The beginning of 2023 was the start of an important milestone for SOCIEUX+: the receipt of the first requests from partner countries in the Western Balkans region, following the extension of cooperation activities in the second half of 2022. From January to mid-June, 28 requests were submitted to SOCIEUX+ from new partners in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. 

The applications were centered around a few major topics. In the social protection sphere, child protection, health systems, disability, and pensions represent the thematic priorities of the requesting institutions, which intend to tackle these issues from the different angles of institutional, organizational, and individual capacities.  At the time of writing, the majority of the 28 received requests have already been converted into Actions, with SOCIEUX+ staff endeavoring to identify and subsequently mobilize European public experts to work with our new partner institutions.

The first missions in the Western Balkan region have started in May, 2023. In Kosovo, experts from Luxembourg and Portugal are supporting a national committee of experts to review the 2014 Law on Health Insurance, with the objective of reinforcing the role of the National Health Fund and ultimately advancing universal health coverage. Health-related peer-to-peer exchanges have also started between experts from the Ministry of Health of Montenegro and their partners from Croatia and Portugal, who are helping to analyze the Ministry’s quality control system in the broad area of governance of the health sector. Finally, the Institute for Social and Child Care of Montenegro is working with Croatian and Hungarian experts who are assessing the normative background, role of local and national authorities, capacities of case workers, and the referral and coordination systems that are essential components of a fully developed foster care system for children without parental support.

As the work is just starting, we hope that our partner institutions and participating experts will engage in fruitful peer-to-peer exchanges for a long time to come.