moldova’.  
The project aims to help the government and non-governmental sector of the beneficiary jurisdictions to improve the disclosure channels and protection mechanisms for whistleblowers; strengthen the capacity of civil society to support whistleblowing; and, enhance public awareness about the importance of whistleblowing in the fight against corruption.

EU funded research shows polarised public trust in the media in BiH

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The EU-funded regional project ‘Resilience: Civil Society for Media Free of Hate and Disinformation,’ recently published results of an opinion poll analysing media trust and media gender issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Conducted by IPSOS, the report reveals a strong polarisation amongst the public in BiH in relation to trust in the media – half of the respondents claimed to not trust the media, while nearly as many claimed the opposite.

 

Results also demonstrate that trust in specific media outlets and public service broadcasters is polarised along ethno-national and political party lines. Results also point to the lack of media and information literacy skills among the respondents, underpinning the need to find systematic solutions for the introduction of media literacy into formal education.

 

The Resilience project is carried out in the Western Balkans and Turkey by a consortium of media development organisations led by South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM). The report is part of a series of publications on media trust and gender issues based on research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey (all available on the SEENPM website).

Political agreement on €14.2 billion Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The European Commission welcomes the political agreement on 2 June between the European Parliament and the Council on the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III), with a total budget of over €14 billion for the 2021-2027 budgetary period. This instrument supports EU candidate countries and potential candidates on their path towards fulfilling the EU accession criteria through deep and comprehensive reforms. The agreement will now be translated into legal texts, which will need to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

 

IPA III presents a solid policy-driven approach, with the strategic and dynamic deployment of assistance, putting the ‘fundamentals’ at its core: the rule of law and respect of fundamental values; strengthening democratic institutions and public administration reform; promoting economic governance and reforms towards competitiveness. The new instrument will also increase steer from the Union, with programming based on thematic priorities rather than country envelopes. This allows for rewarding performance and progress towards key priorities and an increased flexibility to respond to the evolving needs of the partners in their path towards accession.

EU Green Week 2021 in Serbia

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

EU Green Week 2021 (31 May to 5 June) in Serbia is being marked by a series of events in various cities. These include a conference on green industrial policy, Natura 2000 photo exhibition, Mikser festival with music, workshops and other activities, cleaning of Petrovaradin fortress and more. The activities will culminate on 5 June with the WorldEnvironment Day educational bicycle tour in Novi Sad.

 

The EU provides substantial support to Serbia towards achieving its environmental goals and raising them to EU standards. In the past 12 years, Serbia has received over €8 billion from the EU budget alone, including over €4 billion in grants, making the EU by far the largest donor in Serbia. To date, the EU has invested over €400 million in the environment sector in Serbia.

 

EU Green Week 2021 is being marked this week right across the EU and in other countries, with a centered around the theme of ‘Zero Pollution’. Through a host of activities and debates, participants can take a close up look at the European Green Deal – and its related initiatives on climate, energy, industry, mobility, agriculture, health, and biodiversity. Over the past decade, Green Week has established itself as an unmissable event for anyone involved in protecting the environment.

EU disburses a further €460 million to mitigate economic fallout of COVID-19

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has made further disbursements under its COVID-19 Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) package to Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, as well as Tunisia. The allocations of €50 million to Kosovo, €30 million to Montenegro and €80 million to North Macedonia are part of the €3 billion MFA package agreed in May 2020 to help ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.  
All partners receiving disbursements continue to satisfy the pre-conditions for granting MFA regarding the respect of human rights and effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system and the rule of law.  
With this disbursement, the EU has successfully completed three out of the 10 Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programmes in the €3 billion COVID-19 MFA package and disbursed the first tranches of assistance to all partners but one. The last partner, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is set to receive its first instalment, a €125 million loan, once it ratifies its Memorandum of Understanding.  
The Commission continues to work closely with all its Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) partners to timely implement the agreed policy programmes.

The RCC presents winners of the BALKATHON 2.0 competition

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The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) announced six winning ideas for the Balkathon 2.0 competition on the best digital solutions, at the final ceremony of the competition. The winners include:

 

-Rogerta Leka and ‘HEST’ team from Albania

-Nenad Jovanovski and ‘Bifrost’ team from Serbia

-Sanela Pajazitović and ‘Pokupi’ team from Montenegro

-Aleksandar Kovač and ‘E-klinika’ team from Bosnia and Herzegovina

-Ilir Asllani and ‘Kosovo Digital Association’ team from Kosovo and

-Katerina Klimovska and ‘ISLAA’ team from North Macedonia

 

The winners will get an opportunity to present their implemented ideas at the 4th Western Balkans Digital Summit 2021 in Montenegro. Balkathon 2.0 competition opened on 5 May 2021, with an open call to all interested Western Balkan citizens, start-ups, entrepreneurs, students, digital innovation hubs, scientific parks, universities and SMEs.

 

Out of 90 applicants, 37 teams with over 120 team members were shortlisted, and they got an opportunity to work with assigned mentors. Later on, 12 finalist teams got a chance to present their ideas to the expert jury, which decided on six winners. Balkathon is a regional competition financed by the European Union and implemented by the Regional Cooperation Council.

Young designer from Albania wins Berlin Process logo competition

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The winner of the “Open Call for Young Designers: 2021 Western Balkans Berlin Summit Logo Competition” is a young designer from Albania, Dei Hasko. Mr Hasko, expressed his gratitude to the organisers and highlighted the importance of a connected Western Balkans where young people thrive with their creative ideas.

 

The logo competition was opened from 24 March to 7 April 2021 and invited young people (from 18 to 30 years old) from the Western Balkans to design the logo of this year’s Western Balkans Berlin Process Summit, which will be hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel this summer.

 

Around 170 young designers submitted more than 300 entries to the competition, and the selection committee had to choose the three best entries. The awarding ceremonies for the second and the third prize winners will occur at the premises of the German embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia in the upcoming days. The ceremonies will be attended by the awarded young designers, representatives of the German Government and RYCO.

 

The Berlin Process was initiated by the German government to promote regional cooperation of the Western Balkans and support the EU’s enlargement policy. The first summit was organised on 28 August 2014 in Berlin. It was followed by summits in Vienna (2015), Paris (2016), Trieste (2017), London (2018), Poznan (2019) and Sofia (2020).